Estimates

North Carolina’s assistant state geologist said estimates put forth by supporters of natural gas development in the Tar Heel State are overly optimistic and actual reserves are probably much lower.

Wells Fargo analysts trimmed their peak ethane oversupply estimates by nearly 100,000 b/d based on a couple of factors, but they “continue to anticipate a period of ethane pricing weakness beginning in 2013 and persisting for several years until new world-scale ethylene crackers are placed into service,” they said in a note Monday.

The number of fatalities stemming from natural gas pipeline accidents in 2010 more than doubled to 21 from nine in the prior year, according to estimates released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The number of fatalities stemming from natural gas pipeline accidents in 2010 more than doubled to 21 from nine in the prior year, according to estimates released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Natural gas pipelines accounted for all but one of the total 22 pipeline deaths in 2010, the NTSB said. One death was attributed to hazardous liquid lines last year. In contrast the NTSB reported a total of 13 pipeline-related fatalities in 2009. The deadly natural gas pipeline accident in San Bruno, CA, which killed eight people and was investigated by the NTSB, contributed to the rise in pipeline fatalities in 2010, the board said (see Daily GPI, Sept. 17, 2010). The five fatalities from a pipeline explosion in Allentown, PA, were not included in the NTSB count since the blast occurred earlier this year (see Daily GPI, Feb. 11).

FERC Thursday issued a certificate to Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) to expand its mainline system in southwestern Pennsylvania to transport Marcellus Shale gas to markets in the Northeast.

Government and industry sources have grossly overstated future natural gas supplies in the United States, basing their estimates on unrealistic growth in supplies from shale gas plays, according to a report released Thursday by the San Francisco-based Post Carbon Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes sustainability.

Government and industry sources have grossly overstated future natural gas supplies in the United States, basing their estimates on unrealistic growth in supplies from shale gas plays, according to a report released Thursday by the San Francisco-based Post Carbon Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes sustainability.

Government and industry sources have grossly overstated future natural gas supplies in the United States, basing their estimates on unrealistic growth in supplies from shale gas plays, according to a report released Thursday by the San Francisco-based Post Carbon Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes sustainability.

Pipeline flows recorded by Bentek Energy LLC show that Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale region has surpassed the Fort Worth Basin/Barnett Shale region of North Texas in natural gas output. The two shale plays themselves are neck and neck in output. While it’s too soon to call a new Lower 48 shale king, all signs are that the Barnett will soon bow to the Haynesville.