Drill

Worldwide production of shale oil has the potential to reach 14 million b/d by 2035, about 12% of the world’s total oil supply, prompting a 25-40% decline in oil prices, according to a report issued Thursday by PwC.

Unlike natural gas, oil can be carried in a bucket — or in a rail car — as is increasingly the case in the Bakken Shale, for instance, where the drill bit has gotten ahead of the pipeline, way ahead of the pipeline, in offering oil producers a route to market.

Texas crude oil production during November was up from a year ago while natural gas production declined; during December, oil well completions were up while gas well completions declined, and the number of drilling permits issued was down from a year ago, according to the latest figures from Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC).

Canada’s BNK Petroleum Inc. announced Sunday that its subsidiary in the United States has so far seen “very encouraging results” from a test well in southern Oklahoma’s Tishomingo field, in the Ardmore Basin of the Woodford Shale.

Authorities in Quebec have been monitoring environmental groups opposed to shale gas development in the province for the last two years on fears that their activities could become radicalized and violent, according to a report by La Presse, a French newspaper in Montreal.

ZaZa Energy Corp. said Tuesday it has hit a snag with its Stingray well in the Eaglebine play that will limit initial production. However, the setback is temporary, and the company intends to continue Eaglebine drilling while it high grades its Eagle Ford acreage.

San Diego, CA-based Osage Exploration and Development Inc. reported Monday that it has spudded its fourth horizontal oil well in the Mississippian Lime formation and the rock quality appears promising. The well — the McPhail #2-18H in section 18-18N-3W of Logan County, OK –. is in the 30,000-plus acre Nemaha Ridge project, which is owned by Osage in conjunction with its partners, project operator Slawson Exploration Co. and U.S. Energy Development Corp.

Louisiana’s Office of Conservation plans to drill an observational water well to test for concentrations of natural gas in the Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer between the western side of a troubled salt dome and the Bayou Corne Community in the southern part of the state.

A legislator in the Pennsylvania General Assembly introduced two bills on Wednesday to amend the state constitution and make the secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) a commissioner post elected by the public, rather than one appointed by the governor.