This week’s question on the National Journal’s Energy Experts Blog asked about the future role of natural gas in the U.S. energy mix. In his response API President and CEO Jack Gerard likens natural gas from shale to a winning lottery ticket. The question is, will America cash in that winning ticket? Gerard:
Several reports out this week highlight the job-creating potential of shale development and the impact it is having on the overall economy.
Leading the way is the Bakken formation, creating opportunities in North Dakota and surrounding states.
From E&E (subscription required):
As the constantly improving, safe and responsible production of energy from shale leads the way in
Perhaps only The New York Times could reduce the energy/economic miracle of North Dakota’s oil and natural gas bonanza to something akin to a toothache. Columnist Gail Collins ventures forth from the concrete canyons of Manhattan to discover the hubbub on the high plains and doesn’t avoid raising a skeptical eyebrow.
The Economist has an interesting set of articles in a recent special report on U.S. energy and in particular, energy from shale. Though the primary audience is European, the report makes a number of important points about shale energy and the hydraulic fracturing methods used to collect it.
Natural gas, much of it unconventional, is changing the global energy picture
Good article on energy and politics from the Financial Times today (sub req'd):
Pretty neat animation by the Energy Information Administration, showing the growth of oil and natural gas production in the Bakken shale play between 1985 and 2010. You can see the locations and the yields of different wells within the Bakken in time-lapse fashion. EIA:
New quantification of the national impact of the shale natural gas revolution going on in the United States, from IHS Global Insight, one of the world’s largest economic analysis and forecasting firms:
Don’t know if Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley was a math major, but he’s promoting an equation that certainly adds up: E = J.
The New York Times’ Paul Krugman likes solar energy. Lots of folks do. Here’s a post from The Times’ Green blog about Chevron’s Brightfields solar project in California.
