Category Archives: natural gas

Barack Obama’s Climate Change Policies – He makes no distinction between Climate and Energy use

Posted on by
Reply

But John McCain does make such a distinction so in fairness, I did too.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/newenergy

Reduce our Greenhouse Gas

Emissions 80 Percent by 2050

• Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
• Make the U.S. a Leader on Climate Change.

Learn More…
 

GET THE DETAILS:

Read the full version of The Obama-Biden New Energy for America plan

The Obama-Biden environmental plan

The Obama-Biden plan to crack down on excessive energy speculation
 

Drill Here, Drill Now – The disconnect between the industry and its flacks

Posted on by
Reply

hahahahahahaha:

http://wilderness.org/ourissues/wilderness/

Andrew Bush sends this along

Dear reporter/editor:

Given today’s announcement that Congress will allow the offshore drilling ban to expire—opening many more acres to drilling—we thought you would be interested in the story below from yesterday’s business wire, “Chesapeake Energy (CHK) Plans To Reduce Drilling Budget.” In a nutshell, before the dust has settled on the oil and natural gas industry’s “drill, baby, drill” multi-million dollar advertising campaign, the country’s largest independent natural gas producer has announced that it is curtailing – or “shutting in” — its near-term natural gas production, and slashing its drilling budget by 17%. All because the price of gas to consumers has apparently drifted “too low” for consumers, in the company’s view.

“ Chesapeake ’s actions and attitude typify the ‘public be damned’ manner in which the oil and gas industry in this country operates,” said Wilderness Society Senior Policy Advisor Dave Alberswerth . “American consumers and Congress were convinced by the industry’s ‘drill baby drill’ campaign that the key to lowering energy prices was “more drilling”, at the same time that one of our nation’s largest gas producers was apparently laying plans to curtail its own drilling and production operations for fear that their profits weren’t high enough. American consumers should take note of Chesapeake’s actions, because this company is among those that have promoted the notion that American has abundant natural gas supplies, that all we have to do is drill for it, and has even urged Congress to subsidize greater use of natural gas to fuel our vehicle fleet.” Alberswerth noted that although most of Chesapeake ’s operations are on non-federal lands, it is likely that other natural gas producers who do have operations on federal lands will follow suit.

“ Chesapeake ’s action is another good example of why increasing domestic drilling is an inefficient solution for reducing energy prices,” said Wilderness Society Economist Pete Morton , who also noted that after eight years of the Bush drilling boom and more than 170,000 new natural gas wells, energy prices are still high. “Whether Chesapeake ’s action is driven by high extraction costs or a profit-maximizing desire to keep prices high for consumers, it reinforces the need for a thorough economic analysis of proposals to increase domestic drilling.”

Contact:  Dave Alberswerth (202/429-2695) and Dr. Pete Morton (303/650-5818, ext 105), The Wilderness Society

http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Chesapeake+Energy+(CHK)+Plans+To+Reduce+Drilling+Budget/4008656.html

Chesapeake Energy (CHK) Plans To Reduce Drilling Budget 

September 22, 2008

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) announced plans to reduce its drilling capital expenditure (capex) budget during the second half of 2008 through year-end 2010 by approximately $3.2 billion, or 17%, in response to an approximate 50% decrease in natural gas prices since June 30, 2008 and concerns about the possibility of an emerging U.S. natural gas surplus in advance of increased demand from the U.S. transportation sector. Of the $3.2 billion drilling capex reduction, $0.8 billion is attributable to the drilling capex carry associated with the company’s recently closed Fayetteville Shale joint venture with BP America (NYSE: BP), $0.5 billion is attributable to the drilling capex carry anticipated in a Marcellus Shale joint venture and $1.9 billion is attributable to reduced drilling activity. The company plans to reduce its current operated drilling rig count of 157 rigs to approximately 140 rigs by year-end 2008 and expects to keep its rig count relatively flat through 2009 and 2010.

In addition to reducing drilling capex, Chesapeake has elected to temporarily curtail a portion of its unhedged natural gas production in the Mid-Continent region due to unusually weak wellhead natural gas prices that are substantially below industry breakeven costs. The company has curtailed approximately 100 million cubic feet (mmcf) per day of net natural gas production (approximately 125-150 mmcf per day gross) and plans to restore this production once natural gas prices recover from recently depressed wellhead price levels of $3.00 – 5.00 per thousand cubic feet (mcf). This curtailment represents approximately 4% of the company’s current net natural gas and oil production capacity of over 2.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day (92% natural gas).

The company has also reduced its full-year 2008 production growth estimate to 18% from 21% to account for the temporary curtailment discussed above, the sale of 45 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent (mmcfe) per day of production associated with its Fayetteville Shale joint venture with BP, the anticipated sale of 60 mmcfe per day of production in the 2008 fourth quarter associated with the company’s fourth volumetric production payment (VPP) and shut-ins in the 2008 third quarter of onshore production associated with natural gas processing plant limitations as a result of damage by Hurricane Ike.

Additionally, as a result of reduced drilling activity levels announced today, the company has lowered its anticipated production growth forecasts in 2009 and 2010 to 16% per year from 19% per year. At these levels, Chesapeake believes its production growth will still remain at or near the top of its large-cap peer group, particularly in light of continued strong drilling results from its shale plays. Notably, during the month of September, Chesapeake completed three additional horizontal Haynesville Shale wells with average per well initial production rates exceeding 10 mmcfe per day bringing its total horizontal Haynesville Shale wells on production to 14.[SM]

Drew F. Bush

Communications Associate

The Wilderness Society

drew_bush@tws.org

Phone: (202)-429-7441

Fax: (202)-429-3945

The Wilderness Society’s mission is to protect wilderness

and inspire Americans to care for our wild places.

Natural Gas Sales Lead To Social Crisis in Bolivia – The fight over hydrocarbons heats up

Posted on by
Reply

Its not just OIL. Every form of hydrocarbon will become  flash points as part of the world abandons the carbon economy while others rush to it as a salvation.

 http://ecoworldly.com/2008/09/16/fight-over-natural-gas-has-bolivia-on-brink-of-collapse/

Fight Over Natural Gas Has Bolivia on Brink of Collapse 

 Written by Levi Novey

Published on September 16th, 2008

Posted in Bolivia

Having gained confidence after handily winning a recall election with 67% of the vote last month, Bolvia’s President Evo Morales has proposed some controversial changes to Bolivia’s Constitution. He wants to redistribute wealth obtained from the sale of Bolivia’s abundant natural gas resources in a more equitable way to help the poor. He also wants to change the constitution so that he can run for a second term. These proposals have lead to violent protests in the country’s eastern provinces, that contain the bulk of Bolivia’s natural gas reserves. These regions are now threatening to break away. Tension is high and a civil war might soon emerge.Some of Morales’ opponents claim that he is trying to obtain dictatorial powers. They subsequently have blockaded roads, and temporarily shut down natural gas pipeline flow to Brazil (which gets 50% of its gas from Bolivia). Martial law has been declared in one province and the details of one particularly violent incident are still sketchy. It is unclear if Bolivia’s military is entirely behind Morales. At least 30 people have died so far during the conflict, and countless others have been injured.

Last week Morales also accused the United States of helping to fan the flames of the conflict, framing it as a coup d’etat to remove him as president. He expelled the American ambassador to Bolivia to send out his message of disapproval. The U.S.’s ambassador has denied the claims made against him.

:}

But this has happened before:

http://www.oilcrisis.com/bo/

Bolivia’s Mesa Offers to Step Down as Protests Mount, by Andrew J. Barden in Mexico City for Bloomberg [2005 March 7]

“Bolivian President Carlos Mesa offered his resignation to Congress almost 17 months after taking office, amid stepped up protests against the government’s energy policies…”It’s a highly dangerous moment for Bolivia,” Mesa said in a letter to Congress, read aloud by Cabinet Chief Jose Galindo and broadcast on CNN’s Spanish network. “These movements are leading the country to a point that is unsustainable. I can’t continue to govern under these circumstances,” the letter said.

“Mesa’s resignation would throw the South American country back into a political crisis less than two years after former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada was forced from office following deadly riots in opposition to his plans to export natural gas to the U.S. and Mexico.”

“Evo Morales, leader of the second-largest party in Congress, the Movement Toward Socialism, is leading protests to demand a new hydrocarbon law that raises royalties for foreign companies in Bolivia such as Spain’s Repsol YPF and Total SA of France. Bolivia has 28.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, Latin America’s second-largest reserves after Venezuela, according to BP Plc’s statistical review of world energy.”

Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, the former President of Bolivia:
“Our country’s long-term energy needs are dwarfed by its vast supplies.”

What does vast mean in Bolivia today?

“”According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Bolivia’s proven natural gas reserves were 24 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), as of January 2003. A study by U.S.-based consulting firm DeGolyer & MacNaughton in April 2003, however, certified Bolivia’s natural gas reserves at 54.9 Tcf, giving Bolivia the second-largest reserves in South America after Venezuela. The graph to the right reflects the large increases in reserve estimates since 1997.” From USA’s Energy Information Agency

Comparing Bolivia’s Natural Gas reserves with Global consumption of 90 TCF of natural gas per year, giving the benefit of the doubt that reserves are “certified” indeed at 54.9 TCF, Bolivia would be able to meet humanity’s Natural gas needs for 223 days. Is that a vast amount?

Peasants in Bolivia organized in September 2003 to revolt against “selling” [giving away?] their energy inheritance to the USA, where the average person consumes 40 times more natural gas, 15 times more electricity and 15 times more oil. To characterize this transfer of natural wealth as necessary for the economic well-being of their country is to completely misconstrue the inherent value of this resource in the long term as a mechanism for internal economic development. Furthermore, it could only come from ignorance of realistic global oil and natural gas reserves and prospects, or because Sanchez is deliberately ignoring these facts to support a political agenda

:}

And you know what this always leads to? When will they ever learn that standing in the road of social justice is foolish at best and disruptive at worse. People that have nothing have nothing to lose:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/12/content_9938579.htm

Even the Chinese know that.

Bolivia crisis cuts natural gas supply to Brazil by half

 RIO DE JANEIRO, September 11 (Xinhua) — The political crisis in Bolivia led to a 55-percent reduction in the country’s natural gas supply to its biggest customer Brazil, Transierra pipeline company said in a statement on Thursday,    The reduction was due to malfunction of a pipeline in southeastern Bolivia. It remains unclear if it was a technical problem or an act of sabotage.

    It is the second incident with Bolivia’s pipelines in less than24 hours. A pipeline in the Yacuiba region exploded on Wednesday, leading to a 10-percent reduction in the natural gas exports to Brazil.

    Brazil needs about 60 million cubic meters of natural gas everyday, and half of the supplies comes from Bolivia.

    Edison Lobao, Brazil’s Minister of Mines and Energy, has met with technical personnel and experts from the country’s state-owned oil and gas company Petrobras to work out a contingency plan to deal with the supply reduction.

    Sao Paulo city, which depends on Bolivia for 60 percent of its natural gas supply, has already launched a contingency plan. Sao Paulo state’s Basic Sanitation and Energy Secretary Dilma Pena said that the industrial sector will face the biggest reduction in gas supplies.

    She added, however, that residential and commercial clients, as well as hospitals, will be spared from the supply reduction.

    Protests, which broke out two weeks ago against Morales’ plans to amend the constitution and reallocate gas revenues, turned violent this week in southeastern Bolivia. Anti-government protesters blocked the road, stormed official buildings and clashed with supporters of the president.

    The borders to Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay have been closed and Bolivia’s ambassador to Brazil, Rene Mauricio Dorfler, said his government is considering declaring a state of emergency in the country.

:}

San Antonio Makes Money Off Human Waste – That’s right TX city makes cash off doodoo

Posted on by
Reply

http://cleantechnica.com/2008/09/11/san-antonio-generating-gas-from-sewage/

 San Antonio Generating Gas from Sewage

Written by Ariel Schwartz

Published on September 11th, 2008


san antonio

San Antonio, Texas is making use of its 140,000 tons of sewage generated each year to capture methane gas. The city’s utility board of trustees approved a contract this week to sell 900,000 cubic feet of natural gas derived from the sewage each day to Ameresco, a Massachusetts energy services company.

Though methane is a potent greenhouse gas, it has a variety of uses. The substance can be used for fuel in gas turbines or steam boilers, and it is also used as vehicle fuel in the form of compressed natural gas. Additionally, NASA is researching methane as a potential rocket fuel.

According to Steve Claus, the chief operating officer of the water system, San Antonio’s sewage generates 1.5 million cubic feet of gas each day—enough to fill seven commercial blimps or 1,250 tanker trucks. The facilities needed for the project will be ready in about two years.

San Antonio will get $250,000 a year for the methane—a sum that I hope will go towards more renewable energy efforts in the area.

:}

 http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN0937395520080909

San Antonio residents produce about 140,000 tons a year of a substance gently referred to as “biosolids,” which can be reprocessed into natural gas, said Steve Clouse, chief operating officer of the city’s water system.

“You may call it something else,” Clouse said, but for area utilities, the main byproduct of human waste – methane gas – will soon be converted into natural gas to burn in their power plants.

 The private vendor will come onto the facility, construct some gas cleaning systems, remove the moisture, remove the carbon dioxide content, and then sell that gas on the open market,” Clouse said.

The gas will be sold to power generators, he said.

Some communities are using methane gas harvested from solid waste to power smaller facilities like sewage treatment plants, but San Antonio is the first to see large-scale conversion of methane gas from sewage into fuel for power generation, he said.

Following the agreement, more than 90 percent of materials flushed down the toilets and sinks of San Antonio will be recycled, he said. Liquid is now used for irrigation, many of the solids are made into compost, and now the methane gas will be recycled for power generation.

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth, Editing by Chris Baltimore and Lisa Shumaker)

:}

 http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/900732.html

The utility already sells for reuse a portion of the water that’s cleaned up at its wastewater treatment plants. It also has contracts to turn up to 80 percent of biosolids into compost that’s sold for use in yards and gardens.

“As far as we know, SAWS is the only city in the United States that has completed the renewable recyclable trifecta,” Clouse”.

Clouse said it will take 18 to 24 months for construction of facilities needed for the contract.

:}

Not so delicate post

:}

http://sustainablog.org/2008/09/12/in-praise-of-poop-3-san-antonio-harnesses-power-from-sewage-methane/

For this the third entry in the annals of excellent excrement (after cow and E. coli poop), we will have to travel deep down into the heart of Texas…and then even farther down into the sewers of San Antonio. So don your rubber body suit, gas mask, and sense of humor, for sewage is no longer just stuff to be dumped and forgotten.

No, San Antonio is out to prove that sewage, and specifically the methane that it gives off oh so (i.e., too) naturally without any bother or cost to us, can be used as a source of alternative fuel…I mean it is natural gas, after all.

:}

:}