Free Republic

Carbon Sciences Inc., the developer of a breakthrough technology to make gasoline and other transportation fuels from natural gas and carbon dioxide, announced on September 21 that recent plans for a major project in Louisiana “confirm that a gas-to-liquids strategy is [America’s] best approach for energy independence.” Johannesburg, South African energy and chemicals group Sasol said earlier this month that it has chosen the southwestern region of the State of Louisiana as the site for the first-ever U.S. plant to produce GTL transportation fuels and other products. Sasol Managing Director of New Business Development Ernst Oberholster commented, “We believe Sasol’s...

Let’s preface this piece by admitting that I’m a fan of Bobby Jindal, comparatively speaking. No, I don’t think he’s presidential or vice-presidential timber at this point. Cabinet secretary, perhaps, but not much beyond that without a bit more experience. I do think Jindal gets a bad rap from people looking to criticize him for all kinds of ulterior motives (and certainly some valid ones as well), and I think regardless of what anybody might think of Jindal he’s far and away the best governor this state has had in the past 25 years or beyond and he’s the best...

Allen Brooks is to be complimented for writing this piece to stimulate discussion on the gas capacity and economics of one of the most important new reservoirs, the Haynesville Shale. I rarely respond to our guest commentators but in this case I wear two hats. I happen to be, as many of you know, a petroleum production engineer, with more than 25 years of experience in hydraulic fracturing. I was also among the first people in the industry to have used this type of well completion on horizontal wells. The deployment of these two technologies, along with geosteering, new instrumentation,...

Rush for Natural Gas Enriches Corner of the South By ADAM NOSSITER MANSFIELD, La. — They had to repeat the amazing number, $28.7 million, over and over, to make sure it was real and would not go away. Even then, the members of the De Soto Parish Police Jury — the county commission — could hardly believe it. They laughed, rocked back in their chairs, shook their heads, stared at the ceiling and muttered oaths to each other. “We have — $28.7 million,” said the president, Bryant Yopp, to settle the matter, definitively if still incredulously. It was nearly one...