Britain's Energy Minister Michael Fallon says today is the kick off in the development of shale gas in the UK -- Department for Energy & Climate Change, 24 April 2014
The U.S. is stockpiling the most crude since the Great Depression, thanks to the shale boom that has boosted production to the most in 26 years. Inventories rose 3.52 million barrels last week to 397.7 million, the highest level since 1931, according to Energy Information Administration data going back to 1920. --Mark Shenk,
Bloomberg, 23 April 2014
Despite its doubters and haters, the shale revolution in oil and gas production is here to stay. In the second half of this decade, moreover, it is likely to spread globally more quickly than most think. What is unfolding in response is nothing less than a paradigm shift in thinking about hydrocarbons. --Edward L Morse,
Foreign Affairs, May-June 2014
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says the country’s giant coal fields should become a cornerstone in Europe’s defense against a newly aggressive Russia. As politicians wrestle with how to respond to the crisis in Ukraine, Tusk argues Europe needs to “rehabilitate” coal’s dirty image and use it to break Russia’s grip on energy supply. “In the context of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the overriding objective is to lessen the dependence on Russia,” said Mujtaba Rahman, an analyst at Eurasia Group in London. “Climate objectives will be absolutely secondary to that.” --Ladka Bauerova,
Bloomberg, 24 April 2014
Over one third of the UK’s energy will come from shale gas in the next decade, with 4,000 wells set to be drilled across the country by 2032, a new report claims today. An astonishing 20m homes could be powered by shale gas, according to the government-backed study commissioned by the UK Onshore Operators Group and undertaken by EY. The UK’s burgeoning shale gas industry will attract £33bn of investment across the supply chain and create 64,000 jobs, the report says, with 50 drilling rigs needed to accommodate the soaring growth. --Suzie Neuwirth,
City A.M., 24 April 2014
Energy minister Michael Fallon was today urging the Lancashire community to get behind shale gas as latest estimates said “fracking” could be worth £33bn to the UK economy, creating 64,500 jobs over 15 years. Mr Fallon said: “I want this report to be a call to action for the UK supply chain for small and large companies, whether in Lancashire or Lowestoft, whether in the steel industry, the chemical industry or in other manufacturing and services. The message is: get ready for shale.” --
Lancashire Evening News, 23 April 2014
The U.S. Department of Energy plans to work with private U.S. companies to help Ukraine develop its shale gas resources. The White House outlined a new $50 million aid package to Ukraine during a visit to the country by Vice President Joseph Biden. The aid package pushed by the White House will include visits in the near future to Ukraine by officials from U.S. government agencies intent on helping the country improve its energy security. --Charles Kennedy,
OilPrice News, 23 April 2014
The story of America’s shale revolution involves classic Yankee ingenuity — although not on the part of big oil. Beginning in the 1970s, production from onshore U.S. oil and gas fields declined as those fields became what the industry calls “mature.” So the major oil companies were forced to abandon the development of new resources on U.S. soil. Oil, they recognized, was usually cheaper to buy on Wall Street than find in the ground. Meanwhile, smaller, independent companies — which earn the lion’s share of their revenue at the wellhead and little of it downstream (at the refining stage, for example) — were forced to innovate or die. --Robert A. Hefner III,
Foreign Affairs, May-June 2014
The Russian invasion of Crimea is making Alberta's oil and gas more attractive in European capitals, says Poland's ambassador to Canada. Poland supports the idea of importing Canadian oil and gas, envoy Marcin Bosacki said Wednesday prior to the start of a two-day visit to his country by Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. "This point of view is being shared in a growing number of European capitals in the last two months since the Crimea invasion," Bosacki said. "Of course, we are absolutely in favour of increasing the abilities of ... western Canada oil and gas to be exported also to Europe." --Mike Blanchfield,
The Canadian Press, 23 April 2014
China Petroleum & Chemical (Sinopec)’s discovery of the Fuling field in Chongqing may have set a milestone for the mainland oil and gas industry’s “shale gas revolution”, but the industry’s success in meeting the nation’s 2020 production target and emulating the success of the United States is not guaranteed. This is because drilling completed at the Fuling project is not sufficient to prove that the initial drilling success will be replicated in a much wider area beyond the 200 square kilometre pilot zone, analysts said. --Eric Ng,
South China Morning Post, 23 April 2014
