Sunday Morning -- July 8, 2018 -- When I Get To Heaven

Part 2. Part 1 was here. Part 3 is here.

When I Get To Heaven, John Prine
From a reader: the shale gas revolution has just begun, from Forbes.

The shale gas revolution is turning ten years old and is apparently only just getting started.

A new report by the business information provider IHS Markit traces the remarkable rise of the shale gas in the United States over the past decade and projects that natural gas production will grow by another 60% over the next 20 years.

“To say that the ‘Shale Gale’. . . has been anything but a veritable revolution would be an understatement,” said Daniel Yergin, vice chairman, IHS Markit and co-author of the report. “It represents a dramatic and largely unanticipated turnaround that dramatically changed both markets and long-term thinking about energy.”

Remind me to send a note to Art Berman and Jane Nielson. And The New York Times. And not only that, the revolution is occurring in The New York Times' own backyard:

Shale gas has fundamentally altered the domestic energy landscape. The Northeast has replaced the Gulf Coast as the largest gas producing region in the United States. Pennsylvania and New York, which traditionally imported most of their energy, are becoming energy exporters.

New York? Are they fracking in New York?

Google "natural gas production New York state".

From 1996:

The twenty-five year period from 1970 to 1994 illustrates the rise and subsequent decline and aging of the natural gas industry in New York State. With reported natural gas production for 1970 at almost three billion cubic feet, New York State's gas industry was poised to expand in both drilling and production that culminated sixteen years later, in 1986, when natural gas production reached its pinnacle at more than 34.7 billion cubic feet and then started a slow decline.

For 2017:

For the 2017 calendar year, 764 well owners reported a total of 12,045 oil and gas wells. Oil production in New York decreased 3.3% from the previous year for a total of 214,828 barrels reported by purchasers. Total reported gas production was 11.4 billion cubic feet (bcf), a 16% decrease from 2016. Gas production was primarily driven by wells in the Medina formation (5.2 bcf). Significant 2017 production was also reported for the Trenton-Black River formation (3.2 bcf), Herkimer (0.8 bcf), and Queenston (1.1 bcf) formations.

1986: natural gas production in NY state "reached its pinnacle at more than 34.7 billion cubic feet and then started a slow decline ... fast forward to 2017, total reported gas production was 11.4 billion cubic feet (bcf), a 16% decrease from 2016.

I assume these formations produce natural gas without fracking. The NY state ban on fracking remains in effect. But look at this NPR story. Wow, what incredible hypocrisy.

From the EIA, note that New York state doesn't even meet production numbers to get on the chart:

So, some 11 billion cubic feet of natural gas coming out of New York state compared with 15 billion cubic feet coming out of Pennsylvania.

So, with 11 billion from NY state and 15 billion from Pennsylvania, why didn't New York state make the chart.

Holy c**p. Am I reading this correctly?

Go back to the data.

New York state, 2017: total production was 11.4 billion cubic feet for the entire year.

Pennsylvania: 15 billion cubic feet per day.

Please tell me I'm missing something. I must be misreading this. From Forbes again:

Shale gas has fundamentally altered the domestic energy landscape. The Northeast has replaced the Gulf Coast as the largest gas producing region in the United States. Pennsylvania and New York, which traditionally imported most of their energy, are becoming energy exporters.

Why is New York included in that sentence?

That linked NPR article suggests New York is a net importer of natural gas, but importing it from Pennsylvania.

Something tells me I'm going to be hugely embarrassed when a reader points out what I am missing and I'm an idiot. 

Oil? From official New York state data:

Oil production in New York decreased 3.3% from the previous year for a total of 214,828 barrels reported by purchasers.

214,828 bbls of oil produced in New York state in one year, sitting on top of huge reserves. North Dakota produces five times that amount in one day from four counties.