Progress – and Challenges After some critical commentary about the program‘s progress, numerous reports have issued in recent days, proclaiming and analyzing the dramatic success of the first “commercial” gas development from China’s potentially huge shale reserves (estimated to be the world’s largest). In brief, Sinopoc (CNPC) has been producing from 21 “demonstration” wells …
Still Trial and Error! Unconventional resource leaders believe that traditional petroleum geophysics, developed over 150 years, needs a makeover to most effectively exploit shale/tight reservoirs. The behavior of hydrocarbons in extremely low porosity rock may require an understanding of hydrocarbon, water, and rock surface behavior at a near atomic level – much like the difference …
Light at the End of a L-O-O-N-G Tunnel??? Cold weather aside, the multi-year outlook for US natural gas supply looks fairly glutted, leading to a “BTU Bargain” as far as the eye can see. Even off the bottom, the 2015-2020 futures trade, between $4-4.50 per million BTUs – about a quarter of energy parity with …
North American Operators Look Abroad As the US shale boom has shifted the gas side of the global energy landscape, US operators and geologists have looked abroad. A recent IEA survey has highlighted the resource opportunities on every continent, with special interest in Europe and China. Most majors and quite a few independent ‘shale-hardened’ E&Ps …
Global Natural Gas – Interesting Trends have investment implications A by-product of very weak US natural gas prices, cheap chemical feedstocks, is taking hold as the US is probably the second lowest cost producer of commodity chemicals in the world, next to the Middle East. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s decade long quest for natural gas …
All Eyes on the Gulf of Mexico, but How about Beyond?? As failure to control the Macondo oil spill passes the six week and, possibly, half million barrel mark, frustration grows, similarly, on many fronts – with the apparent, negligence or very poor judgment which led to the explosion, with the failure of Modern Technology …
Shale Gas – The Revolution is Underway! Lastly, natural gas continues to benefit from headline opportunity. This week’s Economist highlights the global potential for shale gas, which may be in greater abundance and at lower costs than conventional gas or crude oil. Coincidentally, a Barclay’s note predicts that the Marcellus Shale (Pennsylvania/West Virginia/New York) …