Natural gas in the Northeast trades at premium prices compared to the rest of the United States due to pipeline constraints during periods of high demand in the winter. Liquefied natural gas has met over 25% of New England’s average daily natural gas demand since November 2010.
More at Energy Information Administration.
The Energy Information Administration reports that about 1/3 of the natural gas produced from the Bakken Formation of North Dakota is flared instead of marketed because natural gas pipelines are not present in the production area or they can not accept…
More at Energy Information Administration.
The Energy Information Administration has an interactive map that displays energy infrastructure features in the Gulf of Mexico region. It includes power plants, transmission lines, LNG terminals, natural gas hubs, pipelines, oil ports, refineries, ac…
More at Energy Information Administration.
A natural gas pipeline in California ruptured during a pressure test, triggering a landslide that blocked part of I-280.
More at Palo Alto Online.
Now that thousands of wells have been drilled into the Marcellus Shale and other gas plays in the United States the job of getting the gas to market becomes urgent. This has triggered debates about right of way acquisition and eminent domain.
More at PennLive.com.
Russia has opened the Nord Stream Baltic gas pipeline that will transport natural gas under the Baltic Sea to Germany.
More at BBC.
The news is full of articles about decaying US infrastructure and natural gas pipeline leaks and explosions. However, when PG&E proposed a major pipeline modernization plan it was met with angry consumers.
More at Mercury News.
About three billion cubic feet of natural gas is being produced every day from the Marcellus Shale, an amount that is expected to grow significantly as more wells are drilled. Moving that gas to market will require thousands of miles of new pipelines,…
More at Business Week.
In some parts of Pennsylvania and other states high densities of natural gas wells have been drilled in the past two or three years. Today’s problem is building the many miles of gathering system and transmission system pipelines needed to move the gas to market. Most of these pipelines must cross many parcels of private property and the right to cross them must be carefully negotiated and paid for.
More at Reuters.
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.
“Through January of this winter, spot natural gas prices at Atlantic Coast trading points are up $0.90-1.20 per million British thermal units compared to the same period last winter – although prices are lower at Henry Hub and in other traditional consumption areas like the Midwest and western Pennsylvania. The main reason is congestion on pipelines into the Northeast.” Quoted from the EIA website.
Even in Texas, a state that is producing natural gas in many areas, the extremely cold weather has stressed natural gas supplies. Similar conditions are being seen in many parts of the United States according to the Energy Information Administration’s Natural Gas Transportation Update.
An article on the WBOY.com website explores some issues related to out-of-state workers who have jobs in the new shale gas plays. The article seems to be written from the understandable perspective of an unemployed person who lives in the gas play rather than a gas industry manager who needs to get wells or pipeline completed as rapidly as possible.
The American Right of Way Associates will hold an Eagle Ford Shale Training Class on Saturday, January 29th in San Antonio, Texas. The class is titled “Right of Way Acquisitions & Land Title Training Program”. It teaches the skills necessary for right of way agents and title agents to serve the various oil and gas companies working in the Eagle Ford Shale play. More at PR.com.
In a competitive rush to lease natural gas properties a pattern of drilling is established. Then pipelines to transport the gas to market must be built to service that pattern with companies still competing instead of cooperating. An editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram calls for a pipeline master plan.
According to a FuelFix.com article, analysts at the Energy Information Administration say that “increased capital costs and lower natural gas prices make it uneconomical” to construct a new pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the lower 48 states.
An article on the Financial Post website explores the Mackenzie Pipeline – a project to bring natural gas from the Canadian Arctic to southern markets. Some people say that it is no longer needed because of recent shale gas discoveries.
In Russia there are many industrialized cities located on waterways that are not served by natural gas pipelines. Gazprom considers building small-scale LNG terminals to bring natural gas to these markets. Gazprom is the largest gas production company in Russia and controlled by the Russian government. More at UPI.com.
El Paso Corporation and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Company will invest up to $500 million on natural gas gathering, processing and storage facilities in the Marcellus Shale and Eagle Ford Shale gas plays. See the KKR press release.
Jersey City passed a zoning ordinance to ban a proposed natural gas pipeline from crossing the city. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says that a city can not use zoning ordinances to block interstate commerce. More at NJ.com.
Local government units in Pennsylvania want to charge “Impact Fees” when certain natural gas activities take place within their jurisdictions. These “taxes” would be charged for drilling a well or for each foot of gathering line. More in TheTimes-Tribune.com.
A Penn State wildlife expert says that hunters going into the woods this year will be shocked to find the amount of land that has been disturbed by roads, pipelines and drilling pads used to develop the Marcellus Shale. More at the TimesLeader.com.
In Pennsylvania, natural gas gathering lines are small diameter pipelines that move natural gas from wellheads to a main line. They currently do not have the same status as a public utility – but if they acquired that designation they might have the power of eminent domain – and many things would change in the natural gas industry. More in TheTimes-Tribune.com.
A report by Bentek Energy LLC predicts that the United States will imports of natural gas from Canada will drop about 30% over the next five years. This is in response to new pipelines and abundant shale gas plays. More in the Calgary Herald.
Will natural gas companies shut-in some of their wells in response to low gas prices? A Reuters article reports that Exxon does not plan to shut in the former XTO Energy wells but ConocoPhillips has shut-in some wells.
There are a number of reasons why some companies do not shut-in wells. These include: the possibility of even lower prices in the future, difficulty restarting the well and obtaining original production levels, long-term supply agreements and more. For more details see the “Industry and Market Structure” page of NaturalGas.org (fifth paragraph from the bottom).
Low-cost natural gas from shale plays is moving electricity generation away from coal, delaying development of alternative energy, killing LNG import projects, launching LNG export projects, changing the geography of energy transport, demanding thousands of miles of new pipelines, motivating homeowners to install gas heat. More in an article on the StarTribune.com website.
In the past, natural gas pipeline projects were risky because natural gas prices were extremely volatile. Now, a large number of shale gas plays has produced an abundance of gas, a stable supply and most likely a stable low price. More at the Edmonton Journal.
An article on the Oil and Gas Journal website describes two new pipeline projects by Energy Transfer Partners that will serve wells in the Eagle Ford Shale.
Abundant natural gas produced from shale deposits in many parts of the world is starting to disrupt the market for liquefied natural gas. Gas from shale is starting to fill local needs and the higher cost LNG will not be needed in those areas. This situation will only expand as more shale fields are developed and pipelines are built to nearby markets. More at OilWeek.
Chesapeake Energy now has permission to build compression stations in Wetzel County, West Virginia. These stations are an essential part of the pipeline system that will transport natural gas between wellhead and consumers. More at the Wheeling News-Register.
