Saudi Aramco Launches Largest Shale Gas Development Outside US
Saudi Aramco is launching the biggest shale gas development outside of the United States to boost domestic gas supply and end the burning of oil at its power generation plants, Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser told Reuters on Monday.The world's top crude oil exporter has for years battled for market share with rapidly expanding shale oil producers in the United States, which in just a decade have developed capacity to pump millions of barrels per day of oil from rock formations that were previously too costly to tap.Saudi Arabia fought a price war aimed at putting the U.S. shale industry out of business just six years ago, which ultimately failed.
China Aims to Boost Natural Gas Production
Following several years of natural gas consumption outpacing local production growth, China is introducing incentives to spur several forms of domestic production in hopes of reducing its reliance on imports.China’s natural gas imports, both by pipeline and as liquefied natural gas (LNG), accounted for nearly half (45%) of China’s natural gas supply in 2018, an increase from 15% in 2010, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).Recently, Chinese natural gas production has grown largely because of increased development in low-permeability formations in the form of tight gas, shale gas, and to a lesser extent, coalbed methane.
Gazprom to Review Shale Gas and LNG Sectors
Russian energy giant Gazprom revealed that there is still a high level of uncertainty in the long-term forecasts for U.S. shale gas production. It also said that the number of LNG-consuming countries would grow in the long term.Gazprom's Board of Directors took note of the information about the prospects of the shale gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) sectors around the world, as well as the opportunities and threats facing the Company.The oil and gas company focused on the business of extraction, production, transport, and sale of natural gas highlighted that, as in the past, shale gas production was concentrated almost entirely in the United States.
UK Takes Extra Measures to Support Shale Gas Development
The British government announced measures on Thursday to speed up planning applications to support development of the country's shale gas industry.Increasing reliance on imported gas as Britain's domestic North Sea output declines is one of the driving forces behind government support for hydraulic fracturing, which involves extracting gas obtained from rocks broken up or fractured with water and chemicals at high pressure.However, it is impossible to know exactly how much shale gas might be underground - and, more importantly…
Scotland Widens Shale Moratorium
Scotland has placed a moratorium on underground coal gasification, a form of unconventional gas extraction, adding to a ban on shale gas that it imposed in January in conflict with the pro-shale stance of Prime Minister David Cameron. The Scottish government also said on Thursday it would start an in-depth investigation into the impact of shale gas fracking, the process whereby water, sand and chemicals are blasted at underground rocks to release trapped gas. The outcome of the consultation in spring 2017 will then allow Scottish ministers to decide whether to keep the shale gas moratorium in place or not.
UK Struggles With Shale Gas Laws
British PM Cameron says still wants shale gas to go ahead; government, industry have met to discuss shale gas. Pressure is mounting on Britain's pro-shale government to make changes to the planning system after local politicians rejected two projects that could have become Britain's first shale gas producing wells. Prime Minister David Cameron, who has promised to go "all out for shale", said he respected the planning process but still wanted shale gas to go ahead. His quest to replicate at least a small slice of the United States' success in bringing down energy prices with the help of shale gas is now looking bleaker than ever.
UK Delivers Blow to Local Shale Project
British local government officials rejected a shale gas project in northwest England on Monday, dealing a blow to Britain's shale gas sector that is supported by Prime Minister David Cameron's government. Officials at Lancashire County Council spurned a shale gas planning application lodged by Cuadrilla Resources, saying the project would have an "unacceptable" visual and noise impact. The unexpected refusal came four days after the same officials rejected another Cuadrilla shale gas application, showing how strong local opposition is to unconventional gas production.
Britain's New Government to Kick-Start Shale
Britain's new Conservative government could take control of planning decisions to speed up the development of shale gas and prevent investor money from drying up, lawyers say. Britain is estimated to have enough shale gas trapped below its surface to meet its gas needs for decades. But deployment of the controversial fracking technology required to release gas trapped in rocks has been slow as planning hurdles and environmental protests have prevented companies from digging in the ground. Prime Minister David Cameron, facing dwindling resources of North Sea oil and gas…
UK Shale Gas Firm Cuadrilla Hits Planning Snag
British shale gas firm Cuadrilla hit another obstacle to getting the gas out of the ground when a local council refused it a permit on Wednesday for a site where it wanted to take geological measurements. Lancashire County Council in northwest England said it had rejected Cuadrilla's request for a three-year extension of a planning permit at its Grangehill site, where no hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, was planned to take place. The rejection is the latest sign that local authorities are increasingly reluctant to grant shale…
Sinopec Leads Shale Research Center
State energy group Sinopec will head up a new national shale oil research and development centre that has been approved by the National Energy Administration, official paper China Energy News reported on Monday. China may hold 10-20 billion tonnes of shale oil resource, the paper said, citing preliminary industry estimates. Sinopec has since 2011 been tapping shale oil resource in formations in central China's Qinyang and east China's Jiyang basins for signs of oil flows, it said. Oil and gas development has been ongoing for decades in the two continental basis, with shale rock buried deeper below the conventional producing zones.
Scottish Power, Egdon Give Go-Ahead to UK Shale Gas Project
Scottish Power, owned by Spain's Iberdrola, and Egdon Resources have decided to move ahead with a joint project to explore and develop shale gas in Britain, after seismic data showed the potential for reserves. Britain is counting on the development of shale gas to help lessen its increasing dependence on imports as North Sea output declines. Under a farm-in agreement between the two companies, Scottish Power, which holds the mineral licenses for two sites in northeast England, will take 50 percent of the gas produced from them, unless it opts out of the agreement or the work is abandoned.
PetroChina Q2 Profit Jumps
Net profit rises to 33.9 billion yuan vs 29.5 billion; PetroChina says aims to make Athabasca payment soon. PetroChina, the country's top oil and gas producer which also owns refineries, posted a 15 percent rise in second-quarter profit, partly due to higher upstream earnings and improved refining margins. Second-quarter net profit rose to 33.9 billion yuan ($5.5 billion) in April-June from 29.5 billion yuan a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations based on PetroChina's first-half results released on Thursday. That compares with an average forecast of 33.2 billion yuan by six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
China LNG Demand Weighs on Investment Plans
China's LNG imports rose 35 pct in Q1 to 5.62 mln T. Seen overtaking S.Korea to become second-biggest LNG buyer by 2020. High prices & shale gas development to challenge China LNG demand. China's imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are growing at a record pace as it aims to use cleaner fuels to cut smog in big cities, creating a powerful new source of demand that has the potential to reshape the market for the super-chilled gas. Rising Chinese demand gives LNG producers such as Chevron , Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and Total…
