US study finds shale development generally helps local government coffers with revenue gains offsetting costs

A study by Duke University of the US shale gas boom has found that oil and gas development from shale fields has generally helped the public finances of local communities, providing new revenues and resources that usually — but not always — outweigh the increased demand for public services and other costs.

It found that many local governments in western North Dakota and eastern Montana, near the Bakken shale formation, have thus far experienced net negative fiscal effects. Also, some municipalities in rural parts of Colorado and Wyoming struggled to manage rapid population growth as natural gas production accelerated in the mid-to-late 2000s.

The research is a snapshot of the fiscal impact to date in the eight states and does not examine the long-term economic impact to governments and the communities they serve, a question the authors say is important and needs additional study.

Daniel Raimi and Richard Newell gathered data from communities surrounding ten oil and gas “plays” from September 2013 through February 2014, traveling to Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming to interview local officials and collect information firsthand.

The report describes major revenue sources for local governments, which can include property taxes, sales taxes and state-collected severance taxes or fees that are sent back to the local level. Some local governments also partner with oil and gas companies to help maintain roads, an approach that helped reduce expenses associated with heavy truck traffic in states including Arkansas, Colorado and Pennsylvania.

New costs for local governments associated with oil and gas development, include damage to roads from heavy truck traffic, water and sewer service expansion, government staffing and other needs brought on by rapid population growth.

The researchers found that the net impact of recent oil and gas development has generally been positive for local public finances.

“The fiscal effects for local governments tend to vary from state to state, but we found that for most of them new revenues were outweighing new demand for services,” said Newell, director of the Duke University Energy Initiative and Gendell Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.

Newell and Raimi found net positive fiscal effects in regions where oil and gas booms were ongoing or had slowed in recent years, as well as in regions that experienced different scales of activity. This includes local governments in diverse regions where population density and government capacity vary substantially.

“One of the key questions is how these fiscal effects change over time,” said Raimi, an associate in research with Duke’s Energy Initiative. “In very rural areas, some local governments have faced challenges when development first surges. In many cases, those challenges faded over time. In most other areas, we found net positive or at least roughly neutral financial effects on local government.”

“In some parts of North Dakota, populations have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled just in the past few years,” Raimi said. “For local governments in these areas, it’s hard to keep up with the demand for services, especially costly infrastructure projects such as sewer and water treatment plants.”

The study was financed with the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Shale Public Finance project will continue to produce a series of publications that describes local experiences from a variety of U.S. local governments and identifies key findings.

 

 Duke Energy Initiative finance page

includes interactive map and downloadable report in PDF.

Long term sustainability of shale energy in doubt, scientists tell geology conference

Shale oil and gas may not be the economic “panacea” that some believe, a panel of scientists told a geology conference today.  New studies point  to higher than expected field decline rates and increasing costs to extract the energy, meaning the long-term sustainability of shale gas production is questionable.

The findings confirm what sources in the energy industry have been telling Northwest Coast Energy News for the past few months, that the output from hydraulic fracturing decreases much more quickly than conventional extraction.

The panel of three scientists released their findings at the annual convention of the Geological Society of America this morning in Boulder, Colorado.

The studies concentrate on the United States where fracking for “tight oil” and natural gas is more advanced than in Canada.

The panel says that while the use of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling for “tight oil” is an important contributor to Amercian energy supply, fracking will not result in long-term sustainable production or allow the U.S. to become a net oil exporter.

Charles A.S. Hall, professor emeritus at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, presented two studies: one of the global patterns of fossil-fuel production in the past decade, and the other of oil production patterns from the Bakken Field (the giant expanse of oil-bearing shale rock underneath North Dakota and Montana that is being produced using hydraulic fracturing).

According to a news release from the GSA, both studies show that despite a tripling of prices and of expenditures for oil exploration and development, the production of nearly all countries has been stagnant at best and more commonly is declining — and that prices do not allow for any growth in most economies.

“The many trends of declining EROIs suggest that depletion and increased exploitation rates are trumping new technological developments,” Hall said.

The second studies are from J. David Hughes, president of Vancouver-based Global Sustainability Research Inc. Hughes studied the Bakken Field and the Eagle Ford Field of Texas, which together comprise more than half of U.S. tight oil production. The results show that drilling must continue at high levels, to overcome field decline rates of 40 percent per year.

Drilling rates of more than 3,000 wells annually in the Eagle Ford, and more than 1,800 wells annually in the Bakken, are sufficient to offset field decline and grow production — for now. If drilling at these high rates is maintained, production will continue to grow in both fields for a few more years until field decline balances new production. At that point drilling rates will have to increase as “sweet spots” (relatively small high-productivity portions of the total play area) are exhausted and drilling moves into lower-productivity regions, in order to further grow or even maintain production.

The onset of production decline will likely begin before the end of the decade, Hughes said.

“These sweet spots yield the high early production observed in these plays, but the steep decline rates inevitably take their toll. ”

Arthur E. Berman, a geological consultant for Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc., of Sugar Land, Texas, deems the U.S. 10-year history of shale-gas extraction “a commercial failure. ” However, he says, this will not be the case forever. “Prices will increase to, at least, meet the marginal cost of production. More responsible companies will dominate and prosper as the U.S. gas market re-balances and weaker players disappear.”

Hughes sums up: “Tight oil is an important contributor to the U.S. energy supply, but its long-term sustainability is questionable. It should be not be viewed as a panacea for business as usual in future U.S. energy security planning.”

B.C. first nation challenges oil and gas tenures sale: Globe and Mail

Globe and Mail


The sale of oil and gas tenures in northeast British Columbia by the provincial government for $260-million is being challenged in court by a native band.
The Dene Tha, a first nation that straddles the B.C.-Alberta-Northwest Territories boundaries, has filed a petition with the Supreme Court of B.C. The band alleges that the B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines failed to adequately consult with the first nation, or to undertake studies on the environmental impact of gas drilling, before selling the leases in the Cordova Basin, near Fort Nelson. Shale-gas deposits in the Cordova Basin are thought to be extensive.

Is energy player Nexen Kitimat’s next “gentleman caller?”

Another big energy company is looking for a way to get its shale gas from northeastern British Columbia to the lucrative markets of East Asia.

At Monday’s Canadian Petroleum Producer’s investor conference in Calgary, Nexen announced it was looking for a joint venture partner to export the shale gas through a west coast port to Asia.

Nexen wants to find a partner with expertise in producing and selling liquefied natural gas, said Marvin Romanow, chief executive officer. The Calgary-based company last month opened the books on its shale-gas resources for review by interested parties.
“We looked for folks with good contacts in LNG,” Romanow said

Canadian Press reported:

 

Nexen Inc. (TSX:NXY) is on the hunt for a partner to help develop its vast holdings in the Horn River Basin. LNG expertise would be attractive in a partner, but Nexen is open to a variety of marketing strategies for its gas, chief executive Marvin Romanow said.
“I think you want to think about treating your market access as a portfolio, not as a single killer strategy.”

So it is likely that Nexen and its prospective partners, whether from Asia or North America, will be next in line of “gentleman callers” making their way to Kitimat to check out Douglas Channel. 

To use a theatrical and old movie analogy for a moment, Kitimat,  with its isolated location and the devastating closure by West Fraser of the Eurocan plant, up until this spring, the town was seeking big money corporate saviours in the same way as Tennessee Williams’ stricken, lonely Laura pined for a “gentleman caller” in The Glass Menagerie
Now with the world wide gold rush in shale gas production aimed at the Asian market, Kitimat seems to be taking on a new movie role, the nice, plain, intelligent next-door girl that all the boys ignored until she suddenly comes in to an unexpected inheritance. Now all the boys are calling on her and so  are fancy guys from out of town. 386-Nexenshale_June2011.jpg
 Nexen is a Calgary-based energy company, first known as Canadian Occidental Petroleum. It began with operations in the Alberta oil patch and later in the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1991, the company made a major oil discovery in Yemen and that financed later expansion into the Alberta oil sands,  deep water drilling the Gulf of Mexico and exploration in northeastern British Columbia shale oil.
At the  Calgary conference, Nexen said it wasn’t currently drilling any new wells in Yemen and was slowing maintenance of wells while it waits renewal of its contract with the government. Given the current unrest in Yemen, it may be a while before a new government is formed that can sign a new 50/50 contract with Nexen.
On shale gas, Nexen says on its website:

While we weren’t looking at shale gas five years ago, today we have captured significant resource potential-enough to double our current proved reserves-in the heart of one of North America’s best shale gas plays. We are improving productivity and driving down costs as we improve equipment utilization, drill longer wells and initiate more fracs per well.
Shale gas can be brought on quickly, fuels our short-term growth and complements the larger projects in our portfolio.

Webcasts from the CAPP conference

PDF of Nexen’s Powerpoint presentation. (On the Nexen investor page, lower right)

Malaysia buys stake in BC shale, eyes West Coast LNG export terminal

A Canadian energy company, Progress Energy Resources, based in Calgary, has agreed to sell 50 per cent its stake in  a BC shale gas development called North Montney to Malaysia’s state oil firm Petronas  for $1.07 billion Canadian ($1.09 billion US). The two plan to build  an LNG export terminal somewhere on the BC West Coast for the export of liguified natural gas to Malaysia and possibly other parts of Asia.

The Progress news release says:

Petronas and Progress will 
establish an LNG export joint venture (the “LNG Export Joint Venture”) 
to be 80 per cent  [by Petronas] and 20 per cent owned [by Progress], respectively. The LNG Export
 Joint Venture will launch a feasibility study to evaluate building and
operating a new LNG export facility on the West Coast of British
Columbia. Petronas would be the operator of this facility, and Petronas 
and Progress would jointly market the LNG utilizing Petronas’
well-established and extensive network of customers in the largest LNG
markets globally.

 No location was mentioned for the proposed LNG terminal.

In the news release Michael Culbert, President and Chief Executive Officer of Progress was quoted as saying:

“We look forward to working with West Coast British Columbia communities as we pursue this opportunity to build a new facility that will add value to British Columbia’s natural resourceswhile creating considerable long-term local economic benefits.”

Culbert also said in the news release:

 

“This is a breakthrough transaction for Progress: the partnership we are
launching will enable us to accelerate our growth strategy….
”We are very pleased to form this long-term partnership with PETRONAS.
They share our belief that our North Montney shale assets are a
world-class resource that deserves significant investment.  We look 
forward to benefitting from PETRONAS’ significant global expertise
 including their leadership in developing infrastructure and accessing
 LNG markets. As well as enhancing Progress shareholder value, this 
partnership will also generate substantial economic benefits for local
communities and the province of British Columbia, while leveraging the 
environmental benefits of Canada’s abundant and clean-burning natural
 gas resources globally.

This is the first time that Petronas has entered the Canadian energy market, an indication of the growing scramble in Asia for BC oil shale and likely Alberta oil sands.  

Petronas, the national oil and gas company of Malaysia is one of the Fortune Global 500, with oil, gas and petrochemical interests in more than 30 countries. The company calls itself  one of the world’s leading LNG companies and is involved in all parts of the LNG business, from liquefaction and shipping to re-gasification and trading. As well as Malaysia, it has assets in Australia, Egypt and the United Kingdom.

For the public, Petronas is best known as the owner of the giant twin towers that dominate the skyline of Kuala Lumpur.

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Time for Alaska, Big Oil to lay gas line cards on the table : Anchorage Daily News

Anchorage Daily News

Column by Paul Jenkins

Time for Alaska, Big Oil to lay gas line cards on the table

It is time for TransCanada, Exxon and the state to lay their cards on the table; time to tell Alaskans whether their natural gas pipeline project is deader than Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

To almost nobody’s surprise, BP and Conoco Phillips yanked the plug on their Denali gas line project, an effort to build a $35 billion, large-diameter natural gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope to points south. Who could blame them? The companies said that after more than three years and $165 million they could not drum up enough binding “ship-or-pay” agreements to secure financing.

LNG exports on the cards from Canadian shale gas: Reports

378-cordovamap.jpg(Map by Mitsubishi)

LNG Unlimited

LNG exports on the cards from Canadian shale gas

A consortium of five Japanese energy outfits are set to consider LNG exports from a planned shale gas project in northeastern British Columbia, Canada.

Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, Chubu Electric Power, Tokyo Gas and Osaka Gas will collaborate with Mitsubishi on the Cordova Embayment Project, which will mark the first shale gas project executed by Japanese utilities and gas companies…

Half of the production will be for the Canadian market.

Natural Gas for America

 Japanese Utilities Joins Cordova Shale Project

A group of Japanese utilities will join Mitsubishi Corp. in a shale gas project led by Penn West Exploration.

Tokyo Gas Co., Osaka Gas Co., Chubu Electric Power Co. and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. have each agreed to take a 7.5% stake in Cordoba Gas Resources, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi.

Through the formation of the consortium, all the companies expect to obtain beneficial knowledge about shale gas developments. The consortium plans to discuss studying the possibility of exporting the shale gas to Japan as LNG which will contribute to diversify energy import and to secure stable energy supply to Japan, Mitsubishi Corp. said in a statement.

Mitsubishi news release

Editor’s note:
Mitsubishi’s interest in the Cordova project was under negotiation last year, long before the earthquake which knocked out much of Japan’s energy generating capacity, especially the hard hit Fukishima nuclear reactor complex. Now, with Japanese companies and the government looking to replace nuclear with natural gas, this is likely the first of a number of deals that will be announced in the coming months. That natural gas has to get to Japan somehow, and that likely means more announcements regarding the port of Kitimat.

Shale Gas, LNG & the Coming Impact of Wet Shale: Energy Tribune

Energy Tribune

Shale Gas, LNG & the Coming Impact of Wet Shale

The first hint that the paradigm was not shifting so much as shattering was in 2009 when the planned Kitimat terminal in British Columbia was reborn as an export terminal. The gas would come from western Canada’s Horn River and Montney shales. Pre-2009, the theory was that gas imported to Kitimat would compete for Asian markets with gas from Australia and Peru. Post 2014, when the terminal will be completed, BC gas will compete in Asian markets against Australian, Peruvian and many more LNG exporters who had seen one leg of the three-legged world gas stool of North America, Europe and Asian markets sawn off.

This year we are seeing talk of LNG exports from another terminal near
Kitimat and possibly even from Oregon. But the big game changer occurred
in May 2010 when Cheniere Energy, operator of the Sabine Pass LNG
terminal on the Gulf of Mexico announced plans to export US gas from
2014 – a plan quickly added to by other operators in Cameron LA and
Galveston.