Fracking

New Panel to Review EPA’s Hydraulic Fracturing Research Study

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EPA’s Science Advisory Board will form an independent panel to provide transparent feedback on its 2014 draft report on hydraulic fracturing and its impact on drinking water resources.

On March 25, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) independent Science Advisory Board announced formation of a panel of independent experts to review the agency’s hydraulic fracturing research report,which is to be completed in 2014. The 31-member Hydraulic Fracturing Research Advisory Panel will review and provide scientific research on the EPA’s Congressionally-mandated draft report on the potential impacts of fracturing on drinking water. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 4, 2013 at 1:00 PM

Oil and Gas Boomtowns

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Rising oil and gas prices have brought big oil, plenty of workers and lots of housing headaches to the nation’s fastest-growing boomtowns. The small city of Williston, N.D., was once a sleepy farm town — until oil companies discovered ways to tap the vast Bakken formation believed to hold as many as 24 billion barrels of oil. “It’s a game-changer, a bonanza,” said Tom Rolfstad, executive director for the city economic development department.

 /  Published March 19, 2013 at 9:15 AM

NY Assembly Votes to Extend Fracking Moratorium Until 2015

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The NY State Assembly voted to enact legislation that would extend the moratorium on high volume hydraulic fracturing until 2015, aiming to facilitate additional health and environmental impact assessments.

On March 6, 2013, the New York State Assembly passed a bill to further suspend issuance of permits for high volume hydraulic fracturing until May 15, 2015. The bill passed with a vote of 95-40 and marks the Assembly’s third moratorium, following similar measures in 2010 and 2011. The industry currently awaits the release of DEC’s Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) and a subsequent ruling for permit issuance. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 14, 2013 at 2:00 PM

Peak Oil No More? Bankers Prepare For a World of Energy Abundance

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If the sky isn’t falling when it comes to energy availability, what does that mean for your portfolio?

After years of forecasts – part of a long tradition – that oil supplies were close to running out with the potential for immense supply shocks for the global economy, Wall Street analysts are beginning to build a new consensus around the potential for an unexpected and still-emerging demand-side shock. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 1, 2013 at 9:00 AM

Tech Advantages Favor ‘Big Three’ Firms in Oil Services

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The largest energy services companies are set to benefit from a focus on oil drilling in the US as the shale oil boom in North America continues, analysts at Barclays claim, even as drilling for natural gas in shale – largely an “efficiency game” – becomes commoditized.

Much has been made of the boom in development of both oil and natural gas fields in the US, stemming from advances in the efficiency and deployment of hydraulic fracturing. That technological advance has created a price dynamic that weighs on the very industry that has taken advantage of it, while comparatively high global oil prices have made drilling for crude – a more complicated business – more attractive. Keep reading →

 /  Published February 5, 2013 at 9:00 AM

California Could Be Next Oil Boom State

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California is sitting on a massive amount of shale oil and could become the next oil boom state. But only if the industry can get the stuff out of the ground without upsetting the state’s powerful environmental lobby. Running from Los Angeles to San Francisco, California’s Monterey Shale is thought to contain more oil than North Dakota’s Bakken and Texas’s Eagle Ford — both scenes of an oil boom that’s created thousands of jobs and boosted U.S. oil production to the highest rate in over a decade.

 /  Published January 14, 2013 at 11:45 AM

California Announces Preliminary Regulations for Hydraulic Fracturing

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California regulators released the state’s first draft regulations for hydraulic fracturing. The industry views the move as a positive start to drive oil and gas development in California, which has some of the strictest well safety regulations. The move could result in dramatic expansion of drilling activities in the state’s Monterey Shale, a major oil play that could substantially contribute to the domestic energy supply.

On December 18, 2012, California’s Department of Conservation released preliminary regulations for hydraulic fracturing, after a series of public discussions held this year to address environmental concerns. The draft rules, if passed, would require drilling companies to test well integrity and report test results to regulators before beginning fracturing operations. The proposal also seeks to require companies to maintain an online database of fracturing locations and chemical composition of fracturing fluids. It would however, provide an exemption for operators seeking protection for proprietary chemical composition information. The formal rulemaking process, expected to begin in early 2013 with further public hearings, could be finalized in about one year. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 11, 2013 at 8:00 AM

A ‘Different World of Natural Gas’

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Many analysts and energy industry observers did not anticipate the impact unconventional gas and oil produced from tight deposits like shale would have on the industry. Technology and market fundamentals aligned to open vast reserves and facilitate production increases that caught many by surprise and are having wide ranging effects throughout the energy business and beyond.

This video from the recent US Association of Energy Economics conference features natural gas market experts discussing the shale gas phenomenon and what it means for everything from trading strategies to Russian production and export planning. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 26, 2012 at 3:00 PM

EPA Releases Update on Ongoing Hydraulic Fracturing Study

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The link between fracking and water quality has been a source of deep controversy in and outside the energy business, despite a lack of firm data or consensus to date on which practices might impact water and when.

Today the EPA issued an update on its studies, ducking the inevitable round of controversy by releasing its report in the final hours before a long holiday weekend: Keep reading →

 /  Published December 21, 2012 at 1:20 PM

Protecting Yourself In the Global Fracking Debate

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Does anyone use the term eco-terrorists any more? Since Greenpeace stopped tying themselves to power plant smokestacks on a regular basis and global economic leaders decided they’d rather deal with the financial crisis than with climate change, the mood among those who advocate for environmental rules has evolved to one of public education and consensus-seeking.

That doesn’t mean that natural gas magnates should rest easy though, or at least that’s what the people traditionally charged with evaluating the manifold security risks for energy companies operating in harsh environments are arguing. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 19, 2012 at 10:30 AM
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