12
Richard Heinberg,
The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies
(Gabriola Island, British Columbia: New Society, 2003), 105.
13
Robert A. Hefner III,
The GET: Grand Energy Transition
(Oklahoma City: Hefner Foundation, 2008), 37â40.
14
Goodwyn,
Texas Oil, American Dreams
, 36.
17
Bryce,
Cronies
, 24â36.
20
Powell, “Recent Developments in the Barnett Shale,” 7.
23
Goodwyn,
Texas Oil, American Dreams
, 47.
24
In mid-2008, the Barnett was producing about 4.7 billion cubic feet of gas per day. See “Gene Powell: Barnett Guru,”
Oil & Gas Investor
, January 2009,
http://www.barnettshalenews.com/documents/Gene%20Powell%20Barnett%20Guru%20Article%20in%20Oil%20&%20Gas%20Investor%20Magazine%20January%202009.pdf
, 18. For U.S. gas production data, see Energy Information Administration, “Natural Gas Navigator,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n9070us2m.htm
. In July 2008, total production was 1.734 trillion cubic feet, or about 57.6 billion cubic feet per day.
Chapter 24
3
This is my estimate. In 1992, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that 1.2 million wells had been abandoned. See Roberto Suro, “Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Become Pollution Portals,”
New York Times
, May 3, 1992,
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/03/us/abandoned-oil-and-gas-wells-become-pollution-portals.html
. Since 1992, more than 500,000 wells have been drilled in the United States. See Energy Information Administration, “Petroleum Navigator,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/e_ertw0_xwc0_nus_ca.htm
.
5
The easiest way to estimate U.S. royalty payments is to calculate the value of all the oil and gas produced in the country and then multiply it by one-eighth. (A 12.5 percent
royalty rate is often used as a benchmark amount for landowners, but many mineral rights agreements call for royalties of 18.75 percent or more.) In 2007, the total value of all U.S. oil and gas production was about $243.9 billion, and domestic oil production totaled 1.848 billion barrels. (See Energy Information Administration, “Crude Oil Production,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_crd_crpdn_adc_mbbl_a.htm
.) The average wellhead price was $66.52 per barrel. (See Energy Information Administration, “Petroleum Navigator,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/f000000__3a.htm
.) Therefore, the total value of U.S. oil production in 2007 was about $122.9 billion. Meanwhile, U.S. natural gas production was 19 trillion cubic feet. (See Energy Information Administration, “Natural Gas Navigator,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n9070us2a.htm
.) And the average wellhead price was $6.37 per thousand cubic feet. (See Energy Information Administration, “Natural Gas Navigator,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n9190us3A.htm
.) Thus, the value of all U.S. gas production that year was about $121 billion. At a royalty rate of 12.5 percent, that means that some $30.5 billion in mineral royalties were paid out in 2007. Of that, about $9 billion was collected by the federal government for oil and gas produced from federal onshore and offshore leases. (See U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Oil and Gas Royalties: The Federal System for Collecting Oil and Gas Revenues Needs Comprehensive Reassessment,” September 2008,
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08691.pdf
.) Subtracting the feds'take means that private mineral owners were likely paid about $21.5 billion in 2007.
This estimate appears reasonable, given findings by other researchers. Energy In Depth, a group that represents independent oil and gas producers, estimates 2007 royalty payments to public and private landowners at $30 billion. See Energy In Depth, “Quick Facts: Jobs, Economic and Energy Benefits of Domestic Production,”
http://www.energyindepth.org/about/quick-facts/
. In addition, a 2009 report by Advanced Resources International for the Independent Petroleum Association of America put Oklahoma's 2007 royalty payments at $1.85 billion. That sum is about 8.6 percent of my estimate of $21.5 billion for the whole United States. That percentage ties out nicely when you consider that in 2007, Oklahoma gas production was 1.65 trillion cubic feet, or about 8.6 percent of total U.S. gas production. See Advanced Resources International, “Bringing Real Information on Energy Forward: Economic Considerations Associated with Regulating the American Oil and Natural Gas Industry,” April 24, 2009,
http://s3.amazonaws.com/propublica/assets/natural_gas/economic_consequences_report_april2009.pdf
, 3. For more information on Oklahoma production, see Energy Information Administration, “Natural Gas Gross Withdrawals and Production: Oklahoma,”
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/ng_prod_sum_dcu_sok_a.htm
. Note that the calculation of $21.5 billion is based on 2007 data. Given the oil and gas price spikes of 2008, the royalty payments that year were likely far higher.
6
Bryce, “The Meek Need Mineral Rights.”
9
Haynesville
, directed by Gregory Kallenberg, produced by Mark Bullard and Gregory Kallenberg (Threepenny Productions, 2009). For more information, see the official site for the movie at
http://www.haynesvillemovie.com/
. Also, Gregory Kallenberg, interview with author, approximately October 15, 2009.
Chapter 25
7
Miller, “Of Hydraulic Fracturing.”
12
Barnett Shale Newsletter
, November 16, 2009, 8.
Chapter 26
2
Stewart Brand,
Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto
(New York: Viking, 2009), 98.
7
Brand,
Whole Earth Discipline
, 99.
8
International Energy Agency,
World Energy Outlook 2009
, 266.