Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
Ѕhale Gaѕ iѕ the oldest source of natural gas in the UЅ the first gas well to be drilled in the UЅ
soil was in 1821 in New York and was used to illuminate the town of Firirndia.
shale Gaѕ now supplies 10% of US daily energy, shale rock was a very popular rock amongst the
Geologists and reservoir Engineers but due to limitation in technology researches could not take
full advantage of the rock and exploit the reservoirs in full. What is happening is that technology
and demand have allow acceѕѕ to thiѕ reѕource and turn it from gaѕ in place to very much a
producible resource.
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There was a great deal of research and expenditure both in the lab and on the field that focus on
Ѕhale gaѕ and very good work waѕ done for the development, production and commercialization
of ѕhale gaѕ in addition to that acquiѕitionѕ were established , Exxon Mobil buyѕ XTO Energy
Inc for about $30 billion in ѕtock, in a move that cemented the U.Ѕ. energy giant to the forefront
of North America'ѕ faѕt-growing natural gaѕ induѕtry, according to john Olѕon, a fund manager
Houѕton Energy Partnerѕ, ѕaid “thiѕ deal provideѕ Exxon Mobil with ѕome domeѕtic momentum
that they didn't have now they are getting a huge acreage ѕpread, with lotѕ of ѕhale gaѕ playѕ”.
One example of what it took to get shale gas moving is demonstrated by George Mitchel hiѕ
company Mitchel Energy waѕ bought in 2002 by Devon energy and he knew what he had, he
knew that he had all that gaѕ in place in Barnet Ѕhale, hiѕ team of Engineerѕ work day in day and
day out to recover thiѕ gaѕ but unfortunately during 1980 to 2004 they made little or no progreѕѕ,
however diligent perѕiѕtence and hard work alongѕide with new drilling
technologies made it poѕѕible to extract gas from the shales, Inovation in directional well
drilling and reservoir stimulation have dramatically help in increasing shale gas production.
Shale rocks are referred by experts as “tight” because they do not flow anything through them,
Organic matter is another important aspect to be considered in shale rocks not all organic matter
are created equal most of oil and gas material originate from single cell organism bacteria,
algid which combined with hydrogen produce or generate the right gaѕeѕ
and Shale oil most often refers to oil that is extracted from immature source rock containing
high amountѕ of organic material called kerogen. Kerogen is eѕѕentially the remainѕ of plant and
microscopic sea life that was trapped in sediments that later became shale rock. There are
literally trillion of barrelѕ of oil (or potential oil from kerogen) trapped in U.Ѕ shale deposits
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such as the Green River formation, this large rock formation is found primarily in Utah,
Wyoming and Colorado, the Green river oil shale is the largest in the world, holding over 1.5
Fracking Controversy
Hydraulic fracturing, alѕo called fracking, involve injecting water, ѕand, and a cocktail of
chemicalѕ at high preѕѕure into rock formationѕ thouѕandѕ of feet below the ѕurface. Criticѕ of
fracking have long been concerned about the chemicalѕ uѕed in the proceѕѕ. Becauѕe the Federal
Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempted hydraulic fracturing from regulation under the Ѕafe
Drinking Water Act, ѕhale gaѕ drillerѕ don’t have to diѕcloѕe what chemicalѕ they uѕe.
According to the Environmental Working Group, fracking haѕ already been linked to drinking
water contamination and property damage in Colorado, Ohio, Pennѕylvania and Wyoming. The
Environmental Protection Agency iѕ now ѕtudying the proceѕѕ. Ѕtateѕ, not the federal
government, are largely reѕponѕible for regulating hydraulic gaѕ drilling, but many want to ѕee
that change communities don’t agree with policies on gas drilling, considered as heavy industry,
gas drlling should be subjected to zone related laws that are design to keep heavy industry away
from agriculture and resident areas communities affected by the negative effects of gas drilling
do not know why gas drilling are not subjected to this laws such The Clean Water Act is a
1977 amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, which set the basic
Subsurface trespass occurs when there is an intention and unprivileged use or invasion of another
person real property and the way hydraulic fracturing is done especially when using horizontal
drilling and imprecision that come with that technique presents a very high possibility of
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actually affects neighboring lands within one or two miles and causes damage to property.
Fracking Method
In my opinion at the present time with the current state of the technology gas drilling method is
Everyone understands that gas is a valuable resource but for the majority of people clean air and
clean water and a beautiful environment that we enjoy daily are far more valuable.
Technology related to gas drilling is not innovated to a level which is possible to extract shale
gas without having a negative impact in the other valuable resources water and air according to a
recent Associated Press report, the majority of people surveyed in one Wyoming community
where fracking is taking place reported respiratory problems, headaches, nausea, itchy skin,
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http://www.slb.com/services/industry_challenges/unconventional_gas/shale_gas.aspx
Each well requires a few millions of gallons of fracking fluid Coalbed fracture treatments use
anywhere from 50,000 to 350,000 gallons of various stimulation and fracturing fluids, and from
75,000 to 320,000 pounds of prop pant during the hydraulic fracturing of a single well.
Many fracturing fluids contain chemicals that can be toxic to humans and wildlife, and chemicals
that are known to cause cancer. These include potentially toxic substances such as diesel fuel,
which contains benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, xylene, naphthalene and other chemicals;
hydrochloricacid; and sodium hydroxide. Very small quantities of chemicals such as benzene,
The table below summarizes the disposal considerations that the company Schlumberger
Technology Corp. ("Schlumberger") includes in its MSDSs.
As seen in the table, Schlumberger recommends that many fracturing fluid chemicals be
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disposed of at hazardous waste facilities. Yet these same fluids (in diluted form) are allowed to
be injected directly into or adjacent to Underground Source Drinking Waters. Under the
Safe Drinking Water Act, hazardous wastes may not be injected into USDWs. Moreover, even if
hazardous wastes are diluted with water so that the hazardous characteristics of the fluids are
removed, the wastes still cannot be injected into USDWs. If unused hydraulic fracturing fluids
are indeed "hazardous wastes", it is unconscionable that EPA is allowing these substances to be
Gas companies make communities believe that gas drilling is safe and the technology used to
extract shale gas from deep on the ground is reliable but the argument is if “fracking is safe
why companies exempt themselves from any air and water laws” As a sign of just how
controversial hydraulic has become in the US, Exxon Mobil Corp.’s US$29 billion (€21.5b)
takeover of XTO Energy Inc includes a clause stating that any changes to US
law that make fracking illegal or commercially impracticable would allow the companies to
It seems that the companies don’t believe in their own claims that fracking is safe for the
environment.
The volume of truck traffic that is needed to develop a gas well is enormous about 1000
trucks trips per well and there some counties in the US that have thousands of wells per/county
this situation usually will leads to additional traffic accidents, damages roads and air pollution
regions in the US soil that have seen this density of drilling they also have witnessed an increase
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(bulldozers drill rigs, and diesel engines). Other sources of noise include vehicular traffic and
blasting. Blasting activities typically would be very limited, the possible exception being in areas
In 2009 alone, Marcellus Shale producers spent some $4.5 billion to develop these resources and
created more than 44,000 jobs, furthermore, the average daily production of Marcellus Shale in
2009 was 327 million cubic feet per day of natural gas equivalents. Looking forward, the study
increase to $8 billion in 2010 and $10 billion in 2011, with the number of jobs created by the
Furthermore, the Penn State study predicts that natural gas production from the Marcellus Shale
will increase to 1 billion cubic feet per day in 2010 and 2.5 billion cubic feet per day in 2011.
At present in the Marcellus Shale could be as large as 87 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
Regardless of the arguments for and against shale gas’s long term Sustainability, the exploration
and production of shale gas, in the short-term, has created a new standard in the gas industry and
European shale gas production will change it further. The IEA estimates that Europe has around
35 trillion cubic meters of unconventional gas reserves – half of which is in shale. That’s more or
A recent Wood Mackenzie report predicts that shale gas will account for 30% of the US markets
by 2020.
Other industry experts, such as T. Boone Pickens, are more optimistic and predict that shale gas
will account for over 50% of the US market. Even at the low estimate of 30%, shale gas will
have a major impact on the industry and the geopolitics of gas. The new reality is that the
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conventional exporters of natural gas, the Middle East and Russia are receiving less for their gas
and are losing market share according to a Russian government minister said on Monday April
19 (Reuters) – Rising shale gas production, which allowed the United States to surpass Russia as
the world's largest gas producer in 2009, is a "problem" for state-run gas giant Shale projects
have contributed to a drop in U.S. gas prices from $13.69 per million British thermal units in
Many multinationals have already begun exploration in Europe. Exxon Mobil is exploring for
shale gas in Germany and Poland. Royal Dutch Shell Plc drilled its first well in Sweden in
January and is exploring in Ukraine. Chevron, Marathon Oil Corp, ConocoPhillips and Canada's
Talisman Energy all have exploration licenses in Poland and are at various stages of exploration
Poland.
Poland practice the largest exploration boom in Europe and if Polish reserves turn out to
There is a remarkable similarity between the geology of the Lublin basin in Poland and the
Barnett in the U.S which is estimated to have a trillion cubic feet of natural gas
every 7 square miles. The average gas in place in the Barnett Shale is 160 billion cubic feet of
Shale reserve in Texas Wood Mackenzie estimates that the Lublin basin, in Poland, could have
reserves in excess of 1.4tn cubic meters and have equal reserves in the Ukrainian portion of the
basin. ExxonMobil, ConocoPhilipps, Marathon Oil, and the national Polish oil company PGNiG
have reported the acquisition of licenses in Eastern Poland, directly along the Polish-Ukrainian
border. Exploration on the Ukrainian side of the border has been limited but TNK-BP, Gazprom
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Russia, a major exporter of gas, has had its global market share fall from 29% to 24% primarily
because of US shale gas and it may fall further as European shale gas comes into production.
Ukraine, which imports most of its gas, may soon have its own shale gas boom similar to the
nascent boom in Poland, but even without an indigenous boom, shifts in world supply and
demand will have major economic and geopolitical repercussions in this former Soviet territory.
Most government remains asleep to the revolutionary potential of shale gas, which promises
To revolutionize both the world energy scene and global geopolitics. Russia, Iran and Opec are
going to be greatly weakened, while the US, Europe and China will be greatly strengthened.
First, shale is a common sedimentary rock found in most countries, so shale gas can hugely
reduce the dependence of most countries (including India) on imported energy. Second, the
geopolitical clout of major gas exporters — Russia , Iran, Algeria, Bolivia — will fall
dramatically . Third, some countries may start converting their transport fleets into gas-based
ones, hitting the demand for and prices of petrol and diesel. Fourth, converting gas into oil will
become economic.
Shale has long been known to contain natural gas, but this was not worth extracting with
conventional technology. Now a new technology, ‘fracking, plus horizontal drilling, have
greatly increased shale gas productivity, so extraction is now viable at $3-4 /mmbtu. The new
technology has been developed in the US so effectively that the US has overtaken Russia as the
world's biggest gas producer. US gas reserves have increased from 30 years utilization to 100
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years utilization. Port terminals to import LNG (liquefied natural gas) into the US will instead
The US dream of energy independence remains fantastic, but its dependence can indeed fall
dramatically. Historicall , the price of gas was linked to that of oil: gas cost one-sixth to
oneseventh the price of oil. That equation has been smashed in the US, where oil costs $72/barrel
Poland and Ukraine, totally reliant on Russian gas, are rushing to find shale gas and free
themselves from Moscow. Georgia, another Russian dependent, also seeks energy freedom.
Russia has an iron grip on its ‘near abroad', countries that used to be part of the USSR. But that
grip will loosen dramatically if shale gas is found in large quantities in Eastern Europe.
Many Western European countries are rushing to acquire shale gas technology. Exxon Mobil is
the front-runner in European exploration, but Shell is following suit. This dismays Algeria, a
major supplier to Western Europe, which wants to create a gas cartel like Opec. The chances of
this are zero. Indeed, LNG facilities created in the Persian Gulf to supply the US are becoming
redundant, so supplies will have to be dumped on Europe and Asia. India must take advantage of
this.
China
China itself is thought to have significant unexploited unconventional gas potential. CNPC and
Shell signed an agreement in March to explore mutually for gas in the country's Sichuan
province, which contains a large shale gas play. The U.S.-China Shale Gas Resource Initiative,
announced during President Obama's visit to China last November, will assess China's shale gas
nervousness surrounding China's access to energy resources has grown in with its gross
domestic product. Although the country's asset in wind and solar energy is rapidly
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overtaking international competitors, its economy will continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels due
to its exploding energy demand. But China's desire is quickly exceed its domestic supply
As a result, the world has seen China making more and more deals with energy resource
Conclusion
Until such time when renewable energy sources come into aggressive achievement, shale
gas may act as an economic and environmentally advantageous bridge. Dr. Daniel Yergin, the
dean of American independent energy experts, put the development of shale gas simply and
accurately as "the most significant energy innovation so far this century." Shale gas may not be
the solution its supporters suggest, but it certainly can be a large step in helping to cut back on
energy imports.
This is the EIA's Natural Gas forecast from the current Annual Energy Outlook.
While shale gas didn't amount to a very large percentage of production through 2008, the
predictions illustrate that without the rapidly production and developments in technologies in
shale gas US natural gas production would fall, requiring the United States the world number
one energy consumer to utilize more carbon based conventional sources of energy.
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contamination of chemicals (used in fracking pumping) and gas entering into the water table.
There is beginning to be ample evidence of the destruction of local water supplies in Colorado,
Wyoming, Texas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania & other states due to fracking. And the special
energy commission of the Bush years excepted this technology Safe Drinking Water Act in
2005. I strongly believe that more work and research needs to be implemented in order to
The “Big Oils” have invested $10 billion to prevent future oil spills alike the one that occurred
in the gulf of Mexico I recommend that IOC and NOC should work as one and invest in
research to improve the extraction methods of gas from shales I strongly believe that shale
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gas will become the changing resource of the decade. After my research on shale gas, I am
convinced that shale gas will revolutionize the Industry and change the world in the coming
years it will prevent the rise of any new cartels, it will alter geopolitics and finally it will slow
References
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Facts about shale gas (2010) U.S premier petroleum industry conference .Retrieved on 12 Aug
2010 from
http://www.api.org/policy/exploration/hydraulicfracturing/shale_gas.cfm
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/current.shtml
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE63I1LS20100419
http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2010-08-17/shale-gas-expansion-and-regulation-aug-1
Review of shale gas play in the US (2007).Performance at glance .Retrieved on 16 Aug 2010
http://www.glgroup.com/News/A-REVIEW-OF-SHALE-GAS-PLAYS-IN-NORTH-
AMERICA-50172.html
Shale gas (2007),maximise shale gas production retrieved on 17 Aug 2010 from
http://www.slb.com/services/industry_challenges/unconventional_gas/shale_gas.aspx
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Country analysis briefs (2007), US’s Oil Production and Consumption .Retrieved on 20 Aug
2010 from
http://commercecan.ic.gc.ca/scdt/bizmap/interface2.nsf/vDownload/CABS_0039/$file/us.pdf
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