With the exploitation of the natural gas in the shale in the US, natural gas prices are once again at historical lows. The US can actually be a net exporter of the fuel, but i'm not sure how far liquified natural gas technology has come along. But the main point is that natural gas is a clean burning fuel that we can immediately use more of to ween ourselves off foreign energy sources. Also, the argument that obama is anti energy policy is so freakin stupid its not funny. companies are having to shut down wells because the country has produced so much during his first term. booming
so much activity in this industry, it's crazy. if you have a high school degree and a place to live there (which isn't easy to come by) you can earn six figures in North Dakota right now. huge labor shortage, but there isn't enough housing. people working at Wal Mart there are making $15/hour now. have a client who says that we have enough natural gas to fuel our country for 100 years right now, even if we converted everything we do with oil. and that doesn't include any allowance for what we don't know exists.
yeah, but that's gonna change unless demand picks up. i can tell you from previous experience, the price right now doesn't cover pulling it out of the ground.
I work in natural gas, and it is definitely a booming industry. I work with north Texas and Oklahoma, and there's always stuff going on up there. East Texas is even busier than north. To all those still looking to establish a career, I can't urge you enough to look towards the oil and gas exploration companies in Houston. The company I work for is increasing its natural gas operations budget by 60-70% in the next couple of years. Get it while the gettins good!
The catalyst behind all this has been the technology advances in shale drilling that were in place before Obama ever came on the scene. To give him the benefit of this is silly. Obama's focus, hopes and dreams were in US alternative energy, which has taken a HUGE blow due to the drop in gas prices. Wind projects are uneconomical, as the low gas prices have reduced power prices to the point where you cannot make the math work on wind. Chinese investment in solar has put US PV manufacturers out of business. Obama would be smart to ditch the Solyndra style green fantasy investment, and do more to push natural gas.
Yeah, you can't give Obama any more credit for shale gas than you can give him the blame for the recession and the budget deficit. But, people do it all the time anyway. And, just like one might rationalize by saying he hasn't made policy changes to fix the economy and eliminate the deficit, he also hasn't moved against the environmental damage caused by frac drilling. It'll come sooner or later. Enjoy the cheap power in the interim.
Even with the huge price drop in natural gas, it is telling that the O&G supermajors are still making huge bets on North American Gas. By 2030, energy consumption world wide will have grown 40% (very little of which will come from the US) from now, and much of that need can be met with gas (which North America is basically the Persian Gulf). With growing LNG tech, the US will soon be a major exporter of NG around the world.
so how long until this might be common use in america? are we heading towards NG or solar in terms of energy policy in the future?
You'll have a mix. Solar still doesn't produce the umph needed to effectively meet the energy needs of the world. Maybe it will someday, but must likely not in the next 50 years. Breaking carbon or splitting atoms is still the most effective way to produce BTUs. What you want to do is find the most effecient mix of energy sources you can for the technology that is available.
I don't see any companies betting on North American gas. The supermajors aren't necessarily changing their strategy because they're simply too big to change course and still maintain the kind of production growth that the market demands right now. But even Chesapeake, who is the US's largest natural gas producer not named Exxon Mobil and whose CEO is the biggest gas supporter in the country, has announced huge cutbacks in gas drilling - from > $3 billion in 2011 to < $1 billion this year. If you are a company whose primary focus is on natural gas right now, you're going to be in big trouble over the next few years without the sustaining resources of XOM, BP or Shell.
Also, this article is from 2008, when people were concerned that natural gas was dropping below $6/mmbtu - it's now headed toward $2.
Threepeat! Just came across this data as well - in the previously quoted article from 08, there were ~1,600 rigs drilling for natural gas in the US. The number is now half that and continuing to drop.
i've always been bearish on natural gas. I used to work in support of a trading floor. There is just too much But that's the point, use more of it and make it worth while to drill. find a balance now while you have a glut. decide right now what you think the price should be and plan production around what you estimate demand to be. make it a national effort. this is where business and government can work together. however, a guy who manages a refinery told me that cars running off natural gas is kind of an unrealistic prospect. he said it doesn't provide enough power or whatever. i don't know. on polution, it burns more efficiently not leaving behind as much carbon emissions.
In the weird dynamic of energy politics in the US, it would seem to me at this point that there would be a huge lobbying call for the conversion of all electrical generation from coal to gas; a strange bedfellows mating of environmentalist and the drilling industry. As I have posted before here, I bought in in 2002 to the tune of .05% on a small oil and gas exploration firm. We were going to drill gas wells in SW Louisiana, and did have a great success rate, but financing issues and the drop in prices kept us foundering. Only the liquids production kept us solvent. Luckily we we have switched the focus more to oil plays and we're doing OK. The one thing I have learned over the last 30 years, every boom will bust; because everyone wants in on exploiting the boom until the supply exceeds the demand.
Well the EPA has preliminary data that the chemicals from fracking have been found in groundwater in Wyoming. http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/wy/pavillion/EPA_ReportOnPavillion_Dec-8-2011.pdf In Dimrock PA the EPA has moved in to test water supplies where contamination is alleged. We'll get confirmation one way or another soon.... http://www.ogj.com/articles/2012/01...lans-to-test-water-wells-in-pennsylvania.html http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/in-dimock-epa-testing-draws-mixed-reaction-1.1263956
I do not believe the recent drop in natural gas prices is entirely due to shale gas. I believe most of the glut is coming from the gas produced through oil production and through the warm winter we are experiencing. Furthermore, I do not believe fracking has caused any of the widely claimed environmental damage in the northeast of Pennsylvannia. However, coal bed methane production in Wyoming has lead to contaminated water, but they are two separate practices. I think when you look at the geology of that part of Pennsylvannia which has a lot of natural gas and oil seeps (Oil Creek ring a bell?) and factor in the huge amount of abandoned coal mines, and factor in that it is only that part of Pennsylvannia out of all the vast areas that are being fracked, you see that there is more at play than fracking. My belief and understanding is that fracking related environmental damage is actually something that is naturally occuring. I believe the "dirty coal" campaign was spearheaded by Pickens' hedge fund and other natural gas investors. There is a battle brewing with one of Texas' energy utilities and the EPA because of the new regulations that require certain types of environmental scrubbers at certain coal plants.
Can't argue with you on the weather component, but I completely disagree on the negligible effect of shale gas on the current market.
Fracking is not the issue. Poor jobs casing the wells by companies doing the fracking is the problem. The process of fracking, itself, does not pollute groundwater.
