Not if Obama's EPA has anything to say about it.
David
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas
which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas
which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.*--Thomas
**Jeff**erson*
On 12/16/2013 4:15 PM, [email protected] wrote:
Privatization in Mexico, Texas bonanza, boom in North Dakota, guess what?
Expect lower gas prices in the future, gradually, but a real decline
at the pump.
BR
--------------------------------------------------------------
**
*Real Clear Politics* / Real Clear Energy
December 16, 2013
'Saudi Texas' in 2014 Will Produce More Oil Than Some OPEC Members
*By* *John Daly* <http://www.realclearenergy.org/authors/john_daly/>
Texas oil production is surging, and estimates for 2014 predict that
output of more than 2.7 million barrels per day will push the Lone
Star State's production above OPEC members Nigeria
<http://realclearworld.com/topic/around_the_world/nigeria/?utm_source=rcw&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=rcwautolink>
(2.524 bpd), Venezuela
<http://realclearworld.com/topic/around_the_world/venezuela/?utm_source=rcw&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=rcwautolink>
(2.489 bpd) and Algeria
<http://realclearworld.com/topic/around_the_world/algeria/?utm_source=rcw&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=rcwautolink>
(1,875 million bpd.).
The news comes as University of Texas at San Antonio Institute for
Economic Development Research Director Thomas Tunstall, an expert on
the Eagle Ford shale deposit, told the annual meeting of the South
Texas Energy and Economic Roundtable that next year output from the
Eagle Ford shale deposits and the Cline shale fields in the Permian
Basin in west Texas would surpass
<http://www.woai.com/articles/woai-local-news-119078/texas-fracking-output-to-surpass-several-11901451/#ixzz2nNFcj7EG>
1 million barrels apiece per day, up from their current rate of
650,000 bpd, which will help Texas alone to produce more oil than
several nations who are current OPEC members.
Tunstall added that 25,000 wells are being drilled into the Eagle Ford
shale in southern Texas over the course of its field life using
fracking to liberate tight oil, a technique developed in the United
States
<http://realclearworld.com/topic/around_the_world/united_states/?utm_source=rcw&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=rcwautolink>,
but as the technology is fully developed in Mexico, Canada, China
<http://realclearworld.com/topic/around_the_world/china/?utm_source=rcw&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=rcwautolink>
and elsewhere, all of which are known to have extensive tight oil
reserves, pressure on OPEC will intensify.
Tunstall's optimism is supported by statistics from the U.S.
government's Energy Information Administration, which reported
<http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/New-data-show-meteoric-rise-of-Texas-oil-5032539.php>
that in September Texas pumped 2.7 million barrels of crude per day,
an extraordinary 30 percent increase over September 2012 figures, the
highest average oil production in Texas since monthly record-keeping
began in January 1981.
According
<http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/blog/2013/12/oil-and-gas-industry-will-continue-to.html?s=print>to
the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, "oil and gas companies in Texas
and nearby states are expecting continued growth next year." Mark
Perry of the conservative Washington DC American Enterprise Institute
noted, "1.35 million bpd increase in oil
<http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/11/the-remarkable-shale-oil-bonanza-in-saudi-texas-oil-output-has-doubled-in-only-29-months-to-a-33-year-high-in-september/>
output in only 29 months in one U.S. state is remarkable, and would
have never been possible without the revolutionary drilling techniques
that just recently started accessing vast oceans of Texas shale oil in
the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin oil fields."
But if all that is good news for the Texan economy, concerns are
growing that increased fracking injection well activity is producing
regional surges in seismic activity, including around Eagle Ford.
Researchers at the University of Texas found
<http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059991334> that underground injection
of carbon dioxide to boost oil production "may have contributed to
triggering" a series of earthquakes north of Snyder several years ago.
Texas already has had some of the best-documented seismic activity
around injection wells, causing some researchers to link injection to
earthquakes in the Haynesville Shale in East Texas and the Barnett
Shale in the Dallas area, and in 2009 Chesapeake Energy Corp. shut
down two wells linked to quakes near the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
What is leading to rising anxiety in small towns like Azle and
Springtown northwest of Fort Worth, bracketed by numerous fracking
sites, is last month's swarm
<https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2013/11/20/mapped-the-latest-earthquake-swarm-in-texas/>
of 20 earthquakes, the biggest a magnitude 3.6.
On 11 December the Dallas City Council passed new restrictions barring
hydraulic fracturing within 1,500 feet of a home, school, church, and
other protected areas, effectively barring the practice within the
city. Dallas had previously outlawed fracking within 300 feet of
protected areas.
The ordinance was approved by a 9-6 vote, with Mayor Mike Rawlings
voting in favor.
Not surprisingly, the natural gas industry was quick to react. Trinity
East representative Dallas Cothrum, which had hoped to exploit the
city's location on the edge of the massive Barnett Shale region
lamented, "You just can't drill under these conditions. It'd require
more than 250-acres of property and in an urban area it's just not
possible." Dallas City Council Lee Kleinman, whoopposed
<http://rt.com/usa/dallas-passes-fracking-restrictions-178/> the new
restrictions said, "We might as well save a lot of paper and write a
one-line ordinance that says there will be no gas drilling in the city
of Dallas. That would be a much easier ordinance to have."
As Texan oil and natural gas production continue to surge due to
fracking, so do local concerns over the technique's possible
consequences, including increased seismic activity. With the U.S.
Geological Survey and researchers from Texan universities all studying
the phenomena, more data will inevitably be forthcoming, but whether a
"smoking gun" will be found linking fracking and earthquakes remains
to be seen. What is beyond debate is the increased rate of seismic
activity.
One oil major has decided that increased seismic activity risks are
acceptable; ConocoPhillips "is planning to make
<http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/eagle-ford-energy/article/ConocoPhillips-to-bolster-budget-in-2014-5042627.php>
$16.7 billion in capital expenditures to boost drilling in U.S. shale
plays, including the Eagle Ford."
So, while Texas has an obviously sunny hydrocarbon future, it appears
to have significant potential environmental costs, many of which are
presently poorly understood. The IEA reports that in 2010 Texas led
the nation in wind-powered generation capacity and became the first
state to reach 10,000 megawatts of wind capacity. Accordingly, while
embracing the revenue stream from oil and natural gas produced by
fracking, increasing state usage of renewables will at least spare the
state from increased seismic activity and polluted subterranean water
sources.
--
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