I didn’t intentionally seek out these nuggets on the US energy boom – especially so quickly after my recent involvement with Miley and Mr Bieber - but they were just conveniently there. Fast food if you like. As crude oil production hits a new 28-year high and natural gas continues to achieve higher and higher record levels of production, these morsels were too tasty to pass up. Bon appetit!
1) 26% of the world’s rigs are in one US state….Texas
2) Nearly 50% of US oil production now comes from Texas and North Dakota, and specifically the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Permian shale plays:
3) It is not all about Texas and North Dakota, however. Oklahoma is storming along (there’s a thunder pun in there somewhere); it ranks 4th in US states for natural gas production, 5th for oil, and 6th for wind power
4) Cheap natural gas in the US is projected to lead to a surge in industrial projects which could boost industrial demand for natural gas by 20% by the end of the decade
5) The new kid on the block could be the Cline Shale in…yep, you guessed it…Texas. It contains an estimated 30 billion recoverable barrels, which would make it 50% larger than either Eagle Ford or Bakken
6) As for existing shale plays, six formations are responsible for the surge in the Permian Basin, lifting production towards 1mbpd:
7) Meanwhile, the other key shale play in Texas – Eagle Ford – sees oil production climbing above 1.4 mbpd, spurring on natural gas production almost as an afterthought from associated gas:
8) All the while, the US is only projected to have 15% of the world’s shale oil according to some estimates. The EIA projects Russia has the most technically recoverable resources at 75 billion barrels. US is second with 58 billion, and China third with 32 billion.
9) Although the US will continue to lead global shale oil production, the IEA projects 650 kbpd of production by 2020 will come from tight oil resources outside of the US
10) To better understand the fracking process, watch this 6 minute video (h/t Mark Perry)
As always, thanks for playing! More posts are pending…til then – take care!
