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A Potentially Massive Win For Fracking In Texas
A Potentially Massive Win For Fracking In Texas
Gov. Greg Abbot’s signature is all that’s needed to impose a ban on the ability of Texas’ cities to limit potentially harmful oil drilling practices, including hydraulic fracturing, in their jurisdictions.
The measure, which easily passed both houses of the Republican-led Legislature, was welcomed by industry groups as a much-needed rein on “overregulation” and denounced by environmentalists, who said it deprived municipalities of control over their local environments.
Abbot has not involved himself in in the debate over the bill, which the state House passed in April by a vote of 122-18 and the Senate passed 24-7 on May 4. Nevertheless, the governor is expected to sign it.
Related: A Point To Consider Before Lifting The US Oil Export Ban
The Texas Legislature worked quickly to draw up and pass the law since November, when Denton, a college town about 40 miles north of Dallas-Fort Worth, enacted a law banning hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in its jurisdiction. Supporters of the Denton ordinance cited fears of earthquakes linked by some studies to fracking and other potential threats to public health and safety.
The state law, however, is based on the rights of oil and gas companies to do as they please on the property they own. But while it forbids bans on underground drilling, it allows some “commercially reasonable” above-ground restrictions, including setting distances between wells and businesses, schools and homes, excessive noise or light after dark and limits on truck traffic.
Related: This Deal Could Completely Change North American Energy Dynamics
Besides forbidding bans on underground activity, the state law includes prohibitions against any bans on fracking, limits on injection rates at wastewater disposal wells and rules requiring drillers to install and regularly inspect underground shutoff valves at some onshore wells for use in emergencies such as violent weather.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Landmark Fracking Case Gets a Supreme Court Hearing
Landmark Fracking Case Gets a Supreme Court Hearing
Oil patch consultant Jessica Ernst alleges Alberta has intimidated landowners.
The Supreme Court of Canada said today that it will hear thelandmark case of Jessica Ernst, which squarely challenges how the Alberta government has treated landowners and regulated hydraulic fracturing.
The decision both stunned and exhilarated the 57-year-old Ernst.
“I’ve always known my case was important for water and all Canadians, that’s why I am taking this legal stand,” said Ernst who lives in Rosebud, Alberta.
“The court will now hear my appeal that provincial energy regulators not be legally immune from violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms when trying to intimidate citizens harmed by fracking,” added Ernst. Her stand against the industry and the Alberta government has made her a folk hero throughout North America and parts of Europe.
However, a win at the Supreme Court does not mean that she will win her lawsuit, explained Ernst to the Tyee. “It means I would be sent back to the lower court in Alberta to begin my lawsuit against the Alberta Energy Regulator. It means still a very long, hard, expensive journey.”
The Supreme Court only hears about four per cent of all civil Charter claims brought to its doorstep.
Eight years ago, oil patch consultant Ernst sued Alberta Environment, the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) and Encana, one of Canada’s largest unconventional gas drillers, over the contamination of her well water with hydrocarbons and the failure of government authorities to properly investigate the fouling of groundwater.
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8 States Dealing With Huge Increases in Fracking Earthquakes
8 States Dealing With Huge Increases in Fracking Earthquakes
A new report, released Thursday from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), identified eight states in the eastern and central U.S. where fracking operations have led to dramatic increases in earthquakes, primarily from the injection of the wastewater byproduct of drilling operations into underground wells. This process can activate faults that in some cases were previously unknown.
“Earthquake activity has sharply increased since 2009 in the central and eastern United States. The increase has been linked to industrial operations that dispose of wastewater by injecting it into deep wells,” the report says bluntly, in a rebuke to the earthquake deniers in the oil and gas industry, such as fracking founder Harold Hamm, who pressured Oklahoma officials to stay silent about the connection.
While Oklahoma, Texas and Ohio have gotten much of the attention for increases in seismicity in areas where earthquakes were once rare, they aren’t the only states in danger of more and larger earthquakes. The USGS report also pointed to Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico and identified 17 zones within the eight states in particular danger from an increased number of what it calls “induced” quakes.
The report, Incorporating Induced Seismicity in the 2014 United States National Seismic Hazard Model, analyzed these seismic activity increases and developed the models to project how hazardous earthquakes could be in these in these zones, taking into account their rates, locations, maximum magnitude and ground motions.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
How Much Water Does The California Oil Industry Actually Use?
How Much Water Does The California Oil Industry Actually Use?
When California Governor Jerry Brown issued mandatory water restrictions for the first time in state history, he notably excluded the agriculture and oil industries from the conservation efforts, a decision that was heavily criticized.
The oil industry, for its part, insists it is a responsible user of water. The Western States Petroleum Association, an oil industry lobbying group, for instance, wrote that “Oil companies are doing their part to conserve, recycle and reduce the water they use to produce oil and refine petroleum products.”
Some perspective is certainly needed here: the amount of water used to produce oil in California is, in fact, dwarfed by the amount used for agriculture. But the thing is, the state can’t make any fully informed decisions about whether or not to include oil development in water cuts because no one knows exactly how much water the California oil industry is using in the first place. That all changes on April 30, however.
Last September, Governor Brown signed into law SB 1281, which requires companies to make quarterly reports to state regulators at the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) detailing the source and volume of water — whether fresh, treated, or recycled — used during oil development processes, including extreme oil extraction methods like fracking, acidization and steam injection. The first set of data required to be reported to DOGGR under SB 1281 is due at the end of the month.
Required reporting on water usage is an important first step in devising an effective water conservation plan for drought-wracked California, Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, tells DeSmogBlog.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Oklahoma’s Clear Link Between Earthquakes and Energy Boom
Oklahoma’s Clear Link Between Earthquakes and Energy Boom
Oklahoma officials this week said oil and gas activity was the likely cause of the stunning increase in earthquakes in the state. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Oklahoma geologist Todd Halihan talks about what has caused this growing problem and what can be done about it.
Over the last few years, Oklahoma has experienced a stunning increase in the number of earthquakes. Since 2008, quakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater have hit that state 600 times more frequently than the historic average. Despite peer-reviewed studies to the contrary, Oklahoma’s state government had continued to express skepticism about the link between this seismic boom and the increase in the amount of wastewater from oil and gas operations being injected underground.
Geologist Todd Halihan, a professor at Oklahoma State University, welcomed that announcement. Halihan, who sits on the Oklahoma Governor’s Coordinating Council on Seismic Activity, has examined the impact of injection wells on seismic activity and compared the state’s reluctance to accept the prevailing science to the Dust Bowl era, when warnings of that disaster went unheeded.
In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Halihan outlines some possible ways that the abnormal seismic activity in Oklahoma might be tamped down. But he also explains why he believes the problem has no quick or easy fixes.
Yale Environment 360: For a number of years, Oklahoma’s state government expressed official skepticism regarding the link between injection wells and induced seismicity. So what’s your reaction to the Oklahoma Geological Survey’s announcement that the rise in the number of earthquakes there is very likely attributable to injection wells?
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Scottish Government’s Position on Fracking Remains Unclear
Scottish Government’s Position on Fracking Remains Unclear
The Scottish Government have been accused of kicking the issue of fracking into the long grass.
Alex Salmond said recently: “I think fracking has a long way to go before it convinces populations across the country. Fracking in a heavily populated area is a totally different proposition from fracking elsewhere and I think the Scottish government is pursuing a wise policy on it.”
The government has been told that the technology is necessary to secure the future of the country’s energy industry, but it seems it will not make the conclusions of its own research known until after the general election.
The SNP’s Manifesto
The Scottish National Party’s (SNP) manifesto released this week also fails to bring clarity to the SNP’s stance on fracking.
The manifesto, launched on Monday, had only one sentence dedicated to the topic of fracking. It said: “We will continue to support a moratorium on fracking.”
Elsewhere in the manifesto, however, the SNP show strong support for the oil and gas industry in underpinning the Scottish economy.
Nicola Sturgeon’s private meeting with INEOS Chairman Jim Ratcliffe, held on the same day as the announcement of the moratorium in January, further clouds the SNP’s overall position on fracking.
After this meeting, INEOS made a complete U-turn saying they now supported the moratorium, despite having been against it prior to the meeting.
However, it should be noted that the SNP‘s position on fracking is stronger than other main parties. The Lib Dems, Labour and Conservatives are all calling for a regulated industry
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A Plot To Hold Down Oil Prices Or Just A Happy Coincidence?
A Plot To Hold Down Oil Prices Or Just A Happy Coincidence?
The recent unprecedented surge in oil imports has again prompted a review of things here. In a prior story, we wrote that the lack of capacity to process light sweet crude at refineries produced via shale plays could be playing a role in the stock build. As mentioned previously, refineries over the next 24 months are expected to add 700,000 B/D in capacity to handle this type of crude. In the meantime, we have noticed an unusual amount of crude being imported, possibly as a result of this imbalance in refinery capacity. Or could it be that a more sinister plot is afoot?
To quantify the scale of the issue, we turn to Cornerstone Analytics’ work in uncovering the magnitude of the impact of imports on the rise in oil inventory stocks. We haven’t seen this level of import imbalance period since 2013, as the chart below demonstrates via Cornerstone. In the past 6 months, the level of imports relative to the requirement or need by refineries has jumped not once but twice. The 1M B/D “gap” goes a long way in explaining the oil inventory stock build which has been 5MB-10MB per week.
If adjusted, the builds over the past 6 months without such imports would not exist at all or at the very least be greatly reduced. So is this occurring as part of the inability of refineries to handle the mix of output domestically or is this part of some plot to build inventories to crash the prices of oil? Quite frankly we can’t say for sure but anomalies such as this must be exposed so that they can be debated given that there has been ample debate on Saudi motivations for holding down oil prices and the ongoing media cheerleading on lower oil prices.
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Big Hit For U.S. Oil Production In January
Big Hit For U.S. Oil Production In January
U.S. crude oil production fell at least 135,000 barrels of oil per day in January 2015 compared to December 2014 according to the EIA (Figure 1).
Figure 1. U.S. crude oil production. Source: EIA and Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.
(Click image to enlarge)
Related: Latest EIA Predictions Should Be Taken With More Than A Pinch Of Salt
Bakken Shale production fell the most of any play or jurisdiction losing 37,000 barrels per day in North Dakota and 4,000 barrels per day in Montana for a total of 41,000 barrels of oil per day (Figure 2). Production in California, the offshore Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and Wyoming also declined significantly.
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Figure 2. January 2015 production changes by jurisdiction. Source: EIA and Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.
(Click image to enlarge)
Figure 3 shows Bakken production based on DrillingInfo data. The 42,000 barrels of oil per day drop in January production is completely consistent with EIA data differing by only 1,000 barrels per day.
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11 Signs That We Are Entering The Next Phase Of The Global Economic Crisis
11 Signs That We Are Entering The Next Phase Of The Global Economic Crisis
Well, the Nasdaq finally did it. It has climbed all the way back to where it was at the peak of the dotcom bubble. Back in March 2000, the Nasdaq set an all-time record high of 5,048.62. On Thursday, after all these years, that all-time record was finally eclipsed. The Nasdaq closed at 5056.06, and Wall Street greatly rejoiced. So if you invested in the Nasdaq at the peak of the dotcom bubble, you are just finally breaking even 15 years later. Unfortunately, the truth is that stocks have not been soaring because the U.S. economy is fundamentally strong. Just like the last two times, what we are witnessing is an irrational financial bubble. Sometimes these irrational bubbles can last for a surprisingly long time, but in the end they always burst. And even now there are signs of economic trouble bubbling to the surface all around us. The following are 11 signs that we are entering the next phase of the global economic crisis…
#1 It is being projected that half of all fracking companies in the United States will be “dead or sold” by the end of this year.
#2 The rig count just continues to fall as the U.S. oil industry implodes. Incredibly, the number of rigs in operation in the United States has fallen for 19 weeks in a row.
#3 McDonald’s has announced that it will be closing 700 “poor performing” restaurants in 2015. Why would McDonald’s be doing this if the economy was actually getting better?
#4 As I wrote about the other day, we could be right on the verge of a Greek debt default. In fact, we learned on Thursday that the Greek government has been “running on empty” for months…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Are Oklahoma’s Quakes Caused By Wastewater Disposal?
Are Oklahoma’s Quakes Caused By Wastewater Disposal?
No matter what other problems may or may not be linked to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the disposal of wastewater from oil and gas drilling almost certainly is primarily responsible for the recent spate of earthquakes in Oklahoma, normally a seismologically quiet state.
That’s the conclusion of a report issued April 21 by the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS), in which the state geologist Richard D. Andrews and Dr. Austen Holland, the state seismologist, said the rate of earthquakes near major oil and gas drilling operations that produce large amounts of wastewater demonstrate that the quakes “are very unlikely to represent a naturally occurring process.”
Andrews and Holland concluded that the “primary suspected source” of the quakes is not hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in which water and chemicals are injected under high pressure to crack shale to free oil and gas trapped inside. It said the source is more likely the injection of wastewater from this process in disposal wells, because water used in fracking cannot be re-used.
Related: Who Is Saudi Arabia Really Targeting In Its Price War?
“The OGS considers it very likely that the majority of recent earthquakes, particularly those in central and north-central Oklahoma, are triggered by the injection of produced water in disposal wells,” the statement said. It warned that residents should prepare for “a significant earthquake.”
Oklahoma recorded 585 earthquakes with a magnitude of 3 or greater, the equivalent of the force felt in Oklahoma City at the time of the terrorist bombing in 1995. This is a significant increase from 109 earthquakes of the same magnitude in 2013. Before 2008, when fracking became a popular drilling technique in the state, there were fewer than two earthquakes in Oklahoma each year, on average.
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Fierce Opposition? Heck, EU Lets Fracking in through Back Door
Fierce Opposition? Heck, EU Lets Fracking in through Back Door
In Europe these days, the pace of legislative change is dizzying, as Brussels continues its blitz-like power grab. Last year saw the birth of the banking union. This year, it’s Energy Union. With the European Commission determined to push through an ambitious consolidation of the continent’s disparate energy sectors, the coming months and years promise to be highly lucrative for energy lobbyists – particularly those representing the fracking industry.
For the public, the Commission talks up Europe’s renewable energy credentials. Behind the scenes, it is teasing open the back door to fracking, despite overwhelming public opposition across Europe.
This is the finding of a new report on the European Science and Technology Network on Unconventional Hydrocarbon Extraction, otherwise known as “The Network.” The study was published jointly by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and Friends of the Earth.
The Commission launched the Network in 2014 with the official aim of “bringing together all relevant stakeholders (practitioners from industry, research, academic as well as civil society) to foster a common understanding on unconventional hydrocarbons.” A closer look, however, reveals the Network as a Commission-funded lobby vehicle whose ultimate aim is to drive the industry’s expansion across Europe.
The Fracking Revolution Crosses the Atlantic
As the Guardian recently reported, America’s shale revolution has had a huge impact not only at home but far beyond U.S. shores, including by providing a bonanza for the fracking lobbies in Brussels:
From shale to climate-change policies, from car exhaust rules to renewables, from carbon-capture technologies to carbon-trading schemes, the energy lobby is highly active and successful in Brussels, with companies such as BP and Shell maintaining big operations aimed at shaping policy.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Fracking Increases Radon Gas Hazard, US Study Finds
Fracking Increases Radon Gas Hazard, US Study Finds
Levels of the carcinogenic gas rising in Pennsylvanian homes near industry sites.
Another major U.S. health study has found that the hydraulic fracking of unconventional rock formations can liberate and accelerate the release of radon, a highly carcinogenic gas.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that radon levels in U.S. homes in Pennsylvania have been on the rise ever since fracking of the Marcellus shale began in 2004.
The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, found that buildings in areas of the most active shale gas mining had significantly higher readings of radon compared to buildings located in areas of low well density and fracking activity.
The study looked at radon levels in more than 700,000 structures between 2004 and 2013. Buildings using well water had 21 per cent higher indoor radon concentrations than homes using municipal water, the study reported. “The release of waterborne radon during showering or washing can contribute to concentrations in buildings,” it said.
Radon can be found in well water, natural gas and the atmosphere wherever rock formations or soils contain lots of decaying uranium. Lung cancer caused by radon kills about 3,000 Canadians a year.
The U.S. findings collaborate and strengthen earlier studies by Australian researchers at Southern Cross University as well as recent shale gas research in Colorado. All suggest that the industrial activity of fracking can speed up the release of the odourless and tasteless gas in geologies already rich in uranium.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Is the Fracking Lobby Setting the EU Energy Agenda?
Is the Fracking Lobby Setting the EU Energy Agenda?
A European expert panel on unconventional hydrocarbons has been almost entirely taken over by the fracking industry reveals a new investigationby Friends of the Earth (FoE) Europe and theCorporate Europe Observatory (CEO).
The advisory group, set up by the European Commission, is tasked with assessing ongoing fracking projects in Europe along with the safety and appropriateness of other unconventional technologies. Of those not employed by the Commission, over 70 percent of the panel have financial ties to the fracking industry.
The panel’s five leading chairmen include two executives from shale firms Cuadrilla and ConocoPhillips, two officials from pro-shale ministries in the UK and Poland, and a director of IFP Energies nouvelles, who is also an advisor to the Shale Gas Europe lobby group.
Less than 10 percent of those on the panel represent civil society and environmentalists. And two thirds of the academics and research organisations involved have links to the shale industry.
In-House Lobby
Shell, Total, ExxonMobil and GDF Suez are also represented on what has been dubbed “an in-house shale gas lobby” on EU energy strategy.
Graphic provided by Corporate Europe Observatory
Panel members openly recognise that the group’s intent is to prime future EU policy-making on shale gas.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Shale Gas and Fracking: The science behind the controversy
Shale Gas and Fracking: The science behind the controversy
Anyone looking for a comprehensive review of the controversies associated with fracking is going to be disappointed by this short book. After having ploughed almost all of its 170 pages I found, near the back, the following sentence:
“I won’t go through all of the contested issues, because the chapters in the book provide a basis to carve out your own analysis looking at some of the main peer reviewed papers”.
So the message is that if you want to make up your mind about shale then go to the peer reviewed literature. The implied message in this, made explicit at times, is that many opponents of the shale gas industry don’t do this and many members of the public rely too heavily on rumour and panicked reports leading to what Michael Stephenson claims is a low quality to the public policy debate. The public policy debate needs to be guided by academic scientists in peer reviewed papers…..like him.
As he writes, towards the end of this book:
“In this book I hope I have shown how a controversial subject can be tackled with science. There are various definitions of science around. One that I like is “…a systemic endeavour that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable explanation and predictions about the universe.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Top 12 Media Myths On Oil Prices
Top 12 Media Myths On Oil Prices
The upstream oil and gas industry is not a black hole. There’s no mystery wrapped in an enigma here.
There are a lot of meetings with engineers, chemists and geologists. There’s a constantly evolving learning curve. And then there’s all the regulations and compliance. But all-in-all it’s pretty straight forward, that is, until the media gets a hold of it. That’s when it becomes complicated. It’s as though we are getting reports from the mysteries of the deep ocean or life in the great galaxies beyond. There is so much hyperbole and unsupported guesswork that investors don’t have a chance. So, in a small effort to set the record straight, let’s see if we can’t dispel some of the misinformation.
Misperception #1: Goldman Sachs knows what is going on. This is incorrect. Goldman Sachs should not be quoted extensively. They are notoriously wrong when forecasting tops and bottoms. What they are good at is jumping on the band wagon and stoking fires. Their forecasting always seems to be done through a rear view mirror and their calls for peaks and troughs are always overdone. Back in July 2014 when WTI was peaking, they were calling for more, even as the dollar was showing signs of strength (and we know what happened there) and as oil inventories were beginning to wash up over our ankles. And then when we are forming a bottom in January and retesting it in March, they were calling for a deeper bottom. And then there was 2008. Remember the calls for $150 and $200 oil from Goldman and Morgan Stanley? That was right before we went to $40 and then some. (To be fair, Ed Morse from Citi called the top but he overshot the bottom. We’re not going into the 20s).
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