Write-down of two-thirds of US shale oil explodes fracking myth. Next month, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will publish a new estimate of US shale deposits set to deal a death-blow to industry hype about a new golden era of US energy independence by fracking unconventional oil and gas.
EIA officials told the Los Angeles Times that previous estimates of recoverable oil in the Monterey shale reserves in California of about 15.4 billion barrels were vastly overstated. The revised estimate, they said, will slash this amount by 96% to a puny 600 million barrels of oil. The Monterey formation, previously believed to contain more than double the amount of oil estimated at the Bakken shale in North Dakota, and five times larger than the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas, was slated to add up to 2.8 million jobs by 2020 and boost government tax revenues by $24.6 billion a year. Shale Gas Proved Reserves, Reserves Changes, and Production.
How fracking insulates USA: Our view. There is much news these days from the world's major energy producing regions.
Almost none of it is good. Iraq, Libya and Syria are in turmoil. Russia, the world's largest exporter of natural gas and the second largest exporter of oil, is bullying Ukraine and by extension Western Europe. And Iran's nuclear program may yet provoke a market-roiling conflict. Amazingly, as all this has transpired, U.S. gasoline prices have been stable, even falling. OPPOSING VIEW: Oil, gas industries run roughshod Go figure. But there are legitimate reasons why things would look relatively good here while so much of the world burns. The Energy Department projects that domestic crude oil production will average 9.3 million barrels a day next year. Recent discoveries, meanwhile, have made natural gas so abundant that it could easily last more than a century at today's consumption rates.
To many environmental activists, fracking is the new evil. Oil, gas industries run roughshod: Opposing view. We all want economic and energy security.
But recklessly ramping up U.S. oil and gas production is not the answer. Yet, a controversial new extraction technology known as "fracking" — combined with unprecedented exemptions for the industry from bedrock federal environmental and public health laws — has fueled a recent explosion in domestic oil and gas development. And safeguards have not kept pace. OUR VIEW: How fracking insulates USA As a result, today's fracking boom has come with enormous costs to our economy in the way of environmental cleanup, health impacts, community burdens, lost property values and decreased quality of life. Indeed, the oil and gas industry has been running roughshod in communities across the USA. More than 15 million Americans now live within a mile of a fracking site. We don't have to trade our national or economic security for this. There is a better way: clean energy. How much money can we make from fracking Britain?
So much for Britain's fracking revolution: How the oil field found beneath The Weald in Sussex, Hampshire and Kent contains just 0.5% of the North Sea total. Official analysis by British Geological Survey reveals billions of barrelsIt estimates that there are 4.4billion barrels-worth of oil under Weald BasinHow much of it is recoverable is not yet known - some say just ten per centReport was commissioned by Department for Energy and Climate ChangeIt also reveals it's unlikely there's any (more lucrative) shale gas in the areaNew plans to allow energy firms to drill in exchange for £20,000 per wellGreen MP Caroline Lucas says fracking on huge scale will be 'disastrous'And Greenpeace accuses government of 'bribing' landowners for access By Tamara Cohen and Harriet Arkell Published: 23:45 GMT, 22 May 2014 | Updated: 19:03 GMT, 23 May 2014.
Fracking 'is opportunity for Wales', say MPs. 16 June 2014Last updated at 02:22 ET It could take a decade to create a viable shale gas industry in Wales, said MPs Fracking for shale gas represents an opportunity for Wales but must not be at the expense of its natural environment, a group of MPs have said.
The Welsh Affairs Committee said the UK and Welsh governments should work with companies to estimate how much shale gas Wales has by the end of 2014. However it added they should consider environmental risks including traffic, noise and visual impact. The UK Onshore Operators Group said it was vital to identify new gas sources. Nearly 70% of the UK's gas supply will come from imports by 2025, according to the UK government. The committee said as shale gas production across the UK was at the exploratory stage, it could take a decade to create a viable industry in Wales if substantial reserves were found.
Sensitive areas. Fracking in Tory heartlands 'in national interest', says Michael Fallon as report reveals 4.4bn barrels of oil. "It is in the national interest that we do everything we can to find out how much of this potential can be brought into production," he said.
He risked a further clash with his own party by insisting that homeowners should have no right to block fracking beneath their properties. Under new plans, companies would have automatic underground access for fracking, and in return would pay compensation that could reach £200,000 for a major drilling site – a sum dismissed as inadequate by one Tory MP. Mr Fallon had previously described the Weald basin as the “second great belt of shale” after the Bowland in northern England, where a BGS survey last year revealed there could be enough recoverable gas to power the UK for four decades. The minister was on Friday forced to deny being disappointed at latest BGS the findings, which made clear that the shale oil potential of the South was far more modest. Shale gas and fracking.
UK shale gas resources 'greater than thought' 27 June 2013Last updated at 10:23 ET Osborne: "Local communities should get, for example, at least £100,000 for every fracking well that is created" UK shale gas resources may be far greater than previously thought, a report for the government says.
The British Geological Survey estimates there may be 1,300 trillion cubic feet of shale gas present in the north of England - double previous estimates. Meanwhile the government has announced measures to enable shale gas drilling as part of its infrastructure plans. Energy Minister Michael Fallon described shale gas as "an exciting new energy resource". The BGS said its estimate for shale gas resources in the Bowland Basin region, which stretches from Cheshire to Yorkshire, represented potential resources, but "not the gas that might be possible to extract".
"Shale gas clearly has potential in Britain but it will require geological and engineering expertise, investment and protection of the environment," it said. Fracking confusion: How UK has been 'fracked' for decades. 21 August 2013Last updated at 19:46 ET By Caroline Lowbridge BBC News, East Midlands Campaigners protested in Parliament Square, London, in December Protests by environmental campaigners have increased awareness of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking", but the process has been used in the UK's oil and gas industries for decades.
So what has changed, and why are people worried about fracking now? In West Sussex, environmental activists hold up pun-laden signs near the entrance of the Cuadrilla site in Balcombe. "Get the frack off our land," reads one, while another claims "Fracking kills: Don't bore Balcombe to death". But 160 miles (260km) north, in the Nottinghamshire village of Beckingham, 71-year-old John Foster walks his dog next to fields which have been fracked for oil and gas for decades. "I've been here since 1969 and at one time there were nodding donkeys [machines used to lift oil out of a well] dotted all over the place," he said. Continue reading the main story.