“The chances of rogue fractures due to shale gas fracking operations extending beyond 0.6 kilometres from the injection source is a fraction of one percent, according to new research led by Durham University. The analysis is based on data from thousands of fracking operations in the USA and natural rock fractures in Europe and Africa.” Quoted from the Durham University press release.
More at Durham University.
Rig counts in the Fayetteville Shale of Arkansas have fallen to their lowest level in six years.
More at TheCityWire.com.
“Hydraulic fracturing of shale formations to extract natural gas has no direct connection to reports of groundwater contamination [...] many problems ascribed to hydraulic fracturing are related to processes common to all oil and gas drilling operations, such as casing failures or poor cement jobs.” Quoted from the University of Texas at Austin press release.
More at University of Texas at Austin.
The EIA Natural Gas Weekly Update has an interesting graph that tracks the month-by-month dry gas production growth from various shale gas fields in the United States. For example, it shows that production from the Haynesville Shale started to increas…
More at Energy Information Administration.
Many property owners are very surprised when the royalties that they receive from a natural gas well on their property decline sharply. They are learning about production decline curves.
More at Geology.com.
An article in the New York Times reviews some potential rewards and problems that occur when a landowner decides to lease his property for oil and and gas development.
Related: Mineral Rights [1]
[1] http://geology.com/articles/mineral-rights.shtml
More at New York Times.
Dealing with the waste water from hydraulic fracturing is a problem. A Canadian company working in Arkansas has plans to treat Fayetteville Shale waste water and recycle it for continued drilling.
More in the Houston Chronicle.
An injection well used to dispose of waste water produced by natural gas drilling in the Fayetteville Shale of Arkansas was thought to be causing hundreds of small earthquakes. The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission voted to close the disposal well but c…
More at NPR.
Arkansas has two significant natural gas plays in the Haynesville and Fayetteville Shales. A proposal to significantly increase the natural gas severance tax to 7% has some companies threatening to drill in other states.
More at TodaysTHV.com.
The Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University has published a report titled: “Shale Gas and U.S. National Security”. “This study assesses the impact of U.S. domestic shale gas development on energy security and U.S. national security, with emphasis on the geopolitical consequences of rising supplies of U.S. natural gas from shale and the implications for U.S. foreign policy.” Quoted from the report summary.
Governor Mike Beebe of Arkansas answers questions related to natural gas drilling causing earthquakes, environmental problems and economic damage within the State of Arkansas.
A post on the Seeking Alpha blog details how successful Chesapeake Energy has been at rapidly leasing enormous acreages in all of the major natural gas shale plays in the United States. They author calls them a “land acquisition machine”.
BHP Billiton, the worlds largest mining company which also holds major oil and gas interests, has purchased a $4.7 billion stake in the Fayetteville Shale from Chesapeake Energy. More at Reuters.
We recently posted a video about the earthquake swarm near Guy, Arkansas. Now the NewYorkTimes has an article titled: “A Dot on the Map, Until the Earth Started Shaking”.
An article on the ABCNews site reports that Chesapeake Energy hopes to sell $5 billion in assets during calendar year 2012. Included in the sale are all of Chesapeake’s holdings in the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas.
