Appalachia banks on natural gas, chemical plants

The mining and manufacturing industries have a checkered environmental record in the Appalachians, with watershed contamination, chemical spills and river dumping.

Rivers and forests have been degraded by mountaintop removal mining in which the tops of mountains are shaved off to get to the coal below, sending debris into to the valley.

"Don't get me wrong, I want jobs, but I don't want an environmental wasteland when the chemical plants leave," said Steve Terry, a laborer in Moundsville, West Virginia. "I want this area to prosper, not go to hell."

Despite the plans, some are not convinced ground will be broken for the Shell chemical plant, citing decades of broken economic promises to Appalachia by politicians and corporations.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/12/us-appalachia-chemicalplant-idUSBRE82B06820120312

Judge's ruling limits shale developer's drilling rights

Nunner said while Chesapeake can vertically extract gas and oil from underneath the hunt club's 187 acres of woods and fields, the energy company can't use the land to drill sideways to get at reserves from adjacent land.

He ordered Chesapeake, a dominant player in Ohio's shale production, to stop horizontal drilling that extends beyond Jewett's property line unless it gets the club's permission to go ahead.

Extracting natural gas and oil from shale formations depends on lateral drilling to carry millions of gallons of water under intense pressure to fracture surrounding rock. Horizontal bores can extend up to 10,000 feet, or almost two miles, from the drill hole. Chesapeake already had poured a 12-acre concrete pad for rigs but has sunk no wells.

"They don't have a right to come in and destroy our surface without fair compensation," said Jewett club president John Harris.

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In a first, gas and other fuels are top U.S. export

NEW YORK (AP) – For the first time, the top export of the United States, the world's biggest gas guzzler, is — wait for it — fuel.

easured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel than any other single export, according to U.S. Census data going back to 1990. It will also be the first year in more than 60 that America has been a net exporter of these fuels.

Just how big of a shift is this? A decade ago, fuel wasn't even among the top 25 exports. And for the last five years, America's top export was aircraft.

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Chevron Sticks to Fracking Plans Despite Low Gas Prices

Despite low natural gas prices, Chevron looks intent on pushing into the natural gas market in the U.S. The company plans to double its drilling in the Marcellus play this year while also drilling a few exploration wells in the Utica play despite gas prices touching their lowest point in a decade, making shale exploration less profitable. ^[1]

Chevron’s decision to press on with shale exploration mirrors that of rival Exxon Mobil, which has decided against production cuts. Companies like ConocoPhillips on the other hand have announced that they would reduce spending on natural gas resources in North America.

However, we anticipate that gas prices will recover longer term, and its commitment to natural gas exploration could add significant value to the company as depicted by our sum of the parts analysis.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2012/03/12/chevron-sticks-to-fracking-plans-despite-low-gas-prices/

Ohio Shale Boom Entices Schools and Municipalities

The lure of economic prosperity might entice local governmental officials and schools to enter into shale drilling leases, the Associated Press reports. Steubenville will earn a $590,000 one-time payment and a 19 percent royalty on 100 acres recently leased to the natural gas industry, according to the Columbus Dispatch. It has one of the highest unemployment rates in America. County and municipal leaders in the region surrounding Wayne National Forest remain leery about drilling on the land due to environmental concerns relating to the potential impact of fracking.

* An economic report created by the Ohio Oil and Gas Association revealed the industry reinvested nearly $238 million on development new well exploration in the state.

* Denison University officials hosted a public forum to discuss leasing 45 acres of land north of the campus and the potential hazards associated with fracking, according to the Newark Advocate.Bowling Green geologist Andrew Kear said there have been no instances of fracking water contamination in Ohio.

* Hocking College officials are reviewing a $3 million natural gas lease proposal. School President Ron Erickson told the Dispatch the environmental impact is being weighed before any decision is made.

* Natural gas and oil producers distributed approximately $1 billion in royalty payments to schools, landowners, municipalities and businesses since 2000. An additional $61million in free natural gas was given to property owners with mineral interests and wells on their property, according to the Ohio Oil and Gas Association.

http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-shale-boom-entices-schools-municipalities-172200270.html

Fracking failing to crack China, Europe shale

Some shale formations in Europe and China are impervious to drilling techniques that opened vast reserves of natural gas and oil from Texas to Pennsylvania, said Rex Tillerson, Exxon Mobil Corp.’s chief executive officer.

New methods and tools will need to be invented to tap many of the shale fields that energy companies and governments expect eventually to yield a bonanza of fuel, Tillerson said during a meeting with analysts in New York today.

Exxon, the largest U.S. gas producer after its 2010 acquisition of shale driller XTO Energy, failed in its first two efforts to crack gas-rich shale fields in Poland. Gas discovered in a pair of wells finished during the final three months of last year didn’t flow, even after the company used high-pressure jets of water and sand to create fissures in the rocks.

“Some of the shales don’t respond as well to hydraulic fracturing,” Tillerson said during a meeting with reporters after his presentation to analysts. “It’s going to take research and time in the lab to understand that.”

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/03/09/fracking-failing-to-crack-china-europe-shale/?__lsa=0b97b816

Fracking in New York: Risk vs. Reward

(CNN) -- The battle over hydraulic fracturing in the state of New York pits farmers against environmentalists, neighbor vs. neighbor, as gas companies wait to find out if they'll be able to unlock the natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale formation thousands of feet below the earth's surface.

As a panel appointed by New York's governor looks into whether it can be done safely in New York, landowners look with envy toward neighboring Pennsylvania, where gas companies are paying in excess of $1,000 per acre plus royalties for the right to drill for natural gas on a property.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, involves injecting a mixture of water and chemicals deep into the earth. The pressure causes shale rock formations to fracture and natural gas is released in the process. The fluid is then extracted and the natural gas is mined through the well. Some fracking operations have been linked to the contamination of drinking water supplies, and that led to a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in New York.

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