Shale gas – June 28

Click on the headline (link) for the full text. Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage

Exxon: ‘Losing Our Shirts’ on Natural Gas
Jeffry A. Dicolo and Tom Fowler, Wall Street Journal
Even energy titan Exxon Mobil Corp. is showing signs of strain from low natural-gas prices.

On Wednesday Exxon Chief Executive Rex Tillerson broke from the previous company line that it wasn’t being hurt by natural gas prices, admitting that the Irving, Texas-based firm is among those hurting from the price slump.

“We are all losing our shirts today.” Mr. Tillerson said in a talk before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “We’re making no money. It’s all in the red.”…
(27 June 2012)

Shale Gas Reality Begins to Dawn
Nicole Foss, The Automatic Earth
It has long been our position at The Automatic Earth that North America is collectively dreaming with regard to unconventional natural gas. While gas is undeniably there, the Energy Returned On Energy Invested (EROEI) is dramatically lower than for conventional supplies. The critical nature of EROEI has been widely ignored, but will ultimately determine what is and is not an energy source, and shale gas is going to fail the test…
(24 June 2012)

The Sky Is Pink: New Josh Fox Video On Fracking Controversies in New York (and Much More)
Brendan Demelle, Desmogblog
Gasland director Josh Fox is back with a must-watch new short video taking a look at the controversy in New York where Governor Andrew Cuomo is considering plans to lift the state’s moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for unconventional gas.

(20 June 2012)

Obama’s Interior chief: State regulation of fracking ‘not good enough for me’
Ben German, The Hill
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is striking back at oil-and-gas companies that claim state-level regulation of “fracking” is strong enough to render federal rules that he’s crafting a pointless layer of red tape…

Salazar said state-level oversight of the onshore oil-and-gas development method called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is not enough, and argued industry complaints about the planned rules are not valid…
(26 June 2012)

Ed Davey urged to take ‘foot off the gas’ and focus on renewables
Jessica Shankleman, Business Green
The government will today be urged to “take its foot off the gas” and bolster efforts to increase supplies of renewable energy, in a new report warning ministers they will fuel further geopolitical and price uncertainty through their proposed electricity market reforms.

The report, to be published today by Friends of the Earth, aims to assess the role of gas in the UK’s future energy mix by examining how varying levels of demand would impact Britain’s energy security…
Link to report
(26 June 2012)

Gazprom Biggest Loser As Shale Gas Upends World Markets
Anna Shiryaevskaya, Bloomberg
The natural-gas boom reshaping America is rocking Russia, where state producer OAO Gazprom (GAZP) is slow to react and at risk of becoming the world’s biggest loser from the new technology to drill shale rock.

The U.S. no longer needs Russia’s gas, leaving President Vladimir Putin fighting to salvage Gazprom’s $20 billion Shtokman project in the Arctic. China, the biggest energy consumer, is exploring its own shale reserves and hesitating to accept a pipeline from Russia. Gazprom’s shipments fell about 14 percent so far in 2012, and the stock has lost 9.6 percent…
(22 June 2012)