The Energy Blog

FYI: Marcellus Black Shale Natural Gas Reservoir Could Dramatically Boost U.S. Production

Natural gas distributed throughout the Marcellus black shale in northern Appalachia could conservatively boost proven U.S. reserves by trillions of cubic feet if gas production companies employ horizontal drilling techniques, according to a Penn State and State University of New York, Fredonia, team. . . .

Terry Engelder, professor of geosciences, at Penn State, working with Gary Lash, professor of geoscience, SUNY Fredonia, has conservatively estimated that the Marcellus shale contains 168 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in place and optimistically suggests that the amounts could be as high as 516 trillion cubic feet. . . .

The U.S. currently produces roughly 30 trillion cubic feet of gas a year, and these numbers are dropping. According to Engelder, the technology exists to recover 50 trillion cubic feet of gas from the Marcellus, thus keeping the U.S. production up. If this recovery is realized, the Marcellus reservoir would be considered a Super Giant gas field. . . . more

Crude Reserves in US Decline, Natural Gas Reserves Increase

U.S. crude oil proved reserves declined 4 percent in 2006, while natural gas reserves increased by 3% according to estimates released by the Energy Information Administration

The Gulf of Mexico Federal Offshore and Alaska, two of the largest oil producing areas, respectively reported 10 and 7 percent declines in crude oil proved reserves. This was due to downward revisions and fewer new discoveries. Utah reported the largest increase in crude oil proved reserves, adding 78 million barrels (a 30 percent increase from 2005), followed by Colorado and New Mexico. 

Domestic crude oil production declined 5 percent in 2006 due mostly to lower production in Alaska. Part of the decline resulted from an August 2006 shut-in of producing wells in half of the Prudhoe Bay Field for inspection and repair of corrosion in the gathering system. For the second year in a row Montana had the largest annual oil production increase of any state (6 million barrels; a 20 percent increase) owing to continued development of the Bakken Formation in the Elm Coulee Field. This relatively new and important oil field is difficult to produce and requires cutting-edge technology for economic production.

U.S. natural gas proved reserves increased 3 percent in 2006, rising to over 211 trillion cubic feet, the highest level since 1976. Additions to reserves replaced 136 percent of the dry natural gas produced in 2006. This was the eighth year in a row that U.S. natural gas proved reserves have increased.

Total U.S. natural gas production increased in 2006 due to production increases in Texas (Barnett Shale), Louisiana, and the Rocky Mountain states (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Montana). Gulf of Mexico natural gas production declined the most with a 6 percent drop.

Advance Summary: U.S. Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Natural Gas Liquids Reserves 2006 Annual Report is available on the EIA Internet site at:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/data_publications/advanced_summary/current/adsum.pdf

Anerobic Microoganisms Produce Methane

LUCA Technologies, Golden, Colorado, has discovered that many hydrocarbon deposits such as coal beds, organic-rich shales and oil fields currently are, or have potential to produce large amounts of methane, using naturally occurring populations of anaerobic microorganisms, on an ongoing, real-time basis. In the absence of atmospheric oxygen, these underground communities of organisms feed on the complex organic molecules that make up the coal or oil, yielding methane as a metabolic byproduct.

Luca has identified 46 years of gas supply, at 23 TCFY (approx. current U.S. consumption rate), that could be produced using anaerobic microorganisms, assuming 1% of the substrate is converted to methane.

LUCA has coined the term "Geobioreactors" to refer to these large, naturally occurring bioreactors (containers in which microorganisms are used to perform chemical reactions), and to differentiate them from the human-engineered conversion of plant materials into methane that is currently done on a small scale.

Through a series of controlled laboratory experiments, LUCA has shown that coal samples extracted from a number of suspected Geobioreactors will produce methane on an on-going basis. Moreover, this methane production can be stimulated by the introduction of additional nutrient compounds, or suppressed by heat sterilization or the introduction of oxygen, both of which will kill anaerobic organisms.

The biogenic creation of methane from a higher molecular weight hydrocarbon source is a multi-step process, most likely accomplished by a consortium of microorganisms acting together in a symbiotic fashion. Through a series of steps, various organisms in the consortium breakdown the large hydrocarbon molecules in coal or oil into intermediate, water-soluble compounds, which are then reduced to even smaller hydrocarbon molecules, and finally metabolized into methane by a group of organisms known as methanogens.

Natural Gas Civic Beats Prius

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Honda’s natural gas Civic GX, which debuted in 2006 in California but is now becoming available in other parts of the country, just may be the cleanest mainstream car on the road. At least the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) thinks so. The nonprofit group . . . put the Civic GX at the top of its 2007 environmentally friendly car list, edging out Toyota’s hybrid Prius.

The natural gas-fueled Civic scored slightly better than the Prius on fuel economy and reduced emissions in ACEEE’s battery of tests. It also scored better in terms of the pollution generated in the manufacturing processes. . . . continued

The lack of fueling stations and limited range (220 miles) are the main disadvantages of the Civic.

Corncob Derived Briquettes for Lower Pressure Natural Gas Storage

Using corncob waste as a starting material, researchers at University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) and Midwest Research Institute (MRI) in Kansas City have created carbon briquettes with complex nanopores capable of storing natural gas at an unprecedented density of 180 times their own volume and at one seventh the pressure of conventional natural gas tanks. The technology has been incorporated into a test bed installed on a pickup truck used regularly by the Kansas City Office of Environmental Quality.

"We are very excited about this breakthrough because it may lead to a flat and compact tank that would fit under the floor of a passenger car, similar to current gasoline tanks," said principal project leader Peter Pfeifer of MU. "Such a technology would make natural gas a widely attractive alternative fuel for everyone."

According to Pfeifer, the absence of such a flatbed tank has been the principal reason why natural gas, which costs significantly less than gasoline and diesel and burns more cleanly, is not yet widely used as a fuel for vehicles.

UK Wind & Gas Project: First of Kind

On Feb. 8 Eclipse Energy UK plc (‘Eclipse’) announced that it has been granted consent to construct and operate a unique dual energy scheme, the Ormonde offshore wind farm and to generate and export electricity from the adjacent Ormonde Gas Fields development by the UK Government. This completes the series of principal permissions necessary to construct the world’s first co-development of offshore gas and wind energy, in the East Irish Sea offshore from Lancaster.

When constructed Ormonde is expected to have the ability to provide up to 200MW of electricity from its gas turbines fueled by two natural gas fields and dedicated offshore wind farm of 30 turbines. The Ormonde project will be able to supply the equivalent of three-quarters of Cumbria’s domestic load generating enough electricity to power over 155,000 homes, the equivalent of which 71,000 would be powered by renewable energy, it will also save up to 286,000 tons of CO2 per year. The project anticipates first energy in 2009.

Ormonde Project Facts
	Wind	Natural Gas
Revenue Split	80%	20%
Installed Capacity	108MW	93MW
Generated Electricity	59%	41%

India to Have Natural Gas surplus in Two Years

As reported in the Asia times: A report by India's Ministry of Petroleum has said that the country will possess surplus natural gas in the next two years and its rapidly growing economy is likely to be fueled by it after major discoveries by state-run and private energy companies. Currently, India meets 70% of its energy requirements through imports.

"The major natural-gas recoveries off the east coast and aggressive acquisition of oil and gas blocks overseas might make India a gas-surplus country in another two years, and the natural fuel is all set to replace the country's agrarian-based economy," said the report. "The planned cross-country gas pipeline and city gas-distribution networks will go a long way towards influencing India's economy." ... more

If this proves to be true it could have a stabilizing effect on the cost of gas and oil supplies in the rest if the world.

New Stimulation Technology Improves Gas Production

Halliburton has added a breakthrough stimulation technology, GasPerm 1000(SM) service, which helps improve production from unconventional reservoirs including tight gas, shales and coalbed methane. Based on a newly developed microemulsion surfactant, the service helps remove water drawn into the formation during the fracturing process. Removing the water can improve permeability to gas at the fracture face and help increase gas production. In addition the service represents a safety and environmental advancement, replacing methanol in many applications.

In the fracturing process, water can be drawn (imbibed) into the formation from the fluid used to create the fracture. The water drawn into the pore spaces is held there by capillary pressure and surface tension and can block gases from flowing into the wellbore. Commonly called "water block," this process is especially pronounced in unconventional gas reservoirs where the lower permeability results in increased capillary pressure.

The service has been shown to enable the imbibed liquids to be expelled from the rock matrix and fracture system, thereby enabling improved gas production.

World’s first CNG ship approved for construction

Sea NG Corporation (www.coselle.com) announced that the American Bureau of Shipping ("ABS") has approved for construction its Coselle compressed natural gas ("CNG") ship. This is the first ship and cargo system in the world for the transport of CNG to be so approved by ABS or any other international marine classification society.

Coselle CNG ships will be deployed to carry moderate volumes of natural gas (30 to 500 mmscf) over medium distances (200 to 2,000 km), a segment of the marine gas transportation market that has not been economically served by pipelines or liquefied natural gas.

Cost Comparisons for New Power Plants

Stone & Webster Management Consultants has prepared life-cycle cost calculations for most of the technologies likely to be used in new power plants.  Calculations were made for the following types of plants:

• Subcritical and supercritical pulverized coal,
• Circulating fluidized bed (CFB),
• Integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC),
• GE advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR),
• South African pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) and
• Gas fired combined cycle power plants. 

The paper, presented at POWER-GEN International in Los Vegas in early December, presents a consistent comparison of the economics and risks of representative designs that are being considered in the power marketplace for projects requiring investments of $1 billion or more.

A brief description of each type of power plant and a list of assumptions, too long to go into here, are given.  Results of the calculations are presented in graphic form for total capital investment in dollars and dollars per kW, levelized production costs (cost of electricity produced) and a comparison of costs for coal plants with and without sequestration.