OPEC: "Riyadh, We Have A Problem" -- August 12, 2025

Locator: 48833B.

Until I saw this chart, I thought US oil production had flat-lined. 

Chart of the day, link here:

Clearing Out The Overnight In-Box -- December 27, 2024

Locator: 44540ARCHIVES.

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LNG

A must-read: the history of US LNG export. Two big takeaways:

• the Bakken revolution; and,
• LNG (Cheniere)

Link here. 

A third big takeaway: American exceptionalism.

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The Book Page

Link here and link here. 

I simply don't find such quality tweets over at Bluesky.

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Netflix

Set streaming records. Link to The New York Times.

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Hertz -- The Day The Music Died

Link here.

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ISO-NE

Trending toward $180. Link here.

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Seasonal Flu

Link here.

Two weeks from now, should start to get interesting.

One wonders if RFK, Jr. has had his annual flu shot.  LOL.

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Recipes

Big batch eggs.

Link to The New York Times.

All Of A Sudden, Efforts To Kill The Fossil Fuel Industry Seem Short-Sighted, Foolish -- Hope Springs Eternal -- September 24, 2024

Locator: 48387AI.

Link here.

OPEC thinking so also? Link here.

About That Energy Revolution -- October 23, 2021

 In land area, Indonesia is smaller than Denmark. Hold that thought. 

Countries strongly dependent upon coal, ZeroHedge:

Oil: meanwhile the stories keep coming in -- shortage of crude oil; end-of-year crude oil could see $90-Brent; $87-WTI. With WTI at $84 yesterday, I don't see a lot of difference between yesterday's price and end-of-year price as forecast by Goldman's Jeff Curie. Remember: whether or not guys like Jeff Curie are right or wrong, folks make decisions based on their estimates. 

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Americans on the Move

Moving company, Mayflower, data:

• top inbound metro: Sarasota, FL (New Yorkers leaving high cost/high tax NYC)
• top inbound states with number one listed first:
• Idaho
• South Carolina
• Oregon
• Tennessee
• Florida

• Top inbound metro areas:
• Sarasota, FL
• Wilmington, NC
• Fort Myers-Cape Coral, FL
• Sante Fe, NM
• Boise, ID
  

• Top reasons certain destinations selected once decision to move was made:
• two-thirds indicated water as a top influence:
• almost as many cited proximity to parks, green spaces, and nature trails
• over half indicated dining out options influenced their move

• Most interesting: the definition of "home town" is changing
• when I was growing up, "home town" meant where I was originally from;
• now, more and more, "home town" means where one currently lives

• Unable to verify, but it appears Mayflower did not poll the 75,000 Haitians currently on their way to America.
  

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Lana Del Rey

Eighth album: Blue Bannisters.

Apparently just released.

Full album is already on YouTube.

Review. 

Her fans are incredible.

Three Wells Coming Off The Confidential List -- October 8, 2020

I'm back. Sorry for the late start. I had to take our car in for annual inspection and because I'm home alone, had to get the bike on the carrier, and then ride the bike home. Reverse the process later today.

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US crude oil imports, link here. 

OPEC basket, link here: pretty much levels off at $40.45 despite issues in Norway, US Gulf.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$41.09	10/8/2020	10/08/2019	10/08/2018	10/08/2017	10/08/2016
Active Rigs	13	56	64	59	33

Three wells coming off confidential list -- Thursdy, October 8, 2020: 11 for the month; 11 for the quarter, 676 for the year

• 36979, drl/A,  Kraken, Hobart 34-27 2H, Oliver, t--; cum 153K 8/20; a 34K month; a nice well;
• 36669, drl/A,  Hess, TI-Ives-157-94-0601H-7, Tioga, t--; cum 71K 8/20;
• 34293, loc/NC, BR, State Double Dodge 1A TFH-ULW, Dimmick Lake, no production data,

RBN Energy: Covid-19 slowing progress on LNG Canada project. Archived.

When plans for LNG Canada, a big LNG export project on the British Columbia coast, were sanctioned two years ago this month, the move came as a welcome sign that Western Canadian natural gas producers might finally be able to break their long-standing reliance on just one export customer: the U.S. Access to Asian and other overseas gas markets became a high priority, in part because U.S. demand for Canadian gas had been sagging for years as production in the Marcellus/Utica and other U.S. plays came to meet the vast majority of domestic needs. But while construction on LNG Canada has steadily advanced, there are signs that delays could be mounting. Today, we begin a two-part update on this all-important Canadian LNG export project and its accompanying Coastal GasLink pipeline.

From the early days of gas market deregulation in the 1980s, Canada enjoyed an expanding love affair with its southern neighbor in the form of growing natural gas exports. With U.S. domestic gas supplies looking to be heading toward terminal decline in the early 2000s, Western Canada’s abundant supplies and rising gas prices throughout North America appeared to be locking in a vast, profitable, and long-term gas export relationship. Also, a number of LNG import terminals were developed in the U.S. in anticipation of shipped-in gas supplies from overseas.

That all changed with the Shale Revolution, which turned the U.S. into a gas production powerhouse. Steadily expanding U.S. gas supplies over the past decade reduced the need for Canadian gas and sent Canada’s gas exports into a sort of terminal decline of their own. The share of U.S. gas demand met by Canadian supplies collapsed (on a net basis) from 10.5% (~7 Bcf/d) in 2010 to just 5.1% (~4.3 Bcf/d) through the first seven months of 2020, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). At the same time, some of those U.S. LNG import terminals were re-purposed as export terminals  deal with the new abundance of U.S. gas supplies.

For The Archives -- US Energy Consumption -- 2018 --EIA

Link here.

The upper graph extends back to 1950.

After 68 years: as a percentage, the only way wind and solar can even be seen on a pie chart is to break out "renewable energy" as a block which includes hydroelectricity and biomass. Solar does not even break the 1% threshhold; wind, at 2.4%. This is about where the percentages were during peak interest in renewable energy some years ago.

From the report:

Crude oil production generally decreased each year between 1970 and 2008. In 2009, the trend reversed and production began to rise, and in 2018, U.S. crude oil production was 22.8 quads, the highest on record. More cost-effective drilling and production technologies helped to boost production, especially in Texas and North Dakota.

At the blog, search doofus-in-chief.

Making America Great -- One Barrel At A Time -- March 20, 2019

Links here and here.

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Lone Star State of Mind, Nanci Griffith

Sitting in Denver, sipping California wine,  I've got all night to remember [you];  I'm in a lone star state of mind. Wow.

Germany Won't Meet Climate Goals -- Probably Ever -- January 10, 2019

Natural gas fill/withdrawal, link here:

The big story, of course, is how this year will significantly change the graph going forward. The "minimum" will drop significantly, as will the 5-year average. Five years from now, it will long be forgotten that 2019 was the year that the graph changed. But it will be archived here. Maybe I need a new tag, whengraphschanged. LOL.

But this is the other big story. From an energy standpoint, the US is in the catbird's seat, as they say. The energy gap between the EU and the US continues to widen, and that yawning gap is going to get wider and wider -- there is a huge risk that the jaw will dislocate! LOL.

  Over at the "Big Stories," the European situation is followed at "Europe at a tipping point."

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Reality Sucks

Google Germany wont meet 2020 CO2 targets or 2030:

Tight Oil / Shale -- Drive Majors' Output To New Highs -- Rigzone -- October 16, 2018

This is really quite amazing.

From 2000 (Montana) to 2007 (North Dakota) and then through 2012 (height of the boom) it was all about small private companies and small to medium-size publicly-traded companies.

The poster child for the Bakken: Harold Hamm.

Now, eighteen years into the US shale revolution, Rigzone is reporting that the majors are now reporting new production records -- due to tight oil / shale oil. Amazing, when you think about it.

Memo to self: note to Jane Nielson.

From the linked article:

U.S. unconventionals will be crucial for oil majors in the near future – and the majors are taking note.

In a new report released by Wood Mackenzie, the potential of unconventionals in the Lower 48 is examined by looking at five U.S. majors (BP plc, Chevron Corp., Equinor ASA, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell plc).

“Following BP’s $10.5 billion deal with BHP, all of the supermajors have a footprint in the Permian Basin, and are poised to deliver an unprecedented phase of production growth that will see output reach new highs over the next decade,” Roy Martin, research analyst in WoodMac’s corporate upstream team.

How important is shale to the majors?

Without their volumes, collective production from the majors would enter long-term decline from 2020.  

The majors:

The big player here seems to be ExxonMobil, who has the most acreage, biggest resource and highest peak production.Martin said no other major has comparable diversity across the Permian, Bakken, Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Marcellus plays.

In the Bakken, XOM has XTO. From my perspective: blind luck, but I could be wrong. I often am. 

BP’s deal with BHP “transformational” and makes it possible for BP to overtake Exxon to become the leading shale gas producer.

Chevron’s dominance in the Permian (with 2.2 million net acres) has made its portfolio the most valuable.  

For the record, my favorite major (not to be confused with "my favorite Martian") is Chevron.

“Underpinned by its low-royalty Permian position, Chevron possesses the most attractive Internal Rate of Returns (IRR) on new U.S. conventional projects among the majors,” Martin said. “Its future investment in the resource theme of $54 billion is second only to ExxonMobil.”

Again, the emphasis is on the Permian. That's fine. North Dakota mineral owners are quietly going to the bank every month.

Meanwhile, over at oilprice.com:

The Political Page, T+59 -- Trump's Steel Tariffs Starting To Have Desired Effect -- Op-Ed -- July 29, 2018

Updates

Later, 5:26 p.m. CDT: wow, look at this headline and story from CNN. Scott Adams noticed this past week that CNN seems to have changed its "tone." I'm seeing the same thing. This is quite interesting. And, then, of course, the publisher of NY Times requesting a meeting, and then getting a meeting, with President Trump. Trump simply wants credit where credit is due.

Original Post

Trump's steel tariffs: I have no idea who Jan van Eck is nor how reliable he might be but I assume he reports what he sees just as I report what I see.

From oilprice.com. I've archived the entire piece in case the post disappears.

************************** 
The Gap Grows

Peak oil? How US shale flipped the script in global oil markets. Over at oilprice.com again. Again, I've archived the entire piece in case the post disappears. Again, this article links to the 2018 global energy review by BP.

But the future played out differently than it seemed it would in the summer of 2008. Unbeknownst to most people, oil producers were experimenting with a marriage between two established oil drilling technologies — horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

The success of this marriage would unlock oil in tight oil and shale oil deposits that had previously been too expensive to recover, and would result in one of the greatest oil booms the world had ever seen. In fact, the “fracking revolution” caused U.S. oil production to turn upward in 2009, and then rise over the next seven years at the fastest rate in U.S. history.

While it is still true that OPEC produced 42.6 percent of the world’s oil in 2017, the majority of new oil production since 2008 has come from the U.S.

As I read that, my thoughts turned to the comments from two readers over at The WSJ:

The shale boys saved Obama from a total economic meltdown - now they shift into high gear. Amazing what creative people combined with private property can do. Meanwhile our "carbon footprint" keeps declining thanks to natural gas and not the government.

The shale drilling did save Obama from a complete economic meltdown - but he spent much of his 8 years fighting the pipelines to deliver the oil, he kept the USA from exporting LNG for 7 out of 8 years - but he worked really, really hard to make sure Iran pumped as much oil as possible ( so much for global warming) - makes one wonder whose side he was on? 

Wiki says the US oil and gas sector makes up 8% of the US GDP.

I've read recently that the oil and gas sector provides a third of Russia's revenues.

I assume, oil and gas contribute nearly 100% to Saudi's revenues.

I think it's important to consider that data when one looks at the graphs below, and when one does that, I think both Saudi Arabia and Russia face huge economic challenges going forward.

A third point: there's nothing to suggest that the graphic won't become even more remarkable when it's re-drawn ten years from now.

I have a bit of difficulty reconciling the above graph with the graph below which has been posted numerous times when it comes to Russia ... and then one looks at the x-axis on the graph above. Over ten years, Russia's production has only increased by one-half million bopd.

I've talked about this on numerous occasions over at "The Big Stories."

By the way, in the graphic at the top, what major continent/region is not even represented? Yup, Europe/the EU. One wonders with all the cutbacks on the continent whether the EU/Europe actually showed a decline. Of course, there's Great Britain and Norway -- but as I've noted a long, long time ago, Europe is truly at a tipping point. The most recent linked story at that site: Europe is importing a record amount of coal (February 22, 2018 -- earlier this year).

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The Apple Page

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, relationship, or travel decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here.

Our oldest granddaughter has/had a very, very old iPhone 6. It's a "hand-me-down" from one of the parents, and may in fact be twice handed down before it got to her. It had a cracked  screen and was no longer holding a charge when she brought it to the local Apple store to have the battery replaced and the screen fixed.

When the Apple folks opened the iPhone they noted that the battery was "swollen" and completely distorted. They talked to the store manager and he said to just give Arianna a brand new out-of-the-box iPhone 6 at no charge. Not even charging what they could have for a) fixing the screen; and/or, b) replacing the battery. A brand new out-of-the box iPhone 6 at no charge.

I was quite impressed.

At the strategic level, corporate headquarters is giving local managers a lot of leeway.

At the tactical level, this tells me that boxes of iPhone 6's are still widely available but customers are moving up to newer models. If there was a shortage of iPhone 6's they would not easily give them away.

It will be interesting to see if this is validated in Apple's earnings, due to be reported after the market closes on Tuesday, July 31, 2018. Earnings forecast: $2.18.

If AAPL meets consensus, it will be the second best showing for the 3Q in the last several years:

Puts Things Into Perspective -- August 26, 2016

Renewables include hydroelectricity, biofuels, wind, solar, and Willie Nelson's restaurant grease. Note the dramatic increase in "renewables" in 2015 compared to 2009:

Energy Revolution In The United States Continues -- Tracking US LNG Exports -- October 4, 2015

Updates

June 28, 2017: Lithuania signs with Cheniere for the first time ever.

June 28, 2017: China's switch to natural gas from coal moving faster than forecast. 

April 30, 2017: update on where LNG liquefaction is headed -- RBN Energy.

February 4, 2017: WSJ story on Japan, Texas, Rick Perry; first LNG arrives in Japan that originated from lower 48, and from US shale; previously, US LNG to Japan from Alaska

January 13, 2017: add Denmark to the list. 

December 10, 2016: first US LNG headed for Japan. Japan is the world's largest consumer of LNG.  US offers much other LNG exporters cannot offer: dependability; flexibility; honesty; integrity; pricing.

November 29, 2016: US LNG exports continue to surge. 

August 3, 2016: Middle East and North Africa are becoming major markets for US LNG -- Oil & Gas Journal.

March 15, 2016: Brazil is emerging as a major market for US LNG -- RBN Energy (archived).

February 26, 2016: Russia losing dominance in European energy market.
 

Original Post

These are the facts and the tea leaves:

• global energy requirements will continue to increase
• it's likely that energy requirements will increase more quickly than expected in China and India as the middle class grows in each of those countries
• China is already transitioning to a middle class consumer economy (see Bloomberg, 2015) (Apple, Ford among the US companies to notice this quite some time ago)
• intermittent energy sources (wind, solar) will remain niche energy producers
• only three energy sources can provide the global energy required: nuclear, coal, natural gas
• except for China and India (which will use all three sources -- nuclear, coal, natural gas), the rest of the world will turn to natural gas [August 3, 2016: Mideast turning to nuclear, but new nuclear plants won't be ready until 2020's.]
• natural gas is the energy source of the future
• look at the amount of coal burned annually over the past 50 years; now imagine that the amount of coal will be cut by 50% and replaced by "something." That "something" can only be natural gas

Which leads us to this article as reported in USA Today:

Now may not be the best time to unveil plans to export liquefied natural gas from the U.S. But don't tell Charles "Buddy" Roemer.

The former governor of Louisiana will formally announce Monday one of the largest LNG-export proposals in the U.S., at a time when faltering demand for gas in Asia, as well as low prices, threaten the viability of ventures much further along the way than his.

"There may be 40 ahead of us in the world already producing, but there are 30 behind us, and something is happening," said Roemer, chairman of a Baton Rouge-based G2 LNG. "This will be a powerful industry."

The company is assembling a project worth nearly $11 billion, which would make it one of the biggest energy undertakings ever in Louisiana. Over 30 years, G2 LNG would export 672 billion cubic feet of LNG annually to China, Europe, the Caribbean and India.

Then a lot of warnings in the article about over-supply of global natural gas. But:

"Natural gas will be the product of the future," Roemer said in an interview. "It will take the place of coal. It will take the place of oil. It will be a threat to the old empire."

Moreover, according to Roemer, U.S. LNG will become increasingly appealing in comparison to gas from other, less stable regions of the world, like Russia and the Middle East.

"The thing that's attractive about America is its consistency," he said. "It's the fact that you make a deal and we honor it. It's not (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. It's not the Middle East. It's America, and I think this energy business will be important to America.

That's the reason we started this venture. I know there's competition. I like that. But the chance to deliver a promise made in America around the world is powerful to me."

A huge "thanks" to Don for the link.

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Meanwhile, How Efficient Is Solar Energy? Not Very

Or

Definition Of "Oxymoron": Efficient Solar Energy

The New York Times is reporting:

When SolarCity, the fast-growing provider of rooftop solar electricity systems, announced last year that it would begin making its own equipment, executives said they would focus on creating high-efficiency panels in an effort to reduce the cost of the electricity they sell. They announced on Friday that they had done just that, with a panel that converts more of the sun’s energy into electricity than competing products.

The company plans to start making the panel — whose output has been measured at more than 22 percent — this month at a small plant in Silicon Valley, said Peter Rive, a founder, but will eventually produce it at the enormous factory it is building in Buffalo.
The move into manufacturing, a business that has proved deadly for many other upstart American solar companies, came with the acquisition of a start-up, Silevo, and is intended to help the company compete with conventional energy sources once generous federal subsidies begin to phase out at the end of next year.

Although 22 percent may not seem like a tremendous level of efficiency, the breakthrough for SolarCity is that it can produce the panels at a lower cost than it pays to buy standard models but get more electricity out of the same square footage, Mr. Rive said. 

The more one knows about intermittent energy, the less one likes it.

Chandelier, Sia

Random Update On The American Energy Revolution; Global Warming And "Cognitive Dissonance"

We may not be able to build new refineries in this country, but we can sure expand cracker units. FuelFix is reporting:

Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. broke ground on the first component of a $6 billion expansion Wednesday that executives say could be transformative for the company.

Crews are preparing a site at the company’s Baytown facility for a massive new ethane cracker, which company officials say will be the first new major facility of its type built in the U.S. in a decade.

The investment, which officials say will contribute to the creation of about 400 jobs, represents a huge step for the company that’s jointly owned by Chevron and Phillips 66.

Part of the American Energy Revolution.

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Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here or anything you think you may have read here.

I post not less than ten stand-alone posts on any given day, and update countless more earlier posts. It's hard to separate the chaff from the wheat with so much posting.

This $6 billion ethane cracker expansion is wheat, not chaff.

Granddaughters need to be thinking about what careers they can be looking forward to only ten years from now. Petroleum engineering is going to be around for a long, long time.

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The Minneapolis StarTribune is reporting:

Heavy snow walloped the metro area and surrounding communities Friday, persisting into the morning commute and making travel challenging during this unusual but not unprecedented dose of winter in April.

The amount of snow so far — 12 inches or close to it mostly along the metro’s western and northern edges — combined with below-freezing temperatures and strong wind gusts to leave motorists with a most unpleasant end of the week travel scenario. Across from Duluth, Superior, WI, was pounded with nearly 18 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service.

I love that "unusual but not unprecedented" dose of winter in April ... journalists have fallen hook, link, and sinker for all that global warming talk, when they see this much winter in April, it causes "cognitive dissonance." 

UPS Will Add 1,000 Propane-Fueled Trucks

The PrairieBizMag is reporting:

United Parcel Service Inc. is spending $70 million to add 1,000 propane-fueled trucks to its delivery fleet, the biggest bulk purchase of propane-fired vehicles yet as output of the fuel in the United States hits record highs.

The fleet, which UPS is buying from Daimler AG's Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp., will replace gasoline and diesel vehicles in Louisiana and Oklahoma, UPS said in a statement on Wednesday. The investment will include 50 new fueling stations.

The transition is expected to begin in the middle of this year and be completed early next year, UPS said. It also plans to introduce propane-fueled vehicles in other U.S. states.

The North American energy revolution continues. 

Five Charts Highlighting US Energy Revolution -- CarpeDiem

CarpeDiem has a nice column today with several graphs putting the US energy revolution in perspective.

Folks should note that this revolution, this huge production is occurring, despite:

• the federal government slow-rolling the industry
• ban on drilling on much of the land controlled by the Feds
• ban on drilling off-shore in many areas
• ban on in drilling in the US Arctic for all intents and purposes
• during a recession

The turnaround is due to successful oil and natural gas exploration and production in a relatively small area of the US.

Monday Morning Links, News, And Views -- Part II

Awesome! Front page story, top of the fold, headline story photograph taken outside of Williston, North Dakota.  The Wall Street Journal is reporting:

More crude oil is moving around the U.S. on trucks, barges and trains than at any point since the government began keeping records in 1981, as the energy industry devises ways to get around a pipeline-capacity shortage to take petroleum from new wells to refineries.

The improvised approach is creating opportunities for transportation companies even as it strains roads and regulators. And it is a precursor to what may be a larger change: the construction of more than $40 billion in oil pipelines now under way or planned for the next few years, according to energy adviser Wood Mackenzie.

"We are in effect re-plumbing the country," says Curt Anastasio, chief executive of NuStar Energy LP, a pipeline company in San Antonio. Oil is "flowing in different directions and from new places."

U.S. oil production has reached its highest level in two decades, while imports have fallen dramatically. A system built to import oil and deliver it to coastal refineries has become ill-equipped to handle rising production in Texas, North Dakota and Canada's Alberta province.

"All of the pipes are pointed in the wrong direction," says Harold York, an oil researcher at Wood Mackenzie. "We are turning the last 70 years of oil-industry history in North America on its head, and we are turning it on its head in the next 10 to 15 years."

And the naysayers commenting over at CarpeDiem will continue to say that the Bakken is not profitable. Apparently the independent oil companies enjoy transferring money from the wealthy to the railroads. 

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The Yahoo! Finance link to oil price is still broken. Oil futures are down 11 cents to $106.31.

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Nissan Motor provides update on YTD sales; having its best year on record in the United States: Co announces that with sales of more than 733,000 units through July, Nissan is having its best year on record in the United States, led by strong growth of core models like Altima, Sentra, Pathfinder, Versa and Rogue.

• Nissan has set monthly records for overall U.S. sales in four of seven months in 2013, with sales up more than 8.5 percent over 2012's record performance.
• Nissan Division has set monthly records in six of the seven months this year, driving sales higher by more than 10 percent over a record 2012.

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So much for all that bad weather predicted by global warming. It is being widely reported that this is the slowest start to a hurricane season on record. Again, not just for the past year or so, or the past decade or so, but for a couple of centuries. The slowest start. But that would be expected. We are in our 17th year of a "pause" in global warming. Meanwhile, Algore  is in his 17th year of magnificent financial splendor living on this scam.

*********************

Update to story below regarding tortoises. It turns out the whole story is wrong. Only six (6) tortoises will be euthanized. They have a disease and are failing to thrive. They are the only ones to be euthanized. The writer of the original story must have been incredibly .... whatever. It turns out the six tortoises are suffering from TURDS. I can't make this stuff up.

The following was posted at the time of the original post but is completely wrong. See aforementioned link (TURDS).

Unfortunately the global warming scam -- not global warming -- will probably wipe out the desert tortoises -- another species wiped out by man. I can't make this stuff up. The good news, we can see them in zoos.

For decades, the vulnerable desert tortoise has led a sheltered existence.

Developers have taken pains to keep the animal safe. It's been protected from meddlesome hikers by the threat of prison time. And wildlife officials have set the species up on a sprawling conservation reserve outside Las Vegas.

But the pampered desert dweller now faces a threat from the very people who have nurtured it.

Federal funds are running out at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center and officials plan to close the site and euthanize hundreds of the tortoises they've been caring for since the animals were added to the endangered species list in 1990.

"It's the lesser of two evils, but it's still evil," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service desert tortoise recovery coordinator Roy Averill-Murray during a visit to the soon-to-be-shuttered reserve at the southern edge of the Las Vegas Valley last week.

So, "we" euthanize hundreds of desert tortoises (on the endangered species list since 1990) and oil companies are charged with a felony for six migratory ducks allegedly dying in a waste pond during an unprecedented flood in northwest North Dakota. Don't even get me started.

Shell Oil to Announce $2 Billion Ethane Processing Plant in the East -- Implications for the Bakken -- EPP To Build ATEX Express Pipeline

Update

March 14, 2013:  Oil and Gas Journal is reporting:

Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPP) said shipper commitments support development of a 270-mile pipeline header system for delivery of ethane to US Gulf Coast petrochemical plants from the company’s storage complex at Mont Belvieu, Tex.

August 30, 2012: Shell selects Pittsburgh for the new $2 billion ethane cracker unit (see original post). Ohio and West Virginia are miffed.


June 21, 2012: The ethane pipeline from the Hess facility in Tioga to Alberta, Canada, has been approved by North Dakota; it now awaits US State Dept approval.  

January 9, 2011: See comment below regarding another Bakken to Canada pipeline. Note the linked article: the writer calls this a "petrochemical revolution." I have started using the phrase "energy revolution" -- started using it about one month ago.

Same day: It is incredible all the stories out there regarding new pipelines for ethane, polyethylene plants, etc., and how eager communities are to get those industries. It speaks volumes that the present administration has not once said one positive thing about this industry.

I am absolutely convinced that the present administration prolonged the misery of the deepest recession in US history (regional depression in some cases) by bad decisions. To not even include the oil and gas industry in a turnaround plan for the country is beyond ... I can't even think of an adequate word.

I was completely unaware of all these multi-billion dollar projects; not only are they shovel-ready, they require no government money or subsidies, and they provide long-term very high paying jobs. They also require highly educated men and women (engineers, IT folks) which is what the administration is always talking about, while providing hundreds of thousands of blue-collar, and in many cases, union jobs. I am absolutely flabbergasted. And to think someone feels there are no more eye-popping stories to report.

The Keystone XL was just another pipeline in the big scheme of things. Wow. 

See the very long comment dated January 8, 2011, below.

To make it easier to get to the links, I have brought them up here:

• Youngstown Vindicator: Shell Chemical's plant would be a boon to region 
• Chevron Phillips to build new ethane cracker plant in Baytown, as well as two polyethylene plants
• Market Watch: Chevron Phillips new ethane cracker plant 

• Kanawha Valley (Charleston,WV) group seeks to land ethane cracker (non-Shell plant)  

• Carper: County will do Anything "Reasonable" to Attract Cracker: it's obvious folks want jobs; and the administration is completely mum on this issue

• Calgary Herald: Alberta on verge of becoming major petrochemical processing location

Original Post

There's an incredibly good comment over at this post -- the link will take you to the South Heart housing story, but the comment is about the huge natural gas, polyethylene business, natural gas gathering and processing plants that are going up around the US, including in North Dakota.

Shell will announce a $2 billion ethane-to-ethylene plant in the east.

A giant chemical plant that processes natural gas is coming to the Midwest and Ohio leaders hope the state's newly tapped gas deposits, coupled with growing industries that use gas products, make Ohio the favored location.

Shell Chemical is finalizing plans for a $2 billion complex that is expected to create hundreds of jobs and pull other industries and manufacturers into its orbit. Shell has said only that it plans to build in either West Virginia, Pennsylvania or Ohio, three states that overlay ancient shale beds rich in natural gas.

With a site announcement imminent, interest in Shell's decision grows keener by the day. The placement of the mega-refinery, called a cracker, could define where other major oil companies establish operations in the nation's newest energy field. 

I think "Cramer" has talked about the revitalized polyethylene business in the US also (but I forget).

And in the Bakken?

In North Dakota, an ethane pipeline is being built from Hess's expanded Tioga plant into Canada, for processing to polyethylene in Canada. ONEOK is building a natural gas liquids pipeline from near Williston to Kansas. In Kansas, the ethane will be separated from the propane, butane, and pentane fractions, with the ethane than piped to Texas for conversion into polyethylene. Hess's expanded plant in Tioga will be a technically "complete" nat gas processing plant, while ONEOKs will not separate the higher hydrocarbons from each other. 

By the way, the comment also noted that in addition to the giant chemical plant that will be coming to the Midwest (Ohio?), EPP is going to build a 1,230-mile pipeline from Texas to the chemical plant.

The ATEX Express - a 1,230-mile pipeline - will send about 190,000 barrels of ethane daily from the local natural gas producing region to Texas.
As officials from West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania wait to see which state will get Royal Dutch Shell's multibillion-dollar ethane cracker, a pipeline project will soon send ethane produced in those states to the Gulf Coast to be cracked.

Chesapeake, the Upper Ohio Valley's largest active gas driller, will be among the companies sending the ethane south via the Appalachia to Texas pipeline, also known as ATEX Express. The pipeline's owner is Enterprise Products Partners.

With all these pipelines being built across the country, it begs the question: what was it about the Keystone XL that first got folks' attention. Once it became politicized, I understand it; but how did it become politicized in the first place? No wonder TransCanada was taken by surprise. The pipeline was a no-brainer: jobs and money for the states, and pipelines are about as ubiquitous in the US as lawyers.

My hunch is that the Keystone XL was announced just about the time Enbridge had some mainstream press covering some (in retrospect) very minor spills.

On another note, there is clearly an energy revolution in this country occurring on a huge scale, a revolution that is not being reported by the mainstream media.