24 February 2011

Shale Gas Promise is Real, "Gasland" Is A Fraud

In the US, unconventional gas is providing a much needed energy boost. Over the next 20 years, shale gas is destined to grow from 15% of US gas production to roughly 50% of production.

Contrary to the blatant falsehoods (PDF) displayed in the Oscar-nominated "documentary" Gasland, production of shale gas is as clean or cleaner than production of any other type of non-nuclear energy or fuel.
Extent of Marcellus Shale Resource

Several nations in Europe are growing more interested in their own shale oil resource, and are beginning to drill test wells.
In countries like Britain, Germany and Poland, exploratory drilling is under way, or about to begin, as engineers try to determine how much shale gas is present and how easy it will be to retrieve. New technologies for extracting natural gas from stone have raised worries about contamination of drinking water while also driving a huge drilling expansion in the United States, helping push prices down by two thirds since 2008 and reducing dependence on imports.

Shale gas production accounted for 14 percent of U.S. natural gas production in 2009 and is expected to reach 45 percent by 2035, the U.S. Energy Information Agency estimates.

“It was an amazing story in the U.S., this very rapid increase in the availability of shale gas,” said Paul Stevens, senior research fellow for energy at Chatham House, a London research institute. European exploration has big potential too, he added... _NYT

More on Marcellus Shale -- just one of several huge US gas deposits, now available for production thanks to improved drilling technologies.

Faux environmentalists inside and outside of the Obama regime have sworn to shut down US energy production -- including shale gas -- no matter what it takes. The Obama agenda of "energy starvation" shines through in the regime's offshore oil de facto drilling moratorium, in the shutting down of coal mines and coal power plants, in the attempts to shut down Canadian oil sands imports, in behind-the-scenes moves to shut down US shale gas, and in the Obama Nuclear Regulatory Commission's blatant dragging of its feet on new nuclear designs and plants. The EPA's decision to regulate CO2 -- a keystone to the chain of life on Earth -- as a "dangerous pollutant" is a clear indication that Obama's interests are not dictated by the welfare of humans in the US or anywhere on Earth.

More: From Master Resource, here are some maps for the three main types of unconventional gas resource for the US.


More from Master Resource here and here.  Methane is a compound found on other planets and moons in significant quantities in the outer solar system.  It has also been found to be generated in Earth's mantle abiotically.  Vast quantities of methane clathrates exist beneath seafloors and in arctic regions.  It is unlikely that humans will ever come close to running out of methane -- particularly when it is so easily produced via anaerobic digestion of waste biomass.

We must have fossil fuel resources such as oil, gas, coal, oil sands, etc. in order to give us time to move to more sustainable energy sources such as advanced fission, fusion, enhanced geothermal, advanced biofuels and bioenergy, orbital solar, and perhaps low energy nuclear reaction reactors.

More on energy topics at Al Fin Energy

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6 Comments:

Blogger Hell_Is_Like_Newark said...

There is another shale deposit that sits below Marcellus (Utica shale) that is just starting to be explored. Chesapeake energy announced they will be using the same fracturing technology to get oil out of shale formations as well.

In 2012, the Pearl GTL plant goes online, turning natural gas into usable liquid fuels (i.e. diesel).

The energy picture is bright, except on the political and regulatory fronts.

Thursday, 24 February, 2011  
Blogger al fin said...

Yes, 3 dimensional geology is fascinating.

You can see the same phenomenon in the Haynesville shale -- with a huge new deposit found in proximity to the original huge discovery.

The big price spread between oil and natural gas makes GTL (and LNG terminals) more economical.

It happens that the current oil price bubble is politically inspired -- otherwise the gas producers would have a larger safe profit window.

Thursday, 24 February, 2011  
Blogger horos22 said...

I don't know, I'm lukewarm on natural gas for all but select uses, especially compared to nuclear.

It's FAR cleaner than coal, but it:

1. is tempermental (WRT gas, 'historical, wide price swings' an understatement)

2. far from 'plentiful' (about the same magnitude as oil, hence unsuitable for true scaling to 7 billion people)

3. is way too precious to burn (too many valuable chemical byproducts)

4. is NOT that much cleaner than coal green house gas wise (yes - about 50% CO2 omissions.. but what about leakage of methane, and methane being 25 times the impact of CO2 over a few decades?

So meh. Great, we have yet another diversion that allows us to deeply invest in equipment that is going to be of dubious use when this supply runs out - and yet another reason to put off the nuclear power..

I swear, when the Chinese perfect TMSRs, they are going to *bury* us, and the lucrative energy market is going to switfly head east.

Thursday, 24 February, 2011  
Blogger al fin said...

horos22, it's easy to be lukewarm on energy resources when one has plenty to eat, stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer, has no problem finding transportation to places he wants to go, etc.

Only fools put off nuclear power just because several decades of natural gas suddenly appear. Fools like Obama's NRC and such.

But likewise, only a fool would refuse to use a resource that allowed his society to bridge the gap to better nuclear technology -- which is simply not here yet.

The well-being of most blog readers here is not in question. Most of us will not freeze in the dark no matter what idiotic decisions politicians and policy makers choose.

But we had best think of those not in a position to ride the turbulent price swings that will result if Obama gets away with rejecting coal, unconventional gas, Canadian oil sands, offshore oil, arctic oil, nuclear power, and all other reliable forms of energy.

Solar and wind will just get us all killed, if Obama and his fellow idiots like Holdren and Salazar are allowed to have their way.

Thursday, 24 February, 2011  
Blogger Hell_Is_Like_Newark said...

In case you haven't seen it, Fox has made an effort to answer his critics.
I have only skimmed over it...

http://1trickpony.cachefly.net/gas/pdf/Affirming_Gasland_Sept_2010.pdf

Friday, 25 February, 2011  
Blogger al fin said...

Thanks for the link, HILN.

It is quite an interesting read, all in all. Not convincing, but quite revealing. Worth reading for anyone interested in the very low standards of proof and evidence demanded by today's slipstream documentary makers.

Friday, 25 February, 2011  

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