“During the past four years, more than twenty wells were drilled or re-entered in Lamar, Pickens, Tuscaloosa, Blount, and Cullman Counties, Alabama, to attempt completions in the Mississippian Floyd Shale or Devonian Chattanooga Shale.” More at the Alabama Geological Survey website.
An article on the Oil and Gas Journal website reports that the Sumitomo Corporation of Japan is considering a stake in the Marcellus Shale gas play. Last year they invested in Barnett Shale acreage.
Natural gas prices can vary significantly from one state to another. Supply, demand, delivery costs and regulatory environments can all have an impact on the price of natural gas. The prices shown below are residential rates from 2009 but you can download a diversity of current and historical prices at the Energy Information Administration website.
Exxon Mobil has made some major recent investments in onshore natural gas that have some people asking if the company is changing directions. An article on the Houston Chronicle website reports on comments by David Rosenthal, Exxon Mobil’s VP of Investor Relations that address these questions.
“The Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management launched several reforms to the onshore oil and gas leasing process in an effort to improve protections for land, water, and wildlife and reduce potential conflicts that can lead to costly and time-consuming protests and litigation of leases. In addition, Secretary Salazar issued a Secretarial Order creating a new Energy Reform Team.” Quoted from the DOI website.
An article on the RigZone website reports: Although California has an improved natural gas supply situation, the state senate is still considering bills that relate to new LNG facilities that might come to the state.
A Houston Chronicle article reports that a proposed pipeline to carry natural gas from the North Slope, through Canada and on to markets in Alaska and the 48 states could cost up to $41 billion. A competing project would carry the gas to a proposed LNG facility at Valdez.
Just a few years ago Russia invested heavily in the Shtokman gas field in the Barents Sea with the intent of exporting that gas as LNG to the United States. Now the US has several giant shale gas fields and the Russians have all of that Shtokman gas plus opportunities to develop their own shales. More at the United Press International website.
In China, the Ministry of Land and Resources hopes to raise the country’s annual shale gas production to 15-30 billion cubic meters by 2020. More in a SmartMoney.com article.
The Financial Times website has an article titled: Louisiana’s Shale Gas Bonanza. It describes how a gas shale rush, lease and royalty income, and other opportunities related to the development of the Haynesville Shale have changed some parts of rural Louisiana.
An article on the Oil and Gas Journal website gives a detailed presentation on the huge number of opportunities that still exist in the Marcellus Shale gas play.
The Shale Gas Drilling & Completions 2010 conference will be held in Houston, Texas on May 26 through May 28, 2010. The conference will deliver “key insight into applying cutting-edge drilling and completions techniques used throughout diverse shale projects in the US & Canada. Leading shale producers will share real life examples of their drilling and completions success and challenges – including experience from the Barnett, Haynesville, Horn River, Marcellus, Woodford and Fayetteville shale plays.” Quoted from the conference website.
The US Energy Information Administration reports that the amount of natural gas held in United States underground storage facilities reached a record high volume (8,087 billion cubic feet) in October, 2009.
