Power Hungry (60 page)

42
Petrobras, press release, “Natural Gas Liquefaction Project in the Pre-Salt,” November 17, 2009.

43
Robert Campbell, “Natgas Giants Still Reeling from US Shale Shock,” Reuters, October 9, 2009,
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE5983V020091009
.

44
Oilshalegas.com
, “The Montney Shale Play Formation,” n.d.,
http://oilshalegas.com/montneyshale.html
.

45
For more, see Kitimat LNG website,
http://www.kitimatlng.com
.

46
Mark Williams, “US Drilling Methods Hot Item,” Associated Press, February 22, 2009,
http://www.timesleader.com/news/hottopics/shale/U_S_drilling_methods_hot_item_02-22-2009.html
.

47
Edward Klump, “StatoilHydro, Chesapeake Go Shale-Gas Shopping in Europe, Asia,” Bloomberg, May 21, 2009,
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=a6u2iGw6EJ7U
.

48
Doris Leblond, “European Shale Gas Prospects Heat Up,”
Oil & Gas Journal
, May 29, 2009,
http://www.petronaire.com/news/Exploration-Development/200905/1243662576971.html
.

49
Clifford Krauss, “Gas Extraction Method Could Greatly Increase Global Supplies,”
New York Times
, October 10, 2009,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/business/energy-environment/10gas.html
.

50
BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009.

51
Ibid.

52
Ibid.

53
Ibid.

54
Ibid.

55
Ibid.

56
Kenneth Deffeyes, “Join Us as We Watch the Crisis Unfolding,” January 16, 2004,
http://www.princeton.edu/hubbert/current-events-04-01.html
.

57
Henry Groppe, interview with author, March 2, 2009.

58
Steve Andrews, “Interview with Marshall Adkins,”
Peak Oil Review
, July 20, 2009,
http://www.aspousa.org/index.php/2009/07/interview-with-marshall-adkins/
, 4.

59
Peter Wells, correspondence with author, Neftex Petroleum Consultants, July 17, 2009.

60
For more on Groppe, see the website for his firm, Groppe, Long, and Littell,
http://www.groppelong.com/About/Biographies/biographies.htm
.

61
Energy Information Administration, “Petroleum Navigator,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTTUPUS2&f=A
.

62
Exxon Mobil, “Energy Outlook 2008,”
http://www.exxonmobil.com/corporate/files/news_pub_2008_energyoutlook.pdf
, 10.

63
Mark Long, “BP CEO Says US Gasoline Demand Peaked in 2007,” Dow Jones Newswires, November 19, 2009,
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091119-718834.html
.

64
Liam Denning, “Refining Business Enters the Twilight Zone,”
Wall Street Journal
, October 19, 2009, C10.

65
Matt Daily and Rebekah Kebede, “Valero Shuts Delaware Refinery, Takes Big Charge,” Reuters, November 20, 2009,
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_3_MOLT/idUSTRE5AJ2RU20091120
.

66
Energy Information Administration, “Petroleum Navigator,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/mttupus2a.htm
.

67
Energy Information Administration, “Short-Term Energy Outlook: Real Petroleum Prices,”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/fsheets/real_prices.html
.

68
The standard model for this type of work uses of the “Hubbert curve,” a model developed by M. King Hubbert, one of the originators of the peak-oil theory.

69
For more on Rutledge, see his website at
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~mmic/people2/Rutledge.html
.

70
Rutledge's PowerPoint slides and supporting documents can be viewed on his website,
http://rutledge.caltech.edu/
.

71
David Rutledge, interview with author by phone, August 5, 2009.

72
Tad W. Patzek and Gregory D. Croft, “A Global Coal Production Forecast with Multi-Hubbert Cycle Analysis,” unpublished paper, accepted for publication by
Energy Journal
in late 2009, 14.

73
Ibid.

74
David Rutledge, “Hubbert's Peak, the Coal Question, and Climate Change,” revised June 2009,
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~rutledge/Hubbert
's%20Peak,%20The %20Coal%20Question,%20and%20Climate%20Change.ppt, 63.

75
Stewart Brand,
Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto
(New York: Viking, 2009), 26.

1
Los Angeles Times
, “Natural Gas: What to Do,” May 26, 1975.

2
See Robert Bryce,
Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron
(New York: PublicAffairs, 2002), 21–22.

3
David Prindle,
Petroleum Politics and the Texas Railroad Commission
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981), 55.

4
Ibid.

5
Ibid, 57.

6
Texas Railroad Commission, “History of the Railroad Commission,”
http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/about/history/chronological/chronhistory02.php
.

7
Prindle,
Petroleum Politics
, 58.

8
Energy Information Administration, Table 1.3, “Primary Energy Consumption by Source, 1949–2008,”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/txt/ptb0103.html
.

9
Naturalgas.org
, “The History of Regulation,”
http://www.naturalgas.org/regulation/history.asp
.

10
Monty Hoyt, “US Burning Its Way Toward Fuel Crisis,”
Christian Science Monitor
, June 2, 1971, 1.

11
Thomas O'Toole, “Price Curbs Helped Bring on Fuel Crisis,”
Washington Post
, January 13, 1973, A2.

12
S. David Freeman, “Weak on Energy ... ”
Los Angeles Times
, October 13, 1974, G1.

13
Los Angeles Times
, “Natural Gas: What to Do,” May 26, 1975.

14
Steven Rattner, “Cold Wave Causes Energy Shortages and Plant Closings,”
New York Times
, January 18, 1977, 1.

15
Richard T. Cooper, “Carter Seeks Emergency Natural Gas Deregulation,”
Los Angeles Times
, January 26, 1977, B1.

16
Robert A. Hefner III,
The GET: Grand Energy Transition
(Oklahoma City: Hefner Foundation, 2008), 35.

17
Lawrence Goodwyn,
Texas Oil, American Dreams: A Study of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association
(Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1996), 141.

18
J. P. Smith, “Glut of Natural Gas in Texas Leads to Red Faces on the Hill,”
Washington Post
, March 3, 1978, A2.

19
Ruth Sheldon Knowles, “Price Controls on Natural Gas—Are They Helpful or Harmful?”
Los Angeles Times
, July 27, 1977.

20
Energy Information Administration, “Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978,”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/analysis_publications/ngmajorleg/ngact1978.html
.

21
Energy Information Administration,
Table 2
, “Supply and Disposition of Natural Gas in the United States, 1930–2000,”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/data_publications/historical_natural_gas_annual/current/pdf/table_02.pdf
. For 1949 to 2008, see Energy Information Administration, “U.S. Natural Gas Total Consumption,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/hist_xls/N9140US2a.xls
.

22
Energy Information Administration, “Repeal of the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act (1987),”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/analysis_publications/ngmajorleg/repeal.html
.

23
BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2008,
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/downloads/pdf/statistical_review_of_world_energy_full_review_2008.pdf
.

24
Nuclear Energy Institute, “Resources and Stats: Generation Statistics,”
http://www.nei.org/resourcesandstats/graphicsandcharts/generationstatistics/
.

25
BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2008.

26
Robert L. Bradley Jr.,
Oil, Gas & Government: The US Experience
, vol. 2 (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1996), 1267.

27
U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, “US Natural Gas Availability: Conventional Gas Supply Through the Year 2000—A Technical Memorandum,” Report OTA-TM-E-12, September 1983,
http://www.fas.org/ota/reports/8326.pdf
, 4.

28
Energy Information Administration, “Natural Gas Navigator,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n9010us2a.htm
.

29
Office of Technology Assessment, “US Natural Gas Availability,” 3.

30
Hart Seely, “The Poetry of D. H. Rumsfeld,”
Slate
, April 2, 2003,
www.slate.com/id/2081042/
.

31
Hefner,
The GET
, 39–40.

32
Energy Information Administration, “World Proved Natural Gas Reserves, January 1, 1980–January 1, 2009 Estimates,”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/international/iealf/naturalgasreserves.xls
.

33
Ibid.

34
Energy Information Administration, “U.S. Natural Gas Marketed Production,” n.d.,
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n9050us2a.htm
.

35
U.S. Department of Energy, “Marginal & Stripper Well Revitalization,” n.d.,
http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/oilgas/marginalwells/index.html
; Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission, “Marginal Wells: Fuel for Economic Growth,” 2008,
http://iogcc.publishpath.com/Websites/iogcc/pdfs/2008-Marginal-Well-Report.pdf
, 5.

36
Here's the math: 60,000 cubic feet = 60,000,000 Btu = 60,000 MJ, and 60,000 MJ/86,400 = 694,444 W. Thus, 694,444 times 0.33 = 229,166 W, and 229,166 W / 746 W = 307 hp. Assuming a 2-acre well site: 307 / 2 = 153.5 hp per acre. For watts per square meter: 229,166 W / 2 = 114,583. Divide by 4,000 meters/acre, which equals 28.6 watts per square meter.

37
Here's the math: 10 bbls = 58,000,000 Btu, and 58,000 MJ / 86,400 seconds = 671, 296 W. So, 671,296 times 0.33 = 221,152 W (221 kW), and 221,152 / 746 = 297 hp. Finally, 297 / 2 = 148.5 hp per acre. For watts per square meter, the math would be 221,152 / 2 = 110,576. Divide that by 4,000 meters per acre, which equals 27.6 watts per square meter.

38
Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission, “Marginal Wells: Fuel for Economic Growth,” 3, 7.

39
Ibid. The IOGCC report shows that 396,000 marginal U.S. oil wells produced 291 million barrels in 2007. Total U.S. oil output that year was 1.8 billion barrels.
See Energy Information Administration, “Crude Oil Production,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_crd_crpdn_adc_mbbl_a.htm
. Regarding gas, the IOGCC report (p. 10), shows that 322,000 marginal U.S. gas wells produced 1.7 trillion cubic feet of gas in 2007. Total U.S. gas output that year reached 19 trillion cubic feet. See Energy Information Administration, “Natural Gas Gross Withdrawals and Production: U.S.,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/ng_prod_sum_dcu_NUS_a.htm
.

40
National Stripper Well Association, “Facts,”
http://nswa.us/dyn/showpage.php?id=25
. Total stripper well production in 2007 amounted to 291 million barrels, which works out to just under 800,000 barrels per day.

41
BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009,
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/2009_downloads/renewables_section_2009.pdf
.

1
Lawrence Goodwyn,
Texas Oil, American Dreams: A Study of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association
(Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1996), 142.

2
Michael E. (Gene) Powell Jr., “Recent Developments in the Barnett Shale,” March 2009,
http://www.barnettshalenews.com/documents/2009TAEPExpo/Recent%20Developments%20in%20the%20Barnett%20Shale.pdf
, 7.

3
International Energy Agency,
World Energy Outlook 2009
, 403–404.

4
Robert Bryce,
Cronies: Oil, The Bushes, and the Rise of Texas, America's Superstate
(New York: PublicAffairs, 2004), 26–34.

5
Ibid., 133.

6
For more on this, see Bryce,
Cronies
.

7
Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook, “Country Comparisons—Oil—Proved Reserves,” n.d.,
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2178rank.html
.

8
Lisa Sumi, “Shale Gas: Focus on the Marcellus Shale,” Oil & Gas Accountability Project/Earthworks, May 2008,
http://www.earthworksaction.org/pubs/OGAPMarcellusShaleReport-6-12-08.pdf
, 2.

9
Joshua Schneyer, “Brazil, the New Oil Superpower,”
Business Week
, November 19, 2007,
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/nov2007/db20071115_045316.htm
.

10
Ibid.

11
EnCana, “2009 Key Play Conference Call Series Haynesville & Deep Bossier,” May 27, 2009,
http://www.encana.com/investors/presentationsevents/pdfs/20090527-haynesville-deep-bossier-key-play-call.pdf
, 14.