Miscellaneous Links: US To Surpass Saudi in Oil Production by 2017; Surpass Russia By Sizeable Margin by 2015

The fracker's guide to a greener world.

Greenhouse-gas emissions are growing rapidly in the developing world. The only realistic alernative to this trend is natural gas. 

Yup.

Denmark scraps 'fat tax' after a year.

Danish lawmakers have killed a controversial "fat tax" one year after its implementation, after finding its negative effect on the economy and the strain it has put on small businesses far outweigh the health benefits. 

Yup. Sort of like New York City's plan to ban 32-oz big gulp drinks....and forgetting about preparing for global warming ocean surges. Twenty years to prepare.

EPA: Sandy stirs toxic-site worry -- of 198 Superfund sites across the nation, 45 of them are within a half-mile of coastal areas vulnerable to storm surge. This puts the Bakken and fracking into perspective. New York and New Jersey had 20 years to prepare for Sandy.

Non-energy: FBI scrutinized on Petraeus. On page A4 there is a short timeline on Paula Kranz Broadwell, a Bismarck, ND, Century High School valedictorian, I believe. There are a lot of stories on Petraeus, and more to come, but this is one of the best articles to date.

RBN Energy: a look at the China shale oil industry explains a lot about the development of US shale oil -- it's another great article; highly recommend;

Abaxas to sell 544 net acres in Eagle Ford for $20 million to a "large institutional buyer." Is Warren an institution? The divestiture includes about 60 barrels of oil equivalent/day (mostly wet and dry natural gas; very little oil. I did the math ($20 million/544 net acres; my calculator must be broken.)

Staggering: US to overtake Saudi as top oil producer by 2017, according to IEA. 

The International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises major industrialized nations on energy policies, gave the estimates in an annual long-term report. Its conclusions were in sharp contrast with its 2011 report, which saw Saudi Arabia remaining the top producer throughout 2035.

"Energy developments in the United States are profound and their effect will be felt well beyond North America—and the energy sector," the IEA said.

Also in Forbes.

MDW comment: 

I remember all those articles back in 2006 - 2008 suggesting the Bakken was all hype.  For newbies, see if you can find an oil field with one trillion bbls of original OIL in place (OOIP), a recovery rate of eight percent, and "no" dry wells. If it will help, google "Bakken trillion ooip."

By the way, this guarantees federal fracking regulations. This has nothing to do with "destroying the domestic oil industry." It is simply about a) money, and b) power. There is no way Washington is going to ignore that much money and there is no way Washington is going to let oil industry call the shots.

And more from that IEA report:

IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol told a news conference in London he believed the United States would overtake Russia as the biggest gas producer by a significant margin by 2015. Shortly after that, by 2017, the United States would become the largest oil producer, he said.

Economic development in Dickinson:

Zoning process continues on new truck stop. The story does not point out that the location is near where the MDU/Calumet refinery will be sited.  From the linked article:

• A 116-acre property between Dickinson and South Heart in western North Dakota moved a step closer to becoming home to a truck stop and retail businesses Tuesday.
• The property lies near Highway 10 and 116th Avenue Southwest.
• “My clients do not anticipate building anything within the next year because they are in New York and are dealing with Hurricane Sandy,” she told the commissioners. “As far as immediate plans to build, they have none. We’re just in the process of getting that ball rolling. It’s a preliminary step to get it going.”

Clearing out my inbox; a random note from Don regarding Bakken natural gas.

KOG reports it flared 881,906 MCF of NG in the 3rd qtr of 2012.  This is 9,585 mcf per day. This amount of NG is from one small player, and when all the wells get hooked up, the NG from ND could replace the NG that was supposed to come to America from Canada/Alaska about 10 yrs ago.

One day's worth of KOG flared gas (noted above) could heat 700 homes in a North Dakota winter.

Comment: 

For newbies, dry natural gas represents about 3 percent of total Bakken oil and gas economic potential according to reports out of the Bakken several years ago. I don't know how accurate that number was/is (then or now) but it points out that the Bakken is an oily play, not a gassy play, but that doesn't mean natural gas is not insignificant.

Apple: I don't invest in shares of Apple but it is my favorite company to follow.

My regular Starbucks is closed today for renovation (hopefully more electric outlets and perhaps wireless charging stations), so I bicycled aimlessly looking for another Starbucks. In a metropolitan area one does not have to bike aimlessly for very long. I found a Starbucks in Watertown, which actually, is a bit nicer than the one at Cushing Square, Belmont, but fewer seats. When I arrived, there were two elderly women, both with iPhones and both with iPads (the full-size version). One was teaching the other how to use her new iPad. Speaks volumes about the ubiquity of Apple products.