Analyses

Running counter to recent public and private sector analyses, mediocre results so far and complex geology have combined to cause an Alliance Bernstein (AB) analyst to question whether the Monterey Shale will live up to some of the hype surrounding its future prospects. Even with these reservations, high oil prices could push the play closer to its potential, the report conceded.

Oil shale production’s impact on water supplies is potentially large but difficult to quantify and pinpoint, according to an official with the General Accountability Office (GAO) who testified Wednesday before a House natural resources subcommittee.

President Obama Wednesday defended his energy policy from the ongoing attacks of industry and Republicans on Capitol Hill, and championed natural gas as a new source of energy. The threat of a cut in oil imports due to the political implosions of a number of Middle Eastern countries has added fuel to the verbal battle between the administration and the oil and gas industry over the de facto moratorium on Gulf of Mexico (GOM) drilling.

Results of core and petrophysical analyses from a well on Quebec’s Anticosti Island are “encouraging,” according to Corridor Resources Inc. and Petrolia Inc., which hold leases covering more than 1.5 million acres on the island.

February natural gas futures retreated Tuesday as traders had to navigate both a strong dollar and seasonal analyses showing a deferral of the preseason low by up to two months. February futures skidded 15.9 cents to $4.642 , and the March contract dropped 18.2 cents to $4.631. The expiring February crude oil contract enjoyed last-minute buying and rose $2.23 to $38.74, but more distant contracts fell.

Peak-day shortfalls on two of its pipeline laterals could occur in 2011 and 2012, given current supply-demand analyses in an integrated resource plan (IRP) filed with Idaho regulators by Intermountain Gas. The Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) said Monday it will take comments on the utility’s IRP through Sept. 4.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is underwriting www.Shale.tv, an on-line video channel that will “provide a platform for in-depth information, discussion and analyses about the Barnett Shale and other shale natural gas plays in the U.S.,” according to the website. Despite Chesapeake’s role, the site’s creators “hope to provide thorough, accurate and independent information about the complex issues and opportunities of developing natural gas domestically.” The television-style programming on Shale.tv will be led by managing editor Tracy Rowlett, who was previously a news anchor at KTVT-TV in Dallas. Chesapeake has promised not to meddle in the project, and journalists set to work on the site’s three hours of new programming each day have been promised editorial independence, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal. Last year Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon and Chesapeake founded the American Clean Skies Foundation and put former Oklahoma Corporation Commission Chair Denise Bode in charge (see Daily GPI, July 19, 2007). Earlier this year the organization published the first issue of its magazine and unveiled Clean Skies TV, an Internet-based television channel (see Daily GPI, April 11). Earlier this month Chesapeake sold its interests in 90,000 net acres of leasehold and natural gas properties in the Arkoma Basin of the Woodford Shale to BP America Inc. for $1.75 billion, enabling it to redeploy capital to its Barnett, Haynesville and Marcellus shale plays and improve its capital structure (see Daily GPI, July 18).