Views: Strait of Hormuz

Map of shipping lanes in Strait of Hormuz.

Earthiew of the Strait of Hormuz,

Noble: Cyprus Gas Discovery

Noble success continues

Noble Energy announced Wednesday a natural gas discovery at the Cyprus Block 12 prospect, offshore the Republic of Cyprus.
The Cyprus A-1 well encountered approximately 310 feet of net natural gas pay in multiple high-quality Miocene sand intervals.
The discovery well was drilled to a depth of 19,225 feet in water depth of about 5,540 feet. Results from drilling, formation logs and initial evaluation work indicate an estimated gross resource range(1) of 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), with a gross mean of 7 Tcf.

Pavillion Field: IPAA response

Quick Links Energy in Depth Responds:  Six Questions for the EPA on Pavillion Statement from Wyoming Governor Statement from Petroleum Association of Wyoming Five Quick Facts on Pavillion EPA Draft Report (Large File)	December 9, 2011 Dear IPAA Members and Colleagues: Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency released a draft report on natural gas drilling in the town of Pavillion, Wyoming.  According to the EPA's press release, "The draft report indicates that ground water in the aquifer contains compounds likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing."  The report is still in draft form and needs to be peer-reviewed. The onus is now on EPA to legitimize this report after more than six decades of safely hydraulic fracturing over a million wells.  As we have seen time and again, the current EPA has made our industry a primary target.  Most news headlines already have it wrong, instead reporting some conclusive link that hydraulic fracturing contaminates drinking water.  Today's New York Times' headline pounces:  "E.P.A. Links Tainted Water in Wyoming to Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas." IPAA filed this week a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to EPA on this draft report, particularly whether it had been "leaked" prior to its public release yesterday. Energy in Depth, the hydraulic fracturing and environmental issues coalition managed by the Independent Petroleum Association of America, released the following Issue Alert.  I thought you might be interested, in case you have questions arise in your communities.  Please feel free to contact us if you comments or questions. Sincerely, Barry Russell President and CEO Six Questions for EPA on Pavillion Draft report from EPA in Denver produces lots more questions than answers; EID poses a few of its own Call it a sign of the “Times,” let’s say, that less than 24 hours removed from the release of EPA Region 8’s report on groundwater sampling near Pavillion, Wyo., nearly a thousand different news stories have been generated -- in 12 different countries, and best we can tell, four different languages. But set aside the breathless headlines for a moment and the triumphant quotes from a small segment of folks committed to ending the responsible development of natural gas, and one’s left with a pretty straightforward question: Is EPA right? And if so, what exactly does that mean moving forward? Of course, before you can answer the second question, it’d be helpful if you had a good answer for the first. And the truth is, as we sit here today, less than 20 hours A.P. (After Pavillion), we simply don’t. What we do know, however, even at these early stages, is that several of the assertions put forth in EPA’s report yesterday don’t quite square with the facts as they actually exist on the ground out there. Because of that, a number of folks are starting to ask some pretty basic questions about what the agency found and how it went about finding it. Below, a few of the most obvious: 1) Why the huge difference between what EPA found in its monitoring wells and what was detected in private wells from which people actually get their water? · Contrary to what was reported yesterday, the compounds of greatest concern detected by EPA in Pavillion weren’t found in water wells that actually supply residents their water – they were detected by two “monitoring wells” drilled by EPA outside of town.  · After several rounds of EPA testing of domestic drinking water wells in town, only one organic compound (bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate) was found to exceed state or federal drinking water standards – an additive in plastics and one of the most commonly detected organic compounds in water. According to EPA: “Detections in drinking water wells are generally below established health and safety standards.”  · Bruce Hinchey, president of Petroleum Association of Wyoming: “Let me be clear, the EPA’s findings indicate that there is no connection between oil and natural gas operations and impacts to domestic water wells.” (PAW press release, Dec. 8, 2011)  · In contrast, EPA found “a wide variety of organic chemicals” in its two monitoring wells, with greater concentrations found in the deeper of the two. The only problem? EPA drilled its monitoring wells into a hydrocarbon-bearing formation. Think it’s possible that could explain the presence of hydrocarbons?  · According to governor of Wyoming: “The study released today from EPA was based on data from two test wells drilled in 2010 and tested once that year and once in April, 2011. Those test wells are deeper than drinking wells. The data from the test wells was not available to the rest of the working group until a month ago.” (Gov. Mead press release, issued Dec. 8, 2011)  2) After reviewing the data collected by Region 8, why did EPA administrator Lisa Jackson tell a reporter that, specific to Pavillion, “we have absolutely no indication now that drinking water is at risk”? (video available here)  · Of note, Administrator Jackson offered those comments to a reporter from energyNOW! a full week after Region 8 publicly released its final batch of Pavillion data. In that interview, Jackson indicates that she personally analyzed the findings of the report, and was personally involved in conversations and consultations with staff, local officials, environmental groups, the state and the operator.  · After reviewing all that information, and conducting all those interviews, if the administrator believed that test results from EPA’s monitoring wells posed a danger to the community, why would she say the opposite of that on television?  · And if she believed that the state of Wyoming had failed to do its job, why would she – in that same interview – tell energyNOW! that “you can’t start to talk about a federal role [in regulating fracturing] without acknowledging the very strong state role.” (2:46) A week later, why did she choose to double-down on those comments in an interview with Rachel Maddow, telling the cable host that “states are stepping up and doing a good job”? (9:01, aired Nov. 21, 2011)  3) Did all those chemicals that EPA used to drill its monitoring wells affect the results?  · Diethanolamine? Anionic polyacrylamide? Trydymite? Bentonite? Contrary to conventional wisdom, chemicals are needed to drill wells, not just fracture them – even when the purpose of those wells has nothing to do with oil or natural gas development.  · In this case, however, EPA’s decision to use “dense soda ash” as part of the process for drilling its monitoring wells could have proved a bad one.  · One of the main justifications EPA uses to implicate hydraulic fracturing as a source of potential contamination is the high pH readings it says it found in its monitoring wells. But dense soda ash has a recorded pH (11.5) very similar to the level found in the deep wells, creating the possibility that the high pH recorded by EPA could have been caused by the very chemicals it used to drill its own wells.  · According to Tom Doll, supervisor of the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: “More sampling is needed to rule out surface contamination or the process of building these test wells as the source of the concerning results.” (as quoted in governor’s press release, Dec. 8, 2011)  4) Why is the author so confident that fracturing is to blame when most of his actual report focuses on potential issues with casing, cement and legacy pits?  · The report singles-out old legacy pits (which the operator had already voluntarily placed in a state remediation program prior to EPA's investigation) as the most obvious source of potential contamination. These decades-old pits, which are obviously no longer used, have nothing to do with hydraulic fracturing.  · From the report (page xi): "Detection of high concentrations of benzene, xylenes, gasoline range organics, diesel range organics, and total purgeable hydrocarbons in ground water samples from shallow monitoring wells near pits indicates that pits are a source of shallow ground water contamination in the area of investigation. Pits were used for disposal of drilling cuttings, flowback, and produced water. There are at least 33 pits in the area of investigation."  · From the report’s concluding paragraph: “[T]his investigation supports recommendations made by the U.S. Department of Energy Panel on … greater emphasis on well construction and integrity requirements and testing. As stated by the panel, implementation of these recommendations would decrease the likelihood of impact to ground water and increase public confidence in the technology.” (p. 39)  5) 2-BE or not 2-BE? That is the question.  · EPA indicates that it found tris (2-butoxyethyl) phosphate in a few domestic water wells. What the agency doesn’t mention is that this chemical is a common fire retardant found in plastics and plastic components used in drinking water wells. It’s not 2-BE, which, although also a common material, is sometimes associated with the completions process.  · According to EPA, in one of the eight samples collected, a small amount of 2-BE was detected. Interestingly, two other EPA labs that measured for the same exact compound reported not being able to detect it in the duplicate samples they were given.  · According to Wyo. governor Mead: “Members of the [Pavillion] working group also have questions about the compound 2-BE, which was found in 1 sample … while other labs tested the exact same water sample and did not find it.” (Mead press release, Dec. 8, 2011)  6) Is EPA getting enough potassium?  · Several times in its report, EPA notes that potassium and chloride levels were found to be elevated in its monitoring wells. But just because you have potassium and chloride doesn’t mean you’ve got potassium chloride, a different chemical entirely and one that’s sometimes associated with fracturing solutions. Nowhere in its report does EPA suggest that potassium chloride was detected.  · According to several USGS studies of groundwater quality in the area, variable -- and in some cases, high -- concentrations of potassium and chloride have been detected in Pavillion-area groundwater for more than 20 years. (USGS 1991, 1992)  · Interestingly, the potassium levels detected in EPA’s first monitoring well declined by more than 50 percent from October 2010 to April 2011, while the potassium level in EPA’s second monitoring well increased during that same period. Only natural variations in groundwater flow and/or composition could have accounted for this disparity. www.energyindepth.org

Colorado snowpack: Dec 19th

Three Gorges Dam: China

World Records Set by the Three Gorges Dam

The world’s largest and grandest water conservancy project, the Three Gorges Dam has set a series (over 100) of world engineering records by various indices. It is, or has:-

- the world’s most effective multi-functional water control system, consisting of a dam, a five-tier ship lock, and 26 hydropower turbo-generators;
- the world’s largest power station, total installed capacity reaching 18.2 million kW and annual power generation 846.7 billion kWh;
- the world’s grandest engineering project for water conservancy, earthwork (excavation & backfilling) totaling 134 million m3, concrete consumption 279.4 million m3, steel reinforcement 463,000 tonnes;
- the world’s greatest floor discharging capacity, up to 102.5 m³/s;
- the world’s largest number of stages of ship locks (staircase locks, nos. two, each with five stages and a total water head of 113m);
- (yet to be completed) the world’s largest ship lift (dimension of the basin: 120×18×3.5m), maximum vertical travel distance being 113m, capable of lifting ships of 3000t;
- the world’s largest human resettlement program associated with an engineering project, total population having to be relocated being estimated at 1.13 million.

Marcellus Cumulative Gas Production West Virginia

Marcellus Shale

Comingled wells excluded

259 Total wells

212 Vertical, 47 horizontal

Marcellus Shale West Virgina

The Middle Devonian Marcellus Shale Play has put the Appalachian Basin at the center of a national debate concerning America’s future energy supply. Although it has been received in the region with mixed reviews, this highly organic shale formation has secured itself as a major contributor to the natural gas supply of West Virginia and other states in the Basin. As production continues throughout West Virginia, areas of high production continue to emerge; however, it appears that some of these “sweet spots” may not actually be within the “Marcellus” per se, but rather, in other, overlying Devonian shales.

Time for Energy Secretary Chu to Leave?

The White House has denied the critics charges of any connection between politics and "green energy" loans, however, recent emails and scrutiny at the Solyndra Congressional Inquiry have discovered a preference  given to Democrat donors seeking loans. The emails suggest a correlation beyond just the timing timing of political announcements to questions about the White Houses overall policy of handing out taxpayer money.

The Solyndra hearing revealed a series of questionable actions, 1)the rush to announce the Solyndra loan and 2) the process that lacked appropriate financial oversight. Solyndra investor George Kaiser and other Obama contributors had "unfettered" access to the West Wing of the White House. Additionally, Energy Secretary Chu approved subordination of the Solyndra loans so that taxpayers would be repaid after two commercial firms, a violation of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The green energy subsidies show that several well connected Democrats obtained taxpayer assistance for environmentally friendly projects. These recipients include: (from Fox news)

-- Solyndra, which received $535 million in loan guarantees and whose chief investor was the George Kaiser Family Foundation. George Kaiser was an Obama campaign bundler.

-- Brightsource Energy, which received $1.6 billion and whose senior adviser is Robert Kennedy, Jr., an early Obama backer;

-- Solar Reserve, which got a $737 million loan, and whose major investor is a company run by Michael Froman, who was a deputy assistant to the president. Froman bundled up to $500,000 for the president's 2008 campaign;

-- Granite Reliable Wind Generation, which received a $168.9 million loan. The company's majority owner is a firm formerly led by Nancy Ann DeParle, now a White House deputy chief of staff and former head of the president's health care communications team during the reform debate; and

-- Abound Solar, which received a loan guarantee worth $400 million. A key investor is billionaire heiress Pat Stryker, who gave $87,000 to Obama's inauguration committee, and hundreds of thousands more to Democratic causes.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/16/solyndra-case-reveals-gateway-between-administration-loans-obama-allies/#ixzz1fUqe7CB0

Peter Schweizer, author of "Throw Them All Out", wrote that at least 10 members of Obama's finance committee and more than a dozen of his campaign bundlers took money from administration loan programs.

Secretary Chu approved the Solyndra loan in September 2009. The braniac Nobel prize winner in Physics, testified that he was "not aware" of staffers predictions that Solyndra would go broke and run out of cash by September 2011. He clearly missed the the Office of Management and Budget recommendation that the deal be "notched down". At Solyndra's groundbreaking he announced, "If you build a better solar panel, the world will beat a path to your door."

In March 2010, PricewaterhouseCooppers warned that Solyndra's recurring losses and negative cash flows" raise a substantial doubt about it's ability to continue as a going concern". Chu remained a booster for the project. In May 2010, President Obama appeared at a Solyndra event and proclaimed," the true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra."

By October, Solyndra CEO Brain Harrison informed the DOE that the company was about to lay off workers. The company shut one of its plants and laid off 40 workers the day after the November elections.
Secretary Chu admits he approved a  to put $75 million into Solyndra which included a sweetener that put investors ahead of taxpayers in the payback line that follows bankruptcy. This gambit failed and Solyndra laid off 1,000 workers.

The Nobel prize winner's pet pick was a bust. No scandal? In February 2009, the former Solyndra CEO Chris Gonet set 10 conditions for the Administration to meet to help Solyndra raise an additional $147 million.

No.9. "Fundraising suppport after conditional commitment: Steven Chu visits Solyndra with press interviews (target by end of March)."

Solyndra Scandal key Players

Methane Hydrates World Map

Methane hydrates occur in polar permafrost regions and marine outer continental margins and represent a potentially enormous energy resource.

Hydrates are naturally occurring crystalline compounds of natural gas enclosed within a cage-like lattice of water ice. Chemists call such structures clathrates. In methane hydrates, water crystallizes in the cubic system, rather than in the hexagonal structure of normal ice. The resulting compound packs a lot of methane in its dense organization. One cubic foot of hydrate contains about 164 cubic feet of methane gas.

With adequate gas concentrations, methane hydrates form and are stable under moderate- to high pressure, low temperature conditions. This Methane Hydrate Stability Zone (MHSZ) typically occurs: 1) on continental margins at water depths greater than about 300 m and bottom water temperatures close to 0° C, where gas hydrate is found from the sediment surface to depths of about

1100 m below the seafloor, and 2) in polar continental regions, where gas hydrate can be present in sediment and permafrost at depths between about 150 and 2000 m.

Early estimates of the total resource were as speculative as they were impressive. Current work using geology-based Total Petroleum System (TPS) assessments still yields very large numbers.

The USGS recently estimated that there are about 85.4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of undiscovered, technically recoverable gas resources within methane hydrates in northern Alaska alone (Collett, 2009). The Minerals Management service conducted an evaluation of the petroleum system for the Gulf of Mexico and estimated a mean value of 21,444 Tcf with 6,717 Tcf in place in sandstone reservoirs

(Frye, 2008). Mean estimated resource of domestic methane hydrate in place is about 200,000 Tcf (NETL, site accessed 4/28/11).

Source

Two primary source mechanisms have been recognized based on carbon and hydrogen isotopic analysis (Uchida, et al, 2009): microbial decay of organic matter within the gas-hydrate stability zone and thermogenic methane. Thermogenic methane may migrate from thermally mature, deep-seated organic shales, or by leakage from deeper, conventional free gas reservoirs (Lorenson, 2011).

Reservoir

An important difference between methane hydrate accumulations and more conventional gas fields is the nature of the reservoir beds containing the gas: methane hydrate deposits occur in young, relatively unconsolidated sediments where the ice-like hydrate structure holds the gas in place. Methane hydrates occur within a range of reservoir facies, from mudstones to gravels. Sandy siliciclastic reservoirs are considered to be the most favorable for commercial exploitation.

Seal

The seal is provided by the clathrate structure itself. In fact, it is increasingly recognized that the hydrate accumulations may provide a top and lateral seal for deeper free-gas reservoirs outside the methane hydrate stability zone (MHSZ).

Trap

The trapping mechanism, too, is attributed to the arrangement of methane within the clathrate structure. As free gas migrates into the MHSZ, it is chemically trapped within the crystalline configuration of the naturally formed clathrate.

( from Search & Discovery #80193)

Anadarko 's Mozambique 10 TFC Discovery

• Barquentine-2 was drilled to a total depth of 13,500 feet in Offshore

Area 1 (APC WI 36.5%) of the Rovuma Basin in a water depth of

approximately 5,400 feet. The well encountered more than 230 net feet

of high-quality gas sand in static communication with the Barquentine-1

well, located 2 miles to the northwest. The entire reservoir section was

cored and will be used to help optimize the development plan for the

area. The Barquentine-2 wellbore has been temporarily abandoned and

will be used in a testing program in early 2012.

• Subsequent to quarter end, Anadarko announced the results of the

Camarão-1 well. The appraisal section of the well encountered

approximately 240 net feet of natural gas pay in an excellent-quality

reservoir and confirmed static pressure connectivity with previously

announced discoveries at Windjammer and Lagosta. The well also

discovered approximately 140 net feet of natural gas pay in shallower

Miocene and Oligocene sand packages. The well was drilled to a total

depth of 12,630 feet in water depths of approximately 4,730 feet. The

Camarão well has been saved and will be used in the upcoming DST

program.

• Based upon the five successful penetrations in the complex to

date, the confirmed static pressure connectivity and the numerous

cores that have been analyzed, the company has a high level

of confidence that the Windjammer, Barquentine and Lagosta

complex holds in excess of 10 trillion cubic feet of recoverable

natural gas resources. Given the increased recoverable resource

base potential of this complex, initial development plans have

been expanded to a minimum of two 5-million-tonne-per-annum

LNG trains with the flexibility to develop additional trains based

upon continued exploration and appraisal success. Once the

first two trains are constructed, this infrastructure is expected

to provide economies of scale that can significantly reduce

expansion costs for additional trains.

• The Barquentine-3 appraisal well is currently being drilled and

the rig will continue to drill appraisal wells through the end of

2011. The company is in the process of mobilizing a second rig

to Mozambique late in 2011 to conduct an extensive reservoir

testing program and up to seven exploration/appraisal wells

during the next 12 months.

Cost of Cooking Thanksgiving Turkey

Approximately 46 million turkeys will be put into the oven or deep fired today for the Thanksgiving Day feast.
But how much are Americans expected to spend cooking just that portion of the meal?
The answer is a bit more than you expect.
TXU Energy estimates that nearly 27 million turkeys (26,680,000 to be exact) will be cooked with electricity this Thanksgiving Day holiday.
At 8 kilowatts per hour for up to four hours, you are taking about a whooping $25 million to cook that turkey. And that price isn’t including the 23 million other turkeys that are cooked by gas.

Top Research?

Frac Gone Wild!

Thhis not an animated gif.
Have you ever wondered what the visuals look like on hallucinogens? This isn't far off (um, I've read). This is not an animated gif, and nothing is actually moving. It's all in your head. Your trippy, trippy head.
Sadly, I do not know who created this incredible optical illusion—I lost the trail somewhere in the bramble of the internet. But whomever he or she is deserves high praise. You can focus on one swirl and it's stationary, but the other swirls in your periphery start to undulate and twist. Switch to another one, and the same thing is repeated. It's exquisitely executed. I should warn, however, that if you're actually on acid, you will either see nothing moving at all, or the effect will be so powerful that your mind will turn to tapioca. Consider yourself warned

Where does oil come from?

Ogallala Aquifer vs. Keystone XL Pipeline

Figure 1

The Ogallala is the largest freshwater aquifer in the world. The maps above show the saturated thickness (vertical distance between the water table and the aquifer floor) of the Ogallala in 1996-97 and the water level changes between 1980 and 1997. The aquifer is depleted in parts of northern Texas and west central Kansas. A large share of Ogallala water lies beneath the Nebraska Sandhills, where the resource remains largely untapped because crop irrigation is uneconomic.

(McGuire et al., 1999)

The Ogallala is composed primarily of unconsolidated, poorly sorted clay, silt, sand, and gravel with groundwater filling the spaces between grains below the water table . The Ogallala was laid down about 10 million years ago by fluvial deposition from streams that flowed eastward from the Rocky Mountains during the Pliocene epoch

Read more: Ogallala Aquifer - depth, important, system, source http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Oc-Po/Ogallala-Aquifer.html#ixzz1dssFiqIE

The Ogallala is an unconfined aquifer, and virtually all recharge comes from rainwater and snowmelt. As the High Plains has a semiarid climate, recharge is minimal. Recharge varies by amount of precipitation, soil type, and vegetational cover and averages less than 25 millimeters (1 inch) annually for the region as a whole. In a few areas, recharge from surface water diversions has occurred. Groundwater does flow through the High Plains Aquifer, but at an average rate of only 300 millimeters (12 inches) per day.
The depth to the water table of the Ogallala Aquifer varies from actual surface discharge to over 150 meters (500 feet). Generally, the aquifer is found from 15 to 90 meters (50 to 300 feet) below the land surface. The saturated thickness also varies greatly. Although the average saturated thickness is about 60 meters (200 feet), it exceeds 300 meters (1,000 feet) in west-central Nebraska and is only one-tenth that in much of western Texas. Because both the saturated thickness and the areal extent of the Ogallala Aquifer is greater in Nebraska, the state accounts for two-thirds of the volume of Ogallala groundwater, followed by Texas and Kansas, each with about 10 percent.

Nebraska Pipeline Map

So the Keystone XL Pipeline will change this landscape?

Mad Dog Field

What is China doing in the desert?

Considering these can clearly be seen from orbit the formations are raising some eyebrows with geeks trying to figure out what exactly they are for. Are these some sort of alignment or targeting grids for space weapons or what? In one of the photos, you can clearly see a grid of structures with three of them either destroyed or partially standing as if they were for target practice.

There are aircraft placed in the center of this circle. I have no idea what it is, but it reminds me of how the military would test the blast radius of some sort of bomb to see what the damage is like further out from the point of impact. What do you think? Is this a military testing ground or the Chinese equivalent of crop circles?

Keystone XL Pipeline Delayed

WashPost to Obama: Approve Keystone XL

The Post still doesn’t like fossil fuels, but embraces reality anyway.
About the Keystone XL pipeline that Obama is tying to kill by delaying approval:

The United States must reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, from any source, and it should encourage nations such as China to lower the carbon intensity of their economies, too. Even if that happens, though, the world will continue to use oil, with all the dirty realities that entails. Rejecting Keystone XL would not change that fact. But it would help China lock up more of the world’s oil production, cost infrastructure jobs in the United States and offend a reliable ally. More delay after three years of review is insult enough.

Read the Post editorial.

Green Loan Program or Crony capitalism?

Schweizer's New Book: 80% of Energy Department's "Green Loan" Program Went to Obama's Backers

When President-elect Obama came to Washington in late 2008, he was outspoken about the need for an economic stimulus to revive a struggling economy... After he was sworn in as president, he proclaimed that taxpayer money would assuredly not be doled out to political friends...

...But an examination of grants and guaranteed loans offered by just one stimulus program run by the Department of Energy, for alternative-energy projects, is stunning. The so-called 1705 Loan Guarantee Program and the 1603 Grant Program channeled billions of dollars to all sorts of energy companies...

...In the 1705 government-backed-loan program [alone], for example, $16.4 billion of the $20.5 billion in loans granted as of Sept. 15 went to companies either run by or primarily owned by Obama financial backers—individuals who were bundlers, members of Obama’s National Finance Committee, or large donors to the Democratic Party. The grant and guaranteed-loan recipients were early backers of Obama before he ran for president, people who continued to give to his campaigns and exclusively to the Democratic Party in the years leading up to 2008. Their political largesse is probably the best investment they ever made in alternative energy. It brought them returns many times over.

...The Government Accountability Office has been highly critical of the way guaranteed loans and grants were doled out by the Department of Energy, complaining that the process appears “arbitrary” and lacks transparency. In March 2011, for example, the GAO examined the first 18 loans that were approved and found that none were properly documented. It also noted that officials “did not always record the results of analysis” of these applications. A loan program for electric cars, for example, “lacks performance measures.” No notes were kept during the review process, so it is difficult to determine how loan decisions were made. The GAO further declared that the Department of Energy “had treated applicants inconsistently in the application review process, favoring some applicants and disadvantaging others.” The Department of Energy’s inspector general, Gregory Friedman, ... has testified that contracts have been steered to “friends and family.”

...These programs might be the greatest—and most expensive—example of crony capitalism in American history. Tens of billions of dollars went to firms controlled or owned by fundraisers, bundlers, and political allies, many of whom—surprise!—are now raising money for Obama again...

Italian Cold Fusion Machine?

An atom consists of a nucleus of protons and neutrons, with electrons orbiting around. CREDIT: Dreamstime View full size image

Italian physicist and inventor Andrea Rossi has conducted a public demonstration of his "cold fusion" machine, the E-Cat, at the University of Bologna, showing that a small amount of input energy drives an unexplained reaction between atoms of hydrogen and nickel that leads to a large outpouring of energy, more than 10 times what was put in.
The first successful cold fusion experiment was reported two decades ago, but the process has forever been met with heavy skepticism. It's a seemingly impossible process in which two types of atoms, typically a light element and a heavier metal, seem to fuse together, releasing pure heat that can be converted into electricity. The process is an attractive energy solution for two reasons: Unlike in nuclear fission, the reaction doesn't give off dangerous radiation. Unlike the fusion processes that take place in the sun, cold fusion doesn't require extremely high temperatures.
But the experimentalists who have supposedly demonstrated cold fusion over the years have been unable to explain the underlying mechanism that drives the miraculous reaction they claim to observe, and so the scientific community has largely turned its back on this line of research. Most physicists — as well as the United States Department of Energy (DoE), academic journals, and the U.S. Patent Office — consider cold fusion machines to be hoaxes, because they say physics rules out the possibility of room-temperature nuclear fusion

Noerthern Lights

This amazing shot was taken in Norway by Ole Christian Salomonsen. It's one of the many photos featured in National Geographic's upcoming photo book, Visions of Earth

Potash Mining

This Potash mine is located 20 miles west of Moab. The mine began underground excavation in 1964 and was converted in 1970 to a solar evaporation system. This mine produces between 700 and 1,000 tons of potash per day.
Water is used from the nearby Colorado River in the production of Potash by a company called Intrepid Potash®. Water is pumped through injection wells into the underground mine which dissolves layers of potash more than 3,000 feet below the surface. The resulting "brine" is then brought to the surface and piped to 400 acres of shallow evaporation ponds. A blue dye is added to the ponds to assist in the evaporation process. These ponds are lined with vinyl to keep the brine from spilling back into the Colorado River. A major by-product of this process is salt. The salt is used for water softening, animal feed and oil drilling fluids as well as many other applications.

Decline of Rock Music and U.S Oil Production

So, our energy future will be determined by "rock stars". C'mon Ozzie, Mick and Keith, get after it!

State Owned Oil Companies vs. the Majors: Which is bigger?

Life is getting harder for the supermajors. Their edge over their rivals—the ability to extract oil from difficult places—is terrifically useful while prices are high. But since it is terrifically costly to extract oil from difficult places, their competitive advantage fizzles if oil prices fall. If it does, their bumper profits could vanish like a pool of petrol into which a lighted match has been carelessly dropped.

Natural Gas vs. Wind: Which is Greener?

Why Natural Gas is Greener than Wind Energy

We have an opportunity to actually achieve real energy independence by shifting our efforts away from wind and solar and adopting a natural-gas infrastructure instead. The best part? It won’t require an avalanche of subsidies to succeed, either. All we need to do is get government and its social engineers out of the way.

U.S. Rotary Rig Count

U.S. Workover Rig Count

With data provided by Cameron, the workover rig count provides information for the most recent month and for the two preceding months about the number of workover rigs in the eight major regions of the United States. The most recent month’s data from 12 months ago is also highlighted with the percentage change between the two preceding months and the percentage change over the last 12 months.

View the September 2011 Workover Rig Count Table

Thorium Nuclear Energy

So what is the big deal about thorium?
 In 2006, writing in the magazine Cosmos, Tim Dean summarized perhaps the most optimistic scenario for what a Thorium-powered nuclear world would be like:

What if we could build a nuclear reactor that offered no possibility of a meltdown, generated its power inexpensively, created no weapons-grade by-products, and burnt up existing high-level waste as well as old nuclear weapon stockpiles? And what if the waste produced by such a reactor was radioactive for a mere few hundred years rather than tens of thousands? It may sound too good to be true, but such a reactor is indeed possible, and a number of teams around the world are now working to make it a reality. What makes this incredible reactor so different is its fuel source: thorium. 

The Universe is flat?

WMAP has confirmed this result with very high accuracy and precision. We now know that the universe is flat with only a 0.5% margin of error. This suggests that the Universe is infinite in extent; however, since the Universe has a finite age, we can only observe a finite volume of the Universe. All we can truly conclude is that the Universe is much larger than the volume we can directly observe.

Shape of the Universe - NASA

Happy Birthday North and South Dakota

November 02, 1889

The Dakota Territory

On this day in 1889, North and South Dakota were admitted into the Union. Both North and South Dakota have remained mostly rural, being ranked 48th and 46th in population respectively.

Shale Production Forecast

Taxing America's Largest Corporations

Steve Forbes on Obama's Anti-Oil Agenda

Steve Forbes: Obama’s anti-energy agenda kills jobs

“His reelection campaign in full swing, President Barack Obama is blaming obstinate congressional Republicans for his failure to advance a jobs plan in an economy that’s averaged 9 percent unemployment and crossed the $1 trillion deficit threshold for the third straight year.

Members of Congress on both the right and the left, however, stopped Obama’s American Jobs Act in its tracks. They recognized it for what it was: a glorified repackaging of tax increases that have rightly failed several times before. Undaunted, the White House and some of its strongest allies are coming back for more — adamant that the jobs landscape and our economy would improve if only Congress would pass a national energy tax.

Thirty-seven House Democrats and 14 of their Senate colleagues this month sent separate letters to the bipartisan supercommittee calling for an end to industry “subsidies” they claim would save the government $21 billion over 10 years.

Before beginning the eye roll for defending Big Oil, consider this: The influx of revenue expected from rolling back these fossil-fuel “subsidies” — close to $90 billion when factoring in the effects on related industries — is actually a national energy tax that will likely come straight from the pockets of American consumers.

By definition, government imposes a tax on an activity or product to discourage, not incentivize, it. Why, then, would the administration repeatedly target one of the only industries that’s actually creating jobs?

This blatantly contradicts the president’s pro-jobs rhetoric.

If the administration were serious about deficit reduction and accelerated job growth, it would partner with our domestic energy producers to help increase their employment base — which now encompasses more than 9 million affiliated jobs — by letting them expand their output. This, in turn, would expand their gross domestic product contribution, which averages $1 trillion annually.

Instead, Obama has cast the industry as a ruthless competitor for taxpayer handouts. If this seems exaggerated, take it from the president himself, in his address to a joint session of Congress last month.

“Should we keep tax loopholes for oil companies?” Obama asked. “Or should we use that money to give small-business owners a tax credit when they hire new workers? Because we can’t afford to do both.”

What the president knows, but fails to divulge in making his case, is that U.S. oil and natural gas companies do not receive taxpayer subsidies. The provisions he’s targeting for repeal are the same tax credits and deductions available to a broad swath of other U.S. companies — including a domestic manufacturing credit and a measure to prevent double taxation on income earned abroad.

If the White House has a reasonable explanation for how raising taxes on one industry without broader tax reform can create jobs, I’ve yet to hear it.

Real tax reform that closes loopholes in favor of lower rates is an idea that I support wholeheartedly. That’s why I have long advocated the flat tax. In fact, I recently endorsed and continue to advise Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is now proposing his own version of the flat tax.

Repealing tax credits and deductions for only one industry, however, is the opposite of tax reform. It’s a classic Washington game of using the Tax Code to pick winners and losers.

Critics will predictably counter that the oil and gas industry, as a pillar of strength in an otherwise bleak economy, shouldn’t hesitate to pay more taxes.

This is preposterous. U.S. oil and gas producers now pay the federal government more than $86 million a day in taxes, royalties and fees.

The industry is taxed at an effective rate of 41 percent. For comparison, the average tax bracket for industrial companies is 26 percent. The oil and gas industry pays its fair share.

If the president were really interested in creating jobs and economic growth, he would support more domestic energy production rather than punitive tax increases.

Allowing domestic producers to responsibly develop abundant energy in offshore and onshore deposits, according to a recent Wood Mackenzie study for the American Petroleum Institute, would create more than 1 million jobs nationwide; channel an estimated $800 billion in additional government revenues; and contribute 10 million more barrels of oil and natural gas per day by 2030. Opening more areas in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic and Alaskan coastlines would allow companies to bring jobs back to the United States — instead of having to look abroad for investment opportunities.

Most Americans realize that additional government spending will not stimulate permanent job growth. If it did, stimulus Parts 1 and 2 would have cured our employment ills long ago.

If the administration were serious about job growth and deficit reduction, it would stand down from its “jobs” plan that would only further handicap an industry that stands ready to contribute thousands of new jobs.

Otherwise, cue the collective grumbling at the gas pump.”

Chattanooga Shale Isopach

Chattanooga production is present in Alabama...the shale plays just keep on coming.

Unconventional Resouces......Cheer

Marcellus Drilling Activity New York style

Anti-drilling hysteria

Spreading fear to halt progress

Keystone Pipeline

Obama says he’ll address Keystone Pipeline concerns

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posted at 4:05 pm on October 27, 2011 by Tina Korbe
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Barack Obama is busy, busy, scattering largesse to the populace. Whatever he can say to win votes — he’ll say it. His address in Denver yesterday included not only the announcement of his highly impactful student loan program reforms, but also a testy reassurance that he’s taking into consideration concerns about a proposed pipeline — the Keystone XL — that would run from Canada to Texas:

During an event with young people in Denver, one activist interrupted Obama’s remarks, urging the president to reject the project.
“We’re looking at it right now, all right?” Obama replied. “No decision’s been made and I know your deep concern about it, so we will address it.”
Protesters who held up a banner reading: “Stop the Keystone Pipeline Project” were asked to leave.

Obama has been none too popular with his environmentalist constituency lately — not least because he hired Broderick Johnson, a former lobbyist for the Keystone XL, to be a senior adviser to his campaign. Given that, it’s difficult to envision Obama overriding the countless anti-pipeline protesters — including a number of celebrities — to throw his weight behind the Keystone project. He’ll probably just continue to hear their concerns and delay a decision.
But consider: By the Department of Energy’s own admission, access to Canadian oil sands could significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Some supporters for the pipeline have even made the case that construction and use of the pipeline is more ethical than the continued purchase of oil from a country that discriminates against women. Environmentalists insist the pipeline poses a risk to endangered species because spills could occur — but a State Department report has shown that to be unlikely. (Incidentally, in response to that report, three environmental groups sued the U.S. government this past Tuesday — another element of the Keystone drama that seems likely to push Obama to the left on this issue.) Perhaps most importantly, the pipeline will be a vehicle for the creation of thousands of jobs — the president’s purported top priority.
The only reason for Obama not to support the pipeline project is that it might cost him a few votes with lefty enviros. Oh, right. So, never mind. No wonder he’s delaying his decision.