US Oil Boom

[roach]

Won't happen, if you could you would. US regime has been barking about China for 60 years and our position is still solid as a rock. It is the US that's worrying about breaking up like the Soviet Union. The USSR only had a 9% budget deficeit when it collapsed, the US is now at 94% of GDP and rising. The alienation of the average American from your elites is already destroying the moral fabric of US society, such that whites and upper class minorities are already barricading themselves from the dark skinned hordes in gated communities.

In my experience, People talking about misery coming to other people are the first to experience it.

 

[shuntmaster]

Shale gas: A game changer that India should turn to
Shale gas: A game changer that India should turn to
By Bhamy V Shenoy

Looking for trees and missing the wood may become applicable in the case of India’s energy scenario.


So far India’s relentless efforts during the last 25 years to build pipelines to bring gas from Turkmenistan, Iran, Qatar, Bangladesh and Myanmar have remained pipe dreams. Renewable energy sources like ethanol and bio diesel, wind and solar are high on the national agenda. Thanks to Indo-US nuclear pact, India may succeed in increasing the contribution of nuclear energy.
But a recent phenomenon of shale gas — which has brought about seismic changes in the natural gas scene — has not been given the importance it deserves. Energy economists all over the world have started to admire with awe the great achievement of oil companies in the US in developing shale gas resources on a large scale during the last decade.

As recently as three years back conventional wisdom was that US will have a huge gas deficit and it has to import increasing quantity of LNG. In less than two years, the US supply has changed from one of deficit to surplus. The sudden and unexpected development of shale gas has been a game changer. World renowned energy economist Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Consulting Group has referred to shale gas development as “the biggest energy innovation of the decade.”
It is not that we in India are not familiar with this development. In an article few months back, columnist Anklesaria Aiyar had urged the government to bring about policy changes to promote shale gas. In India, shale deposits are found across the Gangetic plain, Assam, Rajasthan and many coastal areas, but neither the government nor the corporate sector has carried out any exploration or estimation. Recently, ONGC announced plans to start a pilot project in 2011 when most oil companies in Europe and the US are racing to master the technology of shale gas from those companies who have already succeeded in the US.

Shale gas is natural gas produced from shale formations. Gas shales are organic-rich shale formations. In terms of its chemical makeup, shale gas is typically a dry gas primarily composed of methane. Three factors have contributed to its rapid development of US gas shales: advances in horizontal drilling, advances in hydraulic fracturing, and, perhaps most importantly, rapid increases in natural gas prices in the last several years as a result of significant supply and demand pressures.
The primary differences between modern shale gas development and conventional natural gas development are the extensive uses of horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing. According to a recent DOE report, the use of horizontal drilling has not introduced any new environmental problems.
While unconventional gas sources like gas shales reserves are plentiful, cost to produce is more than the conventional gas production of yesteryears. The shale gas cost has been estimated to be between $6 per mmbtu (Million British Thermal Units) to $9 to 10.

Dependence on Russia
The potential shale gas production in Europe will have huge geopolitical importance. Since gas prices are often higher in Europe than in the US, oil companies are keen on drilling for shale gas prospects even though profits at this stage are only speculative. Europe is today dependent on Russia for its gas supplies to the extent of about 31 per cent. Future shale gas production may reduce this dependence on Russian gas supplies for Europe and improve their energy security.
In reality India’s gas demand is limited by its access to gas supplies based on domestic production and imports availability. If India can produce more gas then it can reduce its coal imports which is environmentally more unfriendly, its gasoline consumption through the use of compressed natural gas, and its demand for LPG through piped natural gas to meet residential cooking and heating requirements, etc. Natural gas is a versatile fuel and more environment friendly.
Unfortunately, Indian government has not been able to implement the right kind of gas policies even after the recommendations given by several high powered commissions. The current gas sector gives plenty of opportunity for rent seeking because of extensive government control.

Today we have three kinds of gas prices in India: 1. Gas prices based on Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM) for those gas reserves before new exploration and licensing policy. This is around $2.50/mmbtu. 2. Import prices paid to LNG imports which depend on international prices which were as high as $16/mmbtu last year and 3. The so called arms length price based on market for those gas reserves discovered after NELP. For Krishna Godavari basin the government has fixed gas price at a level of $4.20/mmbtu on an arbitrary basis when the market based price would be above $6.50/mmbtu.
The basic requirement for proper gas sector development in india is that the government should allow the market to set the prices as recommended by many gas committees.
The government should encourage Indian companies —public sector and private sector — to import gas shale production technology by giving incentives. It may even facilitate such transfer of technology through signing of cooperation pact with the US government as China has done during the recent visit of President Obama.
The government should consider setting a shale gas mission to make efforts to develop India’s shale gas reserves on a war footing. In short, we should actively endeavour to develop shale gas reserves in India in the shortest time with all the human, geologic and financial resources we can assemble.
(The writer is an energy expert)

 

[Anonymous user]

Shale gas: A game changer that India should turn to
Shale gas: A game changer that India should turn to
By Bhamy V Shenoy

Looking for trees and missing the wood may become applicable in the case of India’s energy scenario.

Given India's population density and groundwater usage I am not sure if Shale Gas is the way to go for India. That's IMO.

 

[gambit]

Won't happen, if you could you would. US regime has been barking about China for 60 years and our position is still solid as a rock. It is the US that's worrying about breaking up like the Soviet Union. The USSR only had a 9% budget deficeit when it collapsed, the US is now at 94% of GDP and rising. The alienation of the average American from your elites is already destroying the moral fabric of US society, such that whites and upper class minorities are already barricading themselves from the dark skinned hordes in gated communities.

We are not the country with literally TENS OF THOUSANDS of citizen protests PER YEAR. Which town was it whose authority literally taken over by the people away from the police? You have villages with mostly men, empty cities, environmental degradation, political oppression, etc...

Villages with mostly men...

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Wifeless future for China's men

Four boys sit next to a girl. Further back, a girl in pigtails and a pink jumper stands out amid a group of boys.

Outside the village shop, men and teenagers hang about.

They keep an eye on the main road - in case any eligible women wander by. But the road is empty.

In years to come, for the single men of China, things will only get worse.

Serious cases of SRH -- Sperm Retention Headaches -- going on here in these villages.

 

[Farooq]

In my experience, People talking about misery coming to other people are the first to experience it.

Yeah you guys tried that in 1962, but didn't work out too well did it?

 

[Chogy]

Natural gas is also huge in the USA. The Barnett Shale gas formation in North Texas is right under my own feet.

Some experts have suggested the Barnett Shale may have the largest producible reserves of any onshore natural gas field in the United States.[1] The field is proven to have 2.5×1012 cu ft (71 km3) of natural gas, and is widely estimated to contain as much as 30×1012 cu ft (850 km3) of natural gas resources.[1] Oil also has been found in lesser quantities, but sufficient (with recent high oil prices) to be commercially viable.

Gas company men came through our neighborhood and leased the mineral rights to our individual lots. My own 1 acre house yielded $7,000 just for the lease, not including royalties. There's a lot of $$ in energy. Anyway, with modern extraction and refining, pretty much anything with carbon can be converted to usable fuels, including coal. The only thing in the way is the cost, and with oil prices rising, it will soon be profitable to harvest shale oils and the like.

Like someone mentioned, the cheap and easy crudes get pulled first... that is natural and normal economic processes at work. It is good to know there is plenty of energy yet available here.

 

[dbc]

FYI, a majority of oil supplies to USA are NOT from Iraq or Libya, or even Saudi Arabia for that matter.

It hardly matters all oil & gas producing nations including Russia, China, Iran and Venezuela rely on US exploration and production technology. The Unites States can exert a great deal of influence by denying access to E&P technology which is so crucial today since all major oil & gas producers have depleted their reserves of 'easy oil'.

 

[VCheng]

It hardly matters all oil & gas producing nations including Russia, China, Iran and Venezuela rely on US exploration and production technology. The Unites States can exert a great deal of influence by denying access to E&P technology which is so crucial today since all major oil & gas producers have depleted their reserves of 'easy oil'.

The US has worked long and hard to create and develop technologies such as Oil E&P. Of course other nations are free to develop these on their own if they can, or enter into negotiations for the terms and conditions associated with relying on the fruits of American's hard labor. If they don't like those, then they can go to China or any other supplier for what is available with them, or do without. Simple.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

US has no shortage of anything what it lacks is initiative

US has become burdened with "Red Tape" COSTS , contractor expenses , 300$ muffin lunches ... that is the problem
the white collar working class is gone , replaced by high paid workers who have no loyalty

No one wants to do what needs to be done they do what has to be done to make profit and which is why US is now , a third world country pretending to be a first world country

 

[VCheng]

US has no shortage of anything what it lacks is initiative

US has become burdened with "Red Tape" COSTS , contractor expenses , 300$ muffin lunches ... that is the problem
the white collar working class is gone , replaced by high paid workers who have no loyalty

No one wants to do what needs to be done they do what has to be done to make profit and which is why US is now , a third world country pretending to be a first world country

Could you please tell me why you think that is true, because I can think of many, many reasons why that is INCORRECT.

 

[OrionHunter]

And by 2017, investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts the US could be poised to pass Saudi Arabia and overtake Russia as the world's largest oil producer.

Ah! Does that mean a respite from wars for oil by America in the Middle East and Africa? Thank heavens! But then...I wouldn't bet on it though, considering their aim of establishing a New World Order!

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Could you please tell me why you think that is true, because I can think of many, many reasons why that is INCORRECT.

The US of 1900 ... was something else ... Industrial revolution these days ppl have no dreams corporations are making US a third world country

I saw the engineering and work done in 1900's still over shadows anything modern engineers build

They had something special

 

[VCheng]

The US of 1900 ... was something else ... Industrial revolution these days ppl have no dreams corporations are making US a third world country

I saw the engineering and work done in 1900's still over shadows anything modern engineers build

They had something special

I have some news for you: USA still is something special!

 

[Thomas]

Earning $100K at ‘man camp

by martha irvinE September 3, 2011
Earning $100K at

WILLISTON, N.D. — You can almost smell the opportunity along Highway 2. It oozes deep from the sloping North Dakota prairie where oil derricks and natural gas wells sprout among the drying rolls of hay.

People come here hopeful, drawn by the promise of jobs. But they probably also utter a few prayers, or expletives, when they realize just how far from home this place really is.

Or when they see the makeshift villages of narrow metal-sided buildings rising from the plains — temporary housing to accommodate what many are calling the largest oil boom in recent North American history.

They’re called “man camps,” because there’s something else you’ll notice when you arrive in this upper corner of North Dakota: There aren’t a lot of women here.

“The best thing about a man camp? Uhhh, I don’t know. I couldn’t really tell you,” says Jacob Austin, a 22-year-old line cook at a camp outside the small town of Williston.

“I could tell you the worst thing about a man camp: It’s a man camp, and not a woman camp.”

“Welcome to the middle of nowhere,” says Tracy Glover, manager at this camp. A towering denim-clad character with a wide gray mustache, he looks the part of the Old West innkeeper, or maybe the sheriff. Here, he’s a bit of both.

BMW-driving former executives, young men fresh off the farm, or recent college graduates — they’ve all come to seek their fortune, along this stretch of oil country that’s known as the Bakken, where barreling fuel trucks dominate the roads. Parking lots are full of cars, RVs and pickups with plates from states where financial upheaval has shaken many Americans to their core.

“I always say, ‘Oil doesn’t grow where men go,’” Glover tells new arrivals.

This particular camp houses nearly 500 residents. One guy’s shift might start at 4 a.m., another’s at 4 p.m.


those shifts often running 12 to 16 hours, seven days a week, depending on the work and the deadlines.

It leaves little time for the rowdiness that you might expect at a place like this. The men might watch a little TV, shoot some pool or hang out for a chat and a smoke. They use computers next to the laundry room or Wi-Fi on their own laptops to communicate with the outside world, and cell phones, when they work.

Workers pay $400 a month, or whatever they can negotiate, for room and board at the camps.

Matthew Tjaden, a 21-year-old oil worker, has a degree is in recreation and leisure management. When he was in school, he was a Wal-Mart cashier and also delivered pizzas.

Now he makes six-figures working on an oil rig 80 hours a week. “I’ve paid off college and my car. I blew a lot of it, too,” he says, detailing some of those purchases — $4,000 worth of snowboarding equipment, $5,000 worth of clothes, a $3,000 mountain bike.

Target Logistics, which operates the camp, only accepts residents from companies that do drug tests and background checks. There are rules — no alcohol, no weapons, no women in the rooms, no drama.

“There’s a lot of guys who can do this forever, and then there are those who burn out,” Tjaden

 

[vtnsx]

I'm from Alberta and I'm about 3 hours away from black gold. I know what it is to work in camp. It sucks I tell ya, but the money is really good. You could easily make $100,000.00/year here but there is a lot of drugs, alchohol and violence and lack of women.