The Permian Basin, Born Again

In the Permian Basin, drilling and production is rising while the price of oil is falling.  That is good for some, not so good for others.  All told, it looks to me that by combining "horizontal" drilling with careful and selective hydraulic fracturing, the future looks bright for increasing activity and production, which is good for everyone.
Peter


source: http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=7030

July 10, 2012

Rising production in the Permian basin

Sources: U.S Energy Information Administration, based on Baker Hughes and HPDI, LLC.
Notes: Graph includes rig counts through June 2012 and oil production through December 2011. Active rigs include rigs drilling for both crude oil and natural gas.

---

The source for the crude oil production data series published on July 10 was websites of the Railroad Commission of Texas and the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. On July 11 the source was changed to HPDI, LLC, because HPDI, LLC collects both that data and production data that has not yet been processed by the Railroad Commission of Texas.

The Permian Basin—a long-time oil and natural gas producing region in west Texas and eastern New Mexico—is showing signs of new life. The active rig count has grown from 100 rigs in mid-2009 to over 500 rigs in May 2012. According to data from HPDI, oil production from the Permian has increased fairly steadily over the past few years, reaching the 1 million barrels per day (bbl/d) threshold in 2011—the first time since 1998.

Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Bloomberg.

---

Growing oil production in the Permian Basin and other Texas plays, most notably the Eagle Ford shale, may be starting to strain existing takeaway capacity and is creating a need for Texas oil to serve more distant refineries. While new pipeline projects are scheduled to come online, current transportation constraints have caused Permian crude oil, which is priced in Midland, Texas, to sell at a significant discount to WTI beginning in January 2012.

tags: crude oil , drilling , Eagle Ford , liquid fuels , oil/petroleum , prices , production , Texas , WTI (West Texas Intermediate)

A Glimmer Of Hope, Brought To Us By The Oil And Gas Industry

I hope Mr. Hanson is correct in making the following observations and predictions.  He is an accomplished Professor and world historian.  I follow his writings regularly.  He offers more reason for optimism than I have read in a long while.  I hope some people in power are paying attention.
Peter

The World is Changing Minute by Minute

• 
• Victor Davis Hanson
                                      

Jul 12, 2012

 

We are witnessing a seismic shift in global affairs. The shake-up is a perfect storm of political, demographic and technological change that will soon make the world as we have known it for the last 30 years almost unrecognizable.

 

Read entire article here: http://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2012/07/12/the_world_is_changing_minute_by_minute/page/full/

 

Some key points:

 

"Horizontal drilling and fracking have made oil shale and tar sands rich sources of oil and natural gas, so much so that the United States may prove to possess the largest store of fossil fuel reserves in the world -- in theory, with enough gas, oil and coal soon never to need any imported Middle Eastern energy again. "Peak oil" is suddenly an anachronism. Widespread American use of cheap natural gas will do more to clean the planet than thousands of Solyndras.

 

If the United States utilizes its resources, then its present pathologies -- massive budget and trade deficits, mounting debt, strategic vulnerability -- will start to subside. These new breakthroughs in petroleum engineering are largely American phenomena, reminding us that there is still something exceptional in the American experience that periodically offers the world cutting-edge technologies and protocols -- such as those pioneered by Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Starbucks and Walmart."

 

And finally:

 

"Who would have thought that a few fracking innovators in Texas would change the world's carbon footprint far more than did Nobel laureate Al Gore -- while offering a way for the U.S. to be energy-independent. Or that Angela Merkel, not the European Union, would run Europe. Or that Arabs would be overthrowing Arabs, as oil-rich Israel idly watched."

The Weather May Be Hot, But The Battle Over Fracking Is Really Heating Up

There is a full-court press being mounted by the Obama Administration, using the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the  whole gamut of environmental extremists, to shut down or at least severely inhibit and control the entire fossil fuel industry, not just natural gas drilling and production.  They care nothing about the economic health of the country, or the world for that matter.

Read on.  This irrational nonsense about the "dangers" of fracking needs to be challenged by everyone, on every level.  In particular, go to the following article and read the comments.  I like this one:
Peter

5. spinoneone
We know, from her own comments and admissions, that Lisa Jackson has a mission with regard to the production of any carbon fuel – stop it at all cost. So, one can reasonably assume that the “conclusion” to the Congressionally mandated report has already been written. Now EPA needs to scramble around and find some supporting evidence and data.

July 10, 2012 - 6:49 pm                  

 

snork

• Bingo. There’s the real agenda. There’s a convergence of interest between the rich moonbat left and OPEC to stop fracking. It’s got nothing to do with fracking itself. Fracking is not the issue, and never was.

Study: EPA’s Probe Into Fracking’s Effect on Drinking Water Isn’t So Clean

PLUS: Celeb anti-frackers to descend on D.C. to demand Congress end the shale extraction technique altogether.

by
Bridget Johnson
Bio

 

July 10, 2012 - 3:50 pm

 

An industry-funded independent investigation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s long-running probe into the effects of hydraulic fracturing found numerous flaws in everything from the EPA’s scope to its lack of consultation with oil and gas companies.

“The study released today by Battelle—a highly respected independent science and technology organization—identifies numerous concerns with EPA’s ongoing hydraulic fracturing study,” said Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Energy and Environment.
The 166-page Battelle study, submitted to the American Petroleum Institute and America’s National Gas Alliance, focused on the 2010 urging of a House conference committee that the EPA “carry out a study on the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water using a credible approach that relies on the best available science, as well as independent sources of information.”

continued here: http://pjmedia.com/blog/study-epas-probe-into-frackings-effect-on-drinking-water-isnt-so-clean/?singlepage=true