IHS Unconventional Energy Blog
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Japan’s methane hydrates natural gas extraction – a game changer?
Japan’s recent success in extracting natural gas from offshore methane hydrate deposits for the first time has sparked enthusiasm over a significant and so far untapped resource base. The US has been undertaking its own project to extract gas from methane hydrates on Alaska’s North Slope. The US Department of Energy (DOE) even went as … Continue reading
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Game Changer The rapid development of unconventional gas resources in North America is potentially a game changer for the global LNG market over the coming years. It was only about five years ago that industry expectations were for the U.S. to become one of the world’s largest importers of LNG. Today, that expectation is turned … Continue reading
Change of Heart This time last year Romania appeared to be considering a blanket ban on hydraulic fracturing. Demonstrations against hydraulic fracturing in neighbouring Bulgaria had prompted the government there to impose a moratorium and from February 2012 the protests began to spread across the border. At the time, Romania was undergoing a period of … Continue reading
Voluntary certification programs have been effective in markets for commercial buildings, forest products, and seafood, channeling growing demand from consumers for environmentally sustainable products. Now a group of environmental organizations, energy companies, and philanthropic foundations have collaborated to establish the first voluntary environmental certification for shale development. The Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD) established … Continue reading
One of the biggest potential tight oil fields in the United States lies in California, but the future of the Monterey Shale appears likely to gain a higher profile in the months ahead as opposition groups mobilize to block hydraulic fracturing in one of the nation’s environmentally conscious states. The Monterey is relatively young, 17 … Continue reading
Controversy surrounding groundwater contamination from shale gas development started to gain a significant media presence in 2009, coinciding with the early boom in the Marcellus Shale region. The 2010 documentary Gasland presented shocking images of homeowners lighting their tap water on fire, while industry groups maintained that there is no proof that hydraulic fracturing has … Continue reading
The third annual IHS Forum at IHS CERAWeek 2013, on Friday, the final day of the conference, focused on wider issues and threats that face the energy industry and society at large. Scott Key, President and COO of IHS, welcomed participants and introduced the Forum by expressing the IHS goal to understand global supply chains … Continue reading
The following is a summary of the session entitled Climate Change and Energy Transition: The Long View which took place on Day five of IHS CERAWeek 2013. You can access more summaries like this through IHS CERAWeek On Demand. Atul Arya, Senior Vice President, Energy Insight, IHS, (pictured) chaired the session “Climate Change and Energy … Continue reading
The growing role of natural gas in the US power mix was a strong theme on Thursday at IHS CERAWeek. Energy policy and the significant impact of inexpensive natural gas on other forms of generation, especially renewables and coal, were important lines of discussion. Daniel Poneman, US Deputy Secretary of Energy, gave the Thursday morning … Continue reading
The following is a summary of the keynote address Daniel Poneman, US Deputy Secretary of Energy, gave on day four of IHS CERAWeek 2013. You can access more summaries like this through IHS CERAWeek On Demand. Daniel Poneman, US Deputy Secretary of Energy, gave the Thursday morning Keynote Address on the United States’ approach to … Continue reading
Lawrence Makovich, IHS VP and Senior Advisor for Global Power, gives an overview of some of the key topics discussed during day four of IHS CERAWeek 2013 including power price and affordability, industrial competitiveness, CO2 emissions, and the impact of shale gas on the abundance and affordability of fossil fuels. Get full coverage of IHS … Continue reading
The following is a summary of the strategy session “Understanding and Managing Community Impacts of Unconventional Oil and Gas Development” which took place on day three of IHS CERAWeek 2013. You can access more summaries like this through IHS CERAWeek On Demand. Tanuj Deora, Director, IHS, chaired a morning Strategy Session, “Understanding and Managing Community … Continue reading
In this video from day two (5th March) at IHS CERAWeek 2013, IHS VP of Upstream Research, Peter Jackson, chairs the plenary session entitled: Driving Growth in the Upstream. The full-length version of this video, as well as full coverage of IHS CERAWeek 2013, is available via IHS CERAWeek On Demand.
The game-changing impact of unconventional oil and gas resource development was very high on the agenda on Wednesday at IHS CERAWeek 2013. A number of speakers described the wider impacts that North American unconventional oil and gas development has had on economies and energy markets, even in distant locales, as they continue to develop their … Continue reading
Michael Stoppard (Chief Strategist, Global Gas, IHS) discusses the key themes of day three at IHS CERAWeek 2013 including shale gas and LNG, associated export issues, and the broadening of the US unconventional revolution to include oil and liquids. Get full coverage of IHS CERAWeek 2013 via IHS CERAWeek On Demand.
In this video from day one at IHS CERAWeek 2013 (4th – 8th March, Houston) IHS Chief Economist Nariman Behravesh and Chief U.S. Economist Nigel Gault discuss the economic impacts of the US unconventional energy boom. The full-length version of this video, as well as full coverage of IHS CERAWeek 2013, is available via IHS … Continue reading
The following is a summary of the strategy session “Will the Unconventional Revolution Be a Global One?” which took place today on 5th March at CERAWeek 2013. You can access more summaries like these through IHS CERAWeek On Demand. Bob Fryklund, Vice President, Energy Research, IHS, chaired the strategy session “Will the Unconventional Revolution Be … Continue reading
Unconventional resources were a hot topic at IHS CERAWeek on Tuesday, the conference day traditionally focused on oil. Khalid Al-Falih, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, gave the opening keynote speech. He described four new realities that have brought about a paradigm shift in the energy industry—moderating global energy demand, the emergence of unconventional oil … Continue reading
It’s day two of IHS CERAWeek 2013. Earlier today James Burkhard (IHS VP & Head of Oil Market Research & Scenarios) gave a summary of one of the big themes of the event so far: the role of unconventional oil and gas in north America, and how the growth story is impacting both the upstream … Continue reading
Africa (beyond the Middle East) has long served as an important source of oil and gas. North Africa has supplied crude oil to global customers and natural gas to a predominantly European customer base for decades. However the last decade has seen a significant increase in supply from Sub-Saharan Africa. Deep-water offshore developments in Nigeria, … Continue reading
Ahead of IHS CERAWeek 2013, Daniel Yergin looks at the impact of unconventional energy in the United States in terms of industrial rebirth, jobs creation, and how the competitive global economic balance is shifting. A notable excerpt: “I’ve noticed over the last several months, much more focus in Europe and China and Asia, on how … Continue reading
Innovation seems to be one of the more prominent management buzzwords today, with energy companies competing with one another to demonstrate their leadership in this area. Despite its position on the hype curve, IHS CERA contends that Innovation truly does matter and that energy companies are pursuing, yes, more innovative ways to develop and then … Continue reading
Ahead of next week’s IHS CERAWeek 2013 conference in Houston, I wanted to share some insights that look beyond the national impacts of the Unconventional Oil and Gas revolution, to the major implications emerging at the state level. We recently published a new report America’s New Energy Future Volume 2: State Economic Contributions, which contains … Continue reading
At IHS CERAWeek this year, one of the hottest topics on the agenda is arguably one of the timeliest and most pressing challenges currently faced by the energy sector: Cyber Threats. Cyberspace has been referred to as “the Wild West” relating this modern man-made domain to the lawless western expansion of the United States in … Continue reading
Electric power generation is the single biggest driver of global gas demand growth. IHS CERA’s planning case outlook points to growth of some 80 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in global gas demand in 2035 relative to 2012 levels, half of which will come from higher demand from the power sector. Yet the future growth rate … Continue reading
Daniel Yergin discusses some of the key themes of IHS CERAWeek 2013, including the broadening impact of unconventional resources: “It’s changing the fuel mix in the United States. It’s raising questions about the fuel mix for electric power in other parts of the world where, for instance in Europe, the aim to shut down nuclear … Continue reading
Over the coming weeks we’ll be publishing a series of posts covering some of the big topics being discussed at IHS CERAWeek 2013, March 4 – 8, Houston. In this video IHS Vice Chairman Daniel Yergin gives an overview of the themes of this year’s event.
Welcome to the first in a series of blog posts published in partnership with IHS CERAWeek, March 4 – 8th 2013, Houston. Here’s what you can expect to see on the blog over the coming weeks: Thought pieces on key unconventional related topics being discussed at this year’s IHS CERAWeek On-the-day brief summaries of select … Continue reading
The North American natural gas pipeline grid, the world’s most extensive, was originally designed to bring gas from the producing areas of the Gulf Coast, the Midcontinent and the Permian Basin to the market areas in the Midwest and the Northeast. Over time, the grid evolved as new supply areas emerged in the Rockies, the … Continue reading
The increasing rig count and recent drilling successes in the Utica Shale play have led companies to shuffle assets and seek to become bigger participants in the liquids-rich play located primarily in eastern Ohio. Although Utica Shale exploration does not yet match the amount of unconventional development in other parts of the U.S., the Utica … Continue reading
The recently released IHS North American Tight Oil study identified 47 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil and condensate resources, most of which could be produced during the next 25 years. Supply models projected that oil and condensate production from these plays would reach a peak of just under 5 million barrels per day by … Continue reading
It is not news that the deep injection of fluids into subsurface rock formations has the potential to lubricate faults and cause so-called “induced seismic events”. However, the US debate is heating up around whether a number of smaller earthquakes from unconventional oil and gas activity in certain regions are related to hydraulic fracturing of … Continue reading
Last month the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a Progress Report on the Study of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources. The report does not offer conclusions at this point, but it does provide status updates on the 18 different research activities covered in the study. Study results, including findings … Continue reading
The true cost for water used in oil and gas development is shrouded by complexities in water rights allocation and transfers, and uncertainties of how best to treat and/or dispose of wastewater. Water rules and pricing are often set by considerations associated with alternative uses. But even setting aside the issues of unmitigated environmental externalities … Continue reading
While the Bakken play has stepped into the national limelight as the main engine of burgeoning U.S. oil production, few are aware that producers in the red-hot North Dakota shale field face a surprising lack of pipeline takeaway capacity. The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources highlighted this fact in an August report that revealed … Continue reading
Through 2012 a spate of bad news concerning the unconventional hydrocarbon sector in Poland has cast something of a pall over the industry. This has spurred a series of editorials in the mainstream media declaring that Poland – and by implication Europe – will never replicate the shale gas boom witnessed in North America and … Continue reading
Advances in upstream production technologies are driving a rebound in U.S. oil production, unlocking new oil plays and ultimately helping to fuel a reduction in the country’s volumes of imported oil. One area where the unconventional oil revolution is being felt most keenly is in North Dakota, home to the booming Bakken tight oil play. … Continue reading
The revival in North America oil and gas supplies has shifted the energy playing field in North America and potentially the globe. The scorecard for tight oil below is impressive and even the gas scorecard offers a glimpse of a better future. The impacts are undeniable and exciting, but this revolution is occurring in the … Continue reading
Gas-directed drilling activity in the US has fallen by 54% in just over a year, with the Baker Hughes gas-directed rig count now hovering in the low 400s. At the same time, however, US Lower-48 dry gas production has remained between 64 and 65 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day throughout 2012 (see Figure 1), … Continue reading
Earlier this month I attended an interesting conference here in London. The subject: “Shale and Unconventional Gas – their role in responsibly delivering a future low carbon economy”. The programme contained a good mix of presentations by industry, academics, and scientific organisations, which made it informative and challenging at the same time. Despite being fairly … Continue reading
As a North America Energy Analyst, I closely follow the unconventional gas revolution in the US. For years, pipeline infrastructure bringing output to markets could not keep up with the production boom. Now, the country’s most prolific shale gas play is seeing pipeline expansions and new-builds come onstream, but producers are hesitant to take full … Continue reading
In this rapidly evolving environment—where horizontal drilling has become the norm and natural gas has been forsaken for oil—multiple shale plays are dominating the U.S. exploration and production landscape. I’ve had the opportunity to closely track many of these trends from their infancy during my years as Managing Editor for IHS. Over the last year … Continue reading
The past few months have brought frequent and significant developments in federal, state, and local regulation of hydraulic fracturing and much accompanying debate in the media. A proposed rule from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) increasing regulation of hydraulic fracturing on federal lands has raised criticisms from industry over increased permitting delays and concerns … Continue reading
Talk about oil sands and most people think about Alberta’s vast deposits, but a project getting underway in Utah promises to open up the United States’ significant but little-known oil sands resource. However, as with the Canadian oil sands operations, the ground-breaking effort by U.S. Oil Sands Inc. is facing opposition from environmentalists, and the … Continue reading
The Unconventional oil and gas activity revolutionizing America’s energy future is also bringing enormous benefits to its economy. The opportunity is fueled by a growing domestic supply of oil and natural gas unlocked by a series of technological innovations, primarily the combination of horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing, but also advances in seismic imaging and … Continue reading
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) estimates of methane emissions from completions of hydraulically fractured wells have generated a great deal of controversy in the past few months. IHS entered the fray with its report Mismeasuring Methane, challenging the data and methodology that EPA used and suggesting that they are likely overestimating natural gas emissions. … Continue reading
The increase in unconventional exploration and production activity around the world has brought about important changes to the energy sector in general and the petroleum industry in particular. A question that I am asked regularly is: “What will countries do to ensure that their legislation keeps up with the latest developments?” Based on my experience … Continue reading
Amid regulatory and public sentiment pressure, water has become one of the hottest topics of discussion across all groups within unconventional plays. As operators explore economically and environmentally sustainable management options, oil field service providers are quickly offering water treatment, transportation and disposal products and services. While the incumbent oil field service companies are well … Continue reading
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