US Natural Gas Potential has been Overrated

[shaleoh2]

Here is an NPR story on the impact from drilling the Barnett Shale.

^{http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120043996&sc=emaf}

WOW. smells like that is one great big nauseating headache

[shaleoh2]

So big oil turned to big gas another fossil fuel clean to burn,
but one of the most toxic industries in the world to extract ?? ?? ?

AH but another way to get less dependent on foreign oil …. YEAH RIGHT
This is gunna work really well. OR NOT really.

Natural gas accounts for just 22 percent of the nation's energy consumption. Natural gas advocates say that increased use would mean a cleaner environment and less dependence on foreign oil.

Gastar Exploration, a small Texas company, is digging a shallow natural gas well in Clarksburg, W.Va. Gastar's business strategy is to limit its exploration and drilling to a minimum in the Appalachian region until it sees how larger gas companies fare in the area.


The agility of small companies is an important strength in a field where the ability to move fast is key to maintaining a competitive edge. But there is also a more practical reason small companies dominate the U.S. natural gas business. Typically, a new gas well produces in abundance in the year after it's opened, but then production begins to decline. If a natural gas company is to keep production and revenue steady, it has to keep drilling new wells. The energy majors may not have the patience for that effort.

Paradoxically, the biggest energy companies follow a similar strategy, though in their case they try to shift risk to their smaller rivals. Shale production in the United States looks so promising right now that the big oil companies are thinking about getting back into the natural gas business. Exxon, for example, is looking at some possible shale "plays" in the United States, but — like Gastar — the company is biding its time before making a big move.

"We can live on the fringes if necessary," he says. Or Gastar could just let the big oil companies take over some of its gas operations — for the right price.  

here we  go some more, can big oil companies really turn into big gas now?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113080237#commentBlock

[Xenopus]

Unconventional gas relies heavily on frac-ing (fracking). I watched this this documentary on the impact of the process and I honestly must say it made me sick. It paints a sincerely horrifying look at the consequences of the chemicals that are pumped in the ground along with the water that makes up "frac-ing fluid". The trailer does not even do the documentary justice in terms of how fucking sad and eye-opening it is. Certainly gives one pause if you are planning on buying that doomstead without the mineral rights to the land.

I am in the natural gas distribution side of the business, and I have avoided posting too much industry specific details of what my perceptions are for a number of reasons.

Let me just say that I don't think that some of the best, biggest and brightest entities on the gas distribution side of things would not have spent a mint on LNG receiving terminals and re-gassification plants if they thought tight or shale gas would solve future supply problems. I am not saying that LNG is 'the" solution, just that it wouldn't be ready to go into play if other unconventional gas was the solution. 

Yes, indeed. We're on Marcellus Shale and we turned down a couple of doomsteads because they had gas leases on them.

Someone has just pulled together all the drilling accidents in NY in the past 30 years:
http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20091108/NEWS01/911080372&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

The state's depiction of a clean, tightly regulated natural gas industry just got a shot of muck in the eye.

As the debate over the merits of Marcellus Shale development reaches a crescendo, an Ithaca researcher has culled a list of 270 files documenting wastewater spills, well contamination, explosions, methane migration and ecological damage related to gas production in the state since 1979.

We used to live near an LNG terminal on the Savannah River. It was expanding quite rapidly. I'd rather live near that than near hydrofracking.

I bet you're right that unconventional NG really isn't ready for prime time, in lots of ways.

[Satori]

hydraulic fracturing in the news again
and it ain't good

all the natural gas you want
as long as you don't mind ruining your water supply

http://www.examiner.com/x-28586-Chicago-Environmental-News-Examiner~y2009m11d11-Peak-Oil-Should-Still-Worry-You-The-Hot-Air-in-New-Natural-Gas-Estimates

[wordnerd]

Gas is going to becoming a 'too" expensive way to heat our homes.
Geothermal is too expensive to install
There is not enough firewood and coal for the number of people alive today who will need it
Does anyone remember that scene at the beginning of Dr. Zhivago where he is arrested for stealing a board to burn to heat their apartment? Are we approaching that scenario?