Another "golden egg" laying goose is dead?

 As we have seen, the Marcellus shale drilling success has lead to an over-supply of natural gas and a depressed price.

 The driller's answer was - go to the wet gas Utica areas to capitalize on the higher value of natural gas liquids mainly ethane. Now this success has lead to an over-supply of ethane and the price of ethane is now less than the equivalent methane. The ethane cannot be left in the gas going into the pipeline because it contains more BTUs than methane (1070 vs approx 1025) and that would raise the value too close to the limit pipelines allow - 1100 BTU.

  The answer may be to shut-in some Utica wells and return to the dry gas areas, but wait there is an over-supply of gas. What's needed is more useage, but that is going to take time and even then there's such an over-supply that prices are not going to change much for a long time.

 The drillers are between a rock and a hard place.

  Here are a couple of articles from Platts.

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/Petrochemicals/60...

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/NaturalGas/6987988

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2z248p19vqnh9Permalink Reply by 2z248p19vqnh9 on May 18, 2013 at 12:33am

Who made you 'teacher', Jack...I seem to recall your expressing that Nuclear technology was 'old'...and that this Fracking FAR outpaces it in the 'mainstream hub' of things...HMMM...words of wisdom(?)...touche'.

as one light lights another, nor grows less - so nobleness enkindles nobleness.

*F-, huh? YOU are an 'F-'...in the measurement of 'character'. Slenderman?

Permalink Reply by Nancy LeNau on January 21, 2013 at 3:46pm

So very true, Jack.... Thank you for reminding people.

Permalink Reply by Larry Gander on January 22, 2013 at 4:21am

JACK IS ALWAYS INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE.

AND...KNOWS HOW TO SPELL FRACING!

Permalink Reply by Vera Scroggins on January 22, 2013 at 4:46am

we use the word "fracking" or I use it , because it sounds more like "f....cking"

and that we are being "f...ked".

it's a polluting, dirty, noisy industry and you wouldn't want to live near it and it surrounds our areas and not just in industrial zones and when you experience that you wouldn't want to be surrounded by industry spewing out it's pollutants and raise your families here. come and see for yourselves.  I give Citizen tours weekly for years and show it from a citizen/residents view and bring you to the sites and homes and people and see for yourselves.  And then you can take an industry tour and compare the results...

Permalink Reply by Werner Kostendt on January 21, 2013 at 4:57am

For some historical insight, one might refer to the Spindletop event in East Texas.  Spindletop was the result of a technological advance, specifically the idea of using mud instead of pure whater to flush out cuttings.  Drillers were having trouble maintaining the integrity of the drill hole in the sandy East Texas ground.  Somebody had the idea to use mud and Spindletop resulted.  That one well produced as much oil as the entire rest of the United States combined at that time.  With this new advancement so much oil was produce that the price of crude went from $3.00 per barrel to $.03 per barrel.  It spurred a revolution.  The world's fleets and navies converted to diesel from coal and it enabled the birth of the automobile revolution.  Cheap oil and natural gas created an economic revolution.  This next wave is likely to produce another huge economic boost and a major geopolitical power shift which will bail us out of this economic mess and help Obama finance his social agenda.

 

 

Permalink Reply by PK on January 21, 2013 at 5:23am
Vera,

How about coming up with an economically viable alternative. Wind and solar cannot survive in the market without heavy government subsidies as their ROI is horrible. High energy prices are currently driving up the cost of everything from travel to heating to food costs and alternate energy would drive those cost even higher. That puts a huge strain on the growth of the economy and keeps us in a relative recession. Cheap energy is the backbone of a modern society and our economy if suffering with high unemployment and poor growth and high energy costs are part of the problem. Yet you want to raise those costs and deepen the problem. Brilliant.
Permalink Reply by Richard Droske on January 21, 2013 at 5:46am

Perhaps if all of the drillers contributed to a centralized consortium to promote usage (ala T. Boone Pickens past efforts) they could dislodge themselves from the hard place. A strong lobbying and public relations campaign promoting the environmental benefits of gas over coal and oil and  the benefits of reducing our dependence on imports would be a great start. Government support to develop a better distribution infrastructure (which would create many jobs as well) just might follow.

Permalink Reply by Richard Droske on January 21, 2013 at 6:08am

Well no Vera, I just want to keep it economically feasible for the drillers to continue development. It is very easy to say "come up with alternative". Not so easy to do. Do you have one in mind? Until fusion is possible, apparently many years from now, I don't know of one.  Energy costs money to produce and if the gas  producers can't profit we will continue burning dirty coal and paying foreign suppliers trillions of dollars.

Permalink Reply by Richard Droske on January 21, 2013 at 6:49am

Sorry last reply should have been directed to PK

Permalink Reply by Dan on January 21, 2013 at 7:17am

Vera's and other's lofty dreams of magical alternatives have and will push the need for more NG power plants.  Large power plants still need to be in place to take up the large amount of slack when its dark and windless and coal looses effeciency quickly when not burning near capacity and coal can take many hours to change output and days to start from cold.  Coal and nuke plants pretty much run near full throttle wether the lights are on or not and wether they are connected to a grid with solar and/or wind or not.  NG power plants can be shut down quickly when demand drops, the sun is shining and the wind blowing.  When demand goes up NG power plants can be started in 30 minutes or less and output can be changed relatively quickly while maintaining good effeciency at lower output.  NG is the answer to the greenies desires to use wastefull alternatives wether they like it or not.  Really a silly debate when NG is clean effecient and burns clean regardless of output with or without toxic solar panels or dangerous windmills on the grid.

Permalink Reply by Vera Scroggins on January 21, 2013 at 7:22am

Obviously, all you "smart" men don't live next to gas pads, compressor stations, pipelines, as some of us do.  Talk to the people who live near these polluting sites and see how they like it.  Come on a Citizen Tour that I give weekly and mostly to NYers , who are then horrified and outraged that citizens are used and abused by corporate America and exposed to such health and safety risks.  But keep living in your "brains" and don't step on the ground and connect with reality.  We have some nice homes near gas sites available for sale and you can bring your families and pets and experience the horror show...

0i7okn54zwbdoPermalink Reply by 0i7okn54zwbdo on January 21, 2013 at 7:44am

Well at least your argument isn't overly emotional and loaded with hyperbole.

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