We’re All In the Oil Business – Alaska State Chamber of Commerce

CP via Huff Post by Robin Roland. John Carruthers, Arctic Gas Symposium, November, 2002, Photo by Dave Harbour The proposed Northern Gateway project (Map here) reached a major milestone on Monday with the end of public hearings on the pipeline, and now the company will focus on resolving lingering questions, says president John Carruthers (NGP Photo, 11-02).


Today’s theme (below): The Federal Government Threatens Our Natural Resources Industry, the Foundation of Prosperity.


Americans for Prosperity alerts us to a Federal government overreach that immediately threatens all economic land use in the United States–on private or state lands as well as federal lands.  If executed, this end-run around Congress’ intent will dramatically reduce jobs and wealth creation while increasing consumer costs.  -dh

A few weeks ago the EPA finished a biased study that they are trying to use to preempt a mine in Alaska. The area known as The Pebble Project is one of the largest copper deposits in the world and the company considering development hasn’t even applied for a permit yet. But that hasn’t stopped EPA and environmental pressure groups from trying to preemptively veto the project.
 
This is just one in a series of decisions by the EPA to impact the creation of jobs in our country.
            
It’s made worse because the mine in this case doesn’t even exist, the EPA made up a fictional mine and then bemoaned a parade of horribles that would result from its development. However, EPA didn’t take into account all of the modern techniques a mine owner might use to mitigate any impact on the region. The study is rigged to give EPA the outcome they want: a veto over a mine that doesn’t even exist yet.
 
 

These are exactly the kinds of decisions from the Obama Administration that we have to stop.  Our government should be focused on cutting red tape to let the private sector create jobs, not making up reasons to stop future development. 

OBAMA TO ANNOUNCE EXECUTIVE MEMORANDUM TODAY TO AGAIN CIRCUMVENT CONGRESS’ JURISDICTION AND INCREASE CONSUMER COSTS.  (This is on top of many, earlier executive memoranda and orders that are all anti-consumer, including the massive executive order taking control of the use of all US ocean jurisdictions and of all watersheds feeding the oceans.  We now proclaim to readers that it is not overreaction to recognize the obvious: this Administration is dedicated to killing America’s standard of living, way of life and opportunity for future generations.  -dh)

NBC News by Michael O’Brien.  President Barack Obama will direct his administration on Tuesday to begin addressing the issue of climate change with a series of ambitious executive branch actions, sidestepping a Congress that has displayed little appetite for addressing the issue.  

Among a range of initiatives aimed at cutting carbon emissions both at home and internationally, the president will announce a directive for the Environmental Protection Agency to establish carbon emission standards for both new and existing power plants.
 
The speech he will deliver at Georgetown University is being billed as a major policy address by the White House on one of the top priorities of his second term. And the administration made it clear they are more than willing to do what they can to bypass Congress. 
 
Politico (6/24/13) reports:
"…Obama’s Tuesday speech on climate change puts Democrats on defense in coal country."
Energy Guardian(6/24/13) reports: “A day before President Barack Obama was to lay out a new national climate change strategy, the White House was forced Monday to defend his nominee to run the Environmental Protection Agency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  *     *     *  

Ron Wyden, US Senate, Energy and Natural Resources, Improved management of federal forests, Photo by Dave HarbourThen, there is the Administration’s overreaching effort to not properly manage natural resources.  This morning, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (NGP Photo), pressed the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to take immediate steps to increase timber harvests and improve forest management, while maintaining important environmental protections.  “Let me be clear: Our objective is to get harvests up without sacrificing bedrock environmental values,” Wyden said. “You only need to look at the massive wildfires that are burning through beetle-infested stands and threatening homes to see the consequences of failed management.”      -dh


 Today’s Energy Headlines …

…From Energy In Depth (Focus on Shale)

NATIONAL

EID Launches New Web Platform, Video Series. Politico Pro (sub req’d). Energy in Depth, an industry education campaign, kicks off a website facelift Tuesday with the first in a series of videos correcting myths around shale development, the group said. The first video

[http://bit.ly/17y7T6m] fact checks claims of high radon content in Marcellus natural gas.
 
New Duke paper finds methane in water wells. Reuters. "The researchers found methane in virtually every water well they sampled, irrespective of its proximity to drilling. They suggest a link to Marcellus gas wells, but pre-drill testing in the same part of the state directly contradicts them," Steve Everley of Energy in Depth said. NOTE: EID also quoted in/by NBC News, IB Times, Platts, POLITICO, and E&E News. Click here for full EID rebuttal.
 
Stray gas expert challenges Duke findings. Associated Press. Fred Baldassare, who worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for 25 years, said the study doesn’t present an accurate picture of the entire state because the Duke team went to areas where residents had complained about drilling contamination, rather than doing a random sample. Baldassare runs a research company called Eschelon Applied Geosciences.
 
How shale gas can slow global climate change. Christian Science Monitor, Column. The way, then, to actually reduce global emissions is for the rest of the world to replicate the gains we have seen on U.S. emissions by using market forces – gas should replace coal in electricity production.
 
Dueling Ideologies: Greenpeace’s Ayliffe vs. EID’s Blackmon. The Way Ahead, Q&A. About 6 years ago, many of the environmental and anti-oil and -gas groups decided to mount a concerted effort to make hydraulic fracturing into a boogeyman in the public’s mind. The word “fracing” has essentially become a curse word in the American lexicon thanks to the media. There’s more disinformation in the public domain today than there ever has been, so it’s easy to see why the public perception has become negative even though hydraulic fracturing’s actually been a blessing to the country.
 
The EPA Plants a Story. National Review. Far be it from the Environmental Protection Agency to admit it was wrong — but late last week, it subtly withdrew from a once-flashy investigation regarding whether hydraulic fracturing contaminated groundwater in the tiny town of Pavillion, Wyo. Never has backpedaling been such an effective form of transportation.
 
Fueling with Natural Gas. Energy and Capital. According to projections from the International Energy Agency, natural gas will become a common fuel source within the next five years. The spike can be credited to a massive shale boom in North America, which has lowered the value of natural gas and has made it a cheaper alternative to conventional gasoline.
 
Bakken and Eagle Ford Reach Record Oil Output. Wealth Daily.  Back in May in Wealth Daily’s sister publication, Energy and Capital, I wrote about the emergence of another Bakken-type play. Oil production in this play has grown so fast, oil pumped out of the ground here has risen from 352 barrels per day in 2008 to over 467,611 barrels per day as of January 2013.

INTERNATIONAL

Russia May Miss Out on the Golden Era of Gas. Moscow Times. Until recently, it was expected that the U.S. would be an importer of LNG, but this expectation from LNG exporters was dashed by the shale gas boom.
 
Chevron To Invest USD 25 Billion On Olesske Field. Ukrainian News Agency. Chevron Ukraine B.V. (Netherlands) will invest USD 25 billion in exploitation and recovery of shale gas on the Olesske gas field.
 
Anti-shale protesters target energy minister’s office. CBC News. Members of the Council of Canadians and others opposed to the shale gas industry gathered outside of Leonard’s constituency office.

ARKANSAS

HF: old technique with new appeal. Arkansas City Traveler. With help from specialists, they use hydrologic fracturing to push water and sand down new wells, under pressure. That forces open fissures in rock, and frees oil and gas to be pumped to the surface.

COLORADO

In Colorado, anti-HF activists still don’t rule. Denver Post, Op-Ed. Given the sound and fury over hydraulic fracturing during the past couple of years, you might suppose the list of rogue jurisdictions such as Boulder County was quite long. But you’d be wrong. According to government and industry officials I consulted, the list is neither long nor especially impressive.
 
HF:  Free ourselves from overseas oil. Daily Camera, LTE. I presume the same people who are vehement against fracking will be the first to protest if our troops are used again to keep our petroleum flowing from the Middle East. Why not eliminate that scenario by freeing ourselves of the need for their oil?
 
Crestwood Taking Half Stake in Niobrara Gathering System. NGI’s Shale Daily (sub req’d). Crestwood Niobrara LLC is buying a 50% interest in Jackalope Gas Gathering Services LLC from RKI Exploration & Production LLC for $108 million, parent Crestwood Midstream Partners LP said Monday.

MICHIGAN

Canadian firm plans HF campaign that could require Michigan water. Michigan Live. A Canadian firm has laid out plans to drill 500 new natural gas wells in Northern Michigan, using a technique that could consume more than 4 billion gallons of groundwater — or about as much water as Traverse City uses in two years.

NORTH DAKOTA

Report: Nearly a dozen oil-by-rail projects operating, planned in Northwest. The Columbian. A U.S. oil boom is spurring companies to haul oil by rail to the Northwest from the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota, where oil is extracted by hydraulic fracturing.
 
In Moving US Oil, ‘Flexible’ Rail Bests Pipelines. CNBC. The U.S. has 566 freight railroads that traverse more than 138,000 miles, according to the Association of American Railroads data. Some experts argue that that sprawling infrastructure makes the industry better equipped than pipelines to reach far-flung regions like North Dakota’s shale hotbed, the Bakken formation. 

NORTHEAST

HF calls for water-use management. Pocono Record, Editorial. To their credit, some drilling industry companies are developing water recycling systems that will enable them to frack with gray or brackish water, lowering their demand for potable water necessary for farming or other human use.
 
Distribution System Would Bring Marcellus Gas to Susquehanna County. NGI’s Shale Daily (sub req’d). Leatherstocking Gas Co., a 50-50 joint venture between Corning Natural Gas Corp. and Mirabito Holdings Inc., recently broke ground on a natural gas distribution system in Susquehanna County, PA, the latest step in its "local gas for local people" effort to supply Marcellus Shale gas to customers living in the area.
 
York County to get $365K in shale money. York Dispatch. York County is set to receive more than $365,000 from fees paid to the state by natural gas drillers in other areas of Pennsylvania, and county commissioners have already committed nearly half of it for the Northern Extension of the York County Heritage Rail Trail.
 
Drilling health study. Sacranton Times-Tribune. A coalition of the Geisinger, Guthrie and Susquehanna health systems plans to conduct a comprehensive study of drilling’s health impact throughout the Marcellus Shale region in Pennsylvania, a project that would cost about $25 million.

OHIO
 
The Utica Shale Continues to Show Signs of Hope. The Motley Fool. If investors have learned one thing about the Utica Shale, it’s that the play is really becoming hit-or-miss. That being said, when a company hits, it’s usually a really big hit. That gives both producers and investors hope that the play will turn out to be just fine.
 
Hess in East Ohio. Wheeling Intelligencer. Hess initially entered the eastern Ohio Utica Shale play in 2011 by paying $750 million to acquire rights from Marquette Exploration. Since then, Hess, Gulfport Energy, Antero Resources, Rice Energy, Chesapeake Energy, XTO Energy and other companies have continued signing leasing contracts throughout the area, some of which have offered mineral owners more than $6,000 per acre.
 
Tour the Utica shale play. Columbus Business First. Energy companies are betting big on potential oil and natural gas riches in the Utica shale play, risking $8 million to $9 million in drilling costs per well with no guarantee of a payoff down the line.
 
Ohio’s most active Utica shale drillers, ranked by 2012 new well permits. Columbus Business First. Though a number of players are getting a slice of the Utica shale pie, one company is far and away dominating Ohio’s oil and gas scene.
 
Well flare brings new frustrations. Warren Tribune. The constant but temporary deafening noise being emitted from a new Utica Shale horizontal gas well made it difficult for neighbors to hear one another Monday afternoon, despite their shouts.

TEXAS

Vessels in the waiting waters for Eagle Ford crude oil. Platts. For months, a fleet of crude oil tanker vessels have waited in line to approach the congested public docks of the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas. The object of their shipping desire is one of the US’ hottest commodities: light, sweet and relatively cheap Eagle Ford Shale crude.

Mineral rights get top billing in land sales. Houston Chronicle/Fuel Fix.  Not long ago you could buy as much ranch land as you wanted in South Texas, with the mineral rights to boot. Now that the Eagle Ford Shale formation has boomed? Not so much.
 
WYOMING

Wyo. Pavillion study will bypass EPA well problems. E&E News (sub. req’d). Wyoming investigators will sidestep two monitoring wells that led to controversy when U.S. EPA attempted to determine whether production in the Pavillion oil field contaminated water in the area.

EPA’s Pavillion decision leaves locals divided. E&E News (sub. req’d). U.S. EPA dropped its investigation of groundwater contamination affecting homes near Pavillion, Wyo., last week, leaving state officials in charge of further review. Landowners in the area voiced mixed feelings about the decision