Shale Gas News – June 8, 2019

Bill desRosiers
External Affairs Coordinator, Cabot Oil & Gas

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The Shale Gas News, heard every Saturday at 10 AM on 94.3 FM, 1510 AM and Sundays on YesFM, talked about LNG exports, NJ pipeline denial, natural gas demand and much more last week.

The Shale Gas News has grown again; welcome Gem 104 as our FOURTH station! Gem 104 helps to solidify the Shale Gas News coverage in an important Marcellus region, PA’s northern tier. The Shale Gas News is now broadcasting in Bradford, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Luzerne, Lycoming, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga and Wayne Counties, as well as in greater central PA. The Shale Gas News is aired on Saturday or Sunday depending on the station.

Every Saturday Rusty Fender and I host a morning radio show to discuss all things natural gas.

The Shale Gas News, typically, is broadcast live. On the June 8th show (click above), we covered the following new territory (see news excerpts below):

• Electric Transmission by Train? A Mobile Option for Gas Fired Electricity? Electric transmission by train may be coming soon if Alternative Transmission Inc.’s plan to move stored electricity by containers rail cars is accepted.  It’s no joke. Electric transmission by train could well be coming soon. It all depends on whether or Alternative Transmission Inc. (ATI) gets a FERC order recognizing it as a utility. This order would, If granted, allow ATI to participate in competitive auctions to supply the electricity needs of grid operators. S&P Global Market Intelligence has a story on ATI’s plans. They offer an intriguing glimpse into the future of energy storage, a future that has a lot to do with natural gas.
• U.S. On Track to Become Top LNG Exporter. The U.S. is set to become the world’s biggest provider of liquefied natural gas. The country is seeing booming gas production, and consumption is only expected to keep climbing. BOOMING NATURAL GAS production is expected to propel the U.S. past Qatar and Australia to become the world’s top exporter of liquefied natural gas in the next five years, the International Energy Agency predicted in a report made public Friday.
• Horizontally drilled wells dominate U.S. tight formation production. Wells drilled horizontally into tight oil and shale gas formations continue to account for an increasing share of crude oil and natural gas production in the United States. In 2004, horizontal wells accounted for about 15% of U.S. crude oil production in tight oil formations. By the end of 2018, that percentage had increased to 96%. Similarly, horizontal wells made up about 14% of U.S. natural gas production in shale formations in 2004 and increased to 97% in 2018. Although horizontal wells have been the dominant source of production from U.S. shale gas and tight oil plays since 2008 and 2010, respectively, the number of horizontal wells did not surpass the number of vertical wells drilled in these plays until 2017.
• EA: Natural gas demand to jump 10%. The United States led global growth in natural gas production and natural gas exports last year, and a new international forecast shows the country continuing to play a dominant role over the next five years as global consumption continues to rise.
• EPA’s Draft Study of Produced Water Management in the Oil and Gas Industry. Drilling and operating oil and gas wells, especially unconventional wells, generates a significant amount of flowback and produced water that must be managed properly under federal and state environmental laws (for this article, “produced water” will refer to all oil and gas extraction water). There are multiple produced water management strategies—and trends in the industry vary. The EPA’s newly released draft study, “Study of Oil and Gas Extraction Wastewater Management Under the Clean Water Act,” EPA‐821‐R19‐001 (May 2019), collected stakeholder input on produced water management options nationwide as part of its effort to determine whether future actions are appropriate to permit additional options to manage produced water.
• NJ joins NY in denying permits for hotly contested natural-gas pipeline. New Jersey regulators followed New York’s in denying key permits for the Williams Transco pipeline Wednesday, prompting its developer to promise to reapply in the Garden State.  The proposed $1 billion pipeline, from Tulsa-based William Cos., would carry natural gas from Pennsylvania through New Jersey, under a bay and the ocean to New York. The company says the pipeline is necessary to ensure adequate heating fuel for the New York region.
• Europe saved $8 billion on gas bill in 2018 due to LNG, reforms: IEA. Europe saved $8 billion on its natural gas bill last year because surging U.S. shale production and a shake-up in EU energy markets forced Russia to change its gas pricing mechanism, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Friday. Fatih Birol, speaking as the IEA released its annual gas report, said 2018 was a “golden year” for natural gas which accounted for 45 percent of total global energy growth, which in turn was the fastest in two decades.

The Shale Gas News sponsored by Linde Corporation