Category: Energy

Unrestricted slaughter of golden eagles is perfectly okay…

…if you operate a wind farm, that is.

I was mildly irritated with a wind farm in Minnesota that received permission to apply for a permit to set up a wind farm that will kill up to 15 eagles a year. I discussed the issue here.

Then I researched a Los Angeles Times article that reports U.S. probes golden eagles’ deaths at DWP wind farm

Now I’m even more irritated.

That article said the DWP wind farm in the Tehachapie Mountains has killed 8 golden eagles in the two years ending February 2012. That’s four a year done in by the 90 turbines in the wind farm.

Four a year is small potatoes compared to the staggering toll at the Altamont Pass wind farm in California.

Continue reading “Unrestricted slaughter of golden eagles is perfectly okay…”

Failed predictions of resource exhaustion – Peak Oil #19

Carpe Diem calls attention to the silliness of many past predictions of our dire future in his post, Great moments in failed predictions of resource depletion.

I’m not sure which is larger – the magnitude of error or arrogance from the cited prognosticators. 

His discussion starts with:

The idiocy of “peak oil” and other claims of pending resource depletion have a long history, dating in many cases back to the 1800s. ”Peak nitwitery” experienced an especially strong revival in the 1960s and 1970s, thanks to Paul Ehrlich and his 1968 book “The Population Bomb.”

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Cost and time savings from pad drilling

I’m sure there is data around for how much pad drilling improves operations, but I’ve not seen a specific report like this.

The concept is that drilling multiple wells from one pad makes everything easier. The drillers don’t have to disassemble all the drilling equipment and can instead just side-step the rig. I discussed that in my post here. You can see a video of a rig side-stepping here.

Million Dollar Way has multiple posts over recent months talking about 6, 8, or 12 wells on one pad.

Eagle Ford Shale provides some hard numbers from one specific company:  Pioneer Natural Resource Expanding Use of Pad Drilling in 2013. Check this out:

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And you thought I was being too optimistic – Study forecasts natural gas production in U.S. will increase for another 30 years before hitting plateau

The Wall Street Journal describes a new study which suggests Gas Boom Projected to Grow for Decades.

The study starts with detailed look at actual production in the Barnett Shale field. It concludes that production in the US is going to increase for decades. The article’ lede:

Continue reading “And you thought I was being too optimistic – Study forecasts natural gas production in U.S. will increase for another 30 years before hitting plateau”

Wouldn’t it be fun if the Bakken crude going to Delta’s refinery went into their planes flying to Williston?

Amy Dalrymple reports in Delta receives first Bakken shipment that Monroe Energy LLC, a Delta subsidiary that runs a refinery, has received their first shipment of crude from Bakken.

Continue reading “Wouldn’t it be fun if the Bakken crude going to Delta’s refinery went into their planes flying to Williston?”

On Peak Lunacy, “you’ve been wrong long enough” – Peak Oil #18

Carpe Diem quotes the current issue of “The Gartman Letter” in a post, Quotation of the day on ‘peak lunacy.’ The newsletter is subscription only and I’m sure it’s far beyond my price range, so I have to quote the quote.

Mr. Gartman recalls his undergrad days when the Malthusians said the world would be out of crude oil by 1984. He calls this “sheer lunacy.”

Since it is now 2013 and I’m still driving a car powered by gasoline, I think we can call that a failed forecast.

What is Peak Oil?

Continue reading “On Peak Lunacy, “you’ve been wrong long enough” – Peak Oil #18”

North Dakota oil production back to record level for 12-12

December production increased to 704,360 bopd from revised 670,850 in November (5.0% increase) and up from revised 684,233 in October. That’s a net increase of 2.9% over two months.

Statewide stats here. Director’s Cut here.

Million Dollar Way has various stat data for last five months and highlights of the Director’s Cut.

I graphed the monthly production. Also calculated average annual production by year. I’m particularly amazed at the trend of production by year.  Here are the graphs:

Continue reading “North Dakota oil production back to record level for 12-12”

Increase in Crude By Rail shows flexibility in economy – capitalism solves problems

When I started paying attention to the huge changes in energy production about a year and a half ago, one of the possible obstacles in North Dakota was the lack of pipelines to get the oil from fields to refineries in the Gulf Coast. The lack of capacity could constrain production and slow down drilling because there was no way to ship the oil. There wasn’t any way to store it for a couple of years until pipelines could be built.

Has that crippling problem stopped drilling?

No.

What happened?

Capitalism solved the problem.

Continue reading “Increase in Crude By Rail shows flexibility in economy – capitalism solves problems”

Have you noticed the new unit of measure for large oil fields is “Bakkens”?

I’ve noticed a fun trend. In discussions of undeveloped oil fields where fracking could open up huge production the potential size of the field is compared to Bakken. Thus, a new unit of measure – how many Bakkens are in the new field.

Three examples.

Continue reading “Have you noticed the new unit of measure for large oil fields is “Bakkens”?”

California has two-thirds of the shale oil reserves in the U.S.

The New York Times noticed the amount of shale reserves in California and wrote a major article:  Vast Oil Reserve May Now Be Within Reach, and Battle Heats Up.

The billion dollar question – do we in California have the wisdom to safely tap the economic growth, tens of thousands of jobs (if not a hundred thousand), and a couple billion of state tax revenue every year for the next couple of decades that shale oil could provide?

Two key comments from the article:

Continue reading “California has two-thirds of the shale oil reserves in the U.S.”

Selective enforcement for killing protected birds

Previous post mentioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave permission for a permit to move forward which would allow a wind farm in Goodhue County, Minnesota to kill up to 8 or 15 eagles a year for the next 30 years.

In addition to the uneconomical and unintended-consequence-causing energy that is produced, we are staring at a highly selective enforcement of federal laws against killing eagles and migratory birds.

Official permission to kill eagles?

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Drop in rig count does not mean a drop in completed well count

Here’s another comment explaining why we are seeing a drop in the rig count at the same time as completed wells are increasing.

From Eagle Ford Shale – Lower Rig Count, But More Drilling in 2013 – Schlumberger.

Public companies have quarterly conference calls where they discuss their operations and outlooks. That releases to the investing community their thinking.

In fourth quarter conference call… Continue reading “Drop in rig count does not mean a drop in completed well count”