Shale gas & untraditional fuel
Il problema acqua è l’altro ostacolo per lo shale gas
Oltre ai problemi economici e di impatto ambientale, lo sviluppo degli idrocarburi da scisti potrebbe scontrarsi con un altro ostacolo: quello delle risorse idriche. Il 40% delle riserve shale si trova in aree ad alto stress idrico, nelle quali l’estrazione tramite fracking sarebbe molto problematica. Un recente report del World Resources Institute. Il boom dello shale gas in cui molti confidano potrebbe scontrarsi con un altro ostacolo finora sottovalutato: quello della disponibilità d’acqua. A puntare il riflettore sul problema è un nuovo report del World Resources Institute. (altro…)
Natural gas in China – Shale game
China drastically reduces its ambitions to be a big shale-gas producer
IN 2012 China’s main planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, declared that the country would produce 60 billion-100 billion cubic metres of shale gas a year in 2020. It needed those forecasts to be accurate. They weren’t. Wu Xinxiong, the director of China’s National Energy Administration, recently predicted that only 30 billion cubic metres a year will come on stream by 2020. That would barely meet 1% of China’s energy needs now, let alone in 2020. (altro…)
UK Shale Regulation Inadequate for Safety, Report Says
Shale gas exploration in the U.K. lacks adequate regulation to protect public health and the environment including water shortages, according to a report by scientists. Exploitation of the resource may also undermine efforts to tackle climate change, according to the document published today by the Scientists for Global Responsibility and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. (altro…)
Scouring the World for Shale-Based Energy
The shale revolution is going global. From the Australian outback to the Argentine Andes, many of the world’s largest energy companies are on the hunt for new sources of what they call unconventional oil and natural gas. The multibillion-dollar investments, which often involve hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, could change the face of the global energy markets. China and Russia have some of the largest shale oil and gas reserves in the world, according to the United States Energy Information Administration. (altro…)
Lo shale gas degli Usa si inchina all’accordo tra Russia e Cina
A maggio, il prezzo del Brent è aumentato dai 108.05 dollari al barile [$/b] ai 109.55$/b (massimo 110.53$/b il giorno 23) mentre il Wti è cresciuto dai 99.19$/b ai 102.9$/b, con un picco a 104.37 il 27 maggio, sulla scia delle guerre civili in Ucraina e Libia. Abitualmente, un aumento del costo del petrolio porta a un deprezzamento del dollaro (mantenendo così inalterati i profitti). Questa volta però il biglietto verde si è apprezzato, chiudendo a 1,3607€/$ (dopo aver toccato addirittura quota 1,3953 in data 8 maggio), probabilmente scontando le prossime scelte di politica monetaria espansiva da parte della Bce, attese per il 5 giugno. (altro…)
10 Steps to Safe Development of Shale Gas
The shale-gas revolution is bringing a host of benefits to the U.S., including greater energy independence, reduced carbon emissions, and a resurgence of the country’s energy intensive sectors—especially petrochemicals. So far, however, relatively few other countries have taken the shale gas plunge—but that seems poised to change. As more countries take advantage of the substantial shale reserves they possess within their own borders, they will face a number of challenges. (altro…)
Raise the pressure
FOR all the debate about it, Britain’s shale-gas industry is minuscule. Whereas roughnecks in America have sunk many thousands of wells since a boom began more than a decade ago, Britain has fracked at only one test site, in Lancashire, and not since 2011. In a report published on May 8th, an all-party group from the House of Lords said that speeding shale-gas exploration should be an “urgent national priority”. So far, so familiar—and entirely in tune with the position of the coalition government. But the authors go on to blame the government, not green campaigners, for holding the frackers up. (altro…)
Can Shale Save Europe?
Regardless of how Russia’s foray into Ukraine finally works out, these last few weeks have offered a stark reminder of Europe’s desperate need to diversify its energy options. Although Russia has stopped short of halting gas deliveries to Ukraine or the rest of Europe, the threat remains real and worthy of concern. Russia currently supplies about a quarter of the continent’s natural gas demand, with a third of that flowing through Ukrainian transmission lines. (altro…)
Canada becoming launch-pad of a global tar sands and oil shale frenzy
If you can be sure of one thing, it’s that oil companies didn’t get the United Nations’ latest memo on climate change: the world must urgently switch to clean, renewable energy. Over the next few decades, the UN report shows that a shift from fossil fuel extraction is the only way to prevent a complete destabilization of the planet – of which raging storms, droughts, and extreme weather are a taste of things to come. But as conventional oil reserves have dwindled, oil companies have done the opposite of embracing this shift: they’ve doubled-down on their business model by seeking out remote, more polluting fossil fuels, in harder-to-extract places. (altro…)
UK could produce shale gas in 4 years in emergency – Cuadrilla
Shale gas production in Britain could begin within four years if the current crisis in Ukraine escalates to such an extent that a national state of emergency is declared, the chief executive of Cuadrilla Resources said. Britain is in the early stages of exploring for shale gas to counter its growing dependence on imports, and geologists have estimated it could have shale resources equivalent to several hundred years of demand. Cuadrilla is the only company in Britain so far to have used hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in test wells in Lancashire. It is two to three years away from establishing whether its British shale gas operations are commercially viable, Chief Executive Francis Egan said at an event at think-tank Chatham House on Tuesday evening. (altro…)
