Industrial

Demand between now and 2015 will prop up natural gas prices, even with a backlog of drilled wells awaiting connection, and from 2016 to 2018 a “dramatic structural increase” in demand could outpace supply additions and send gas prices to as high as $6.00/MMBtu, BNP Paribas’ Teri Viswanath, director of commodity strategy, said Friday.

A panel of marketing representatives for several industrial giants was convened in mid-May by the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority (WIA) to look at how quick-start natural gas-fired generation can mitigate the increased variability on the electric grid due to increased wind and solar-based power supplies.

The Bakken Shale and Three Forks formation in the Williston Basin in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota contain a combined estimated 7.4 billion bbl of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil, 6.7 Tcf of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 530 million bbl of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids (NGL), according to an assessment released Tuesday by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Constitution Pipeline Co. has finalized the route it will propose for a Marcellus Pipeline in a certification application it expects to file with FERC this spring, the company said in a project update newsletter sent to landowners and other stakeholders.

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell on Wednesday filed legislation intended to provide cheaper energy to Interior Alaskans by giving the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) the ability to provide up to $275 million in financing for a natural gas liquefaction plant and for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) distribution system within the Fairbanks North Star Borough.

Economic contributions from unconventional development mostly are driven by the 16 states with oil and natural gas production, but a “significant portion” comes from states with no production, according to a state-by-state analysis by IHS Inc.

The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) has developed a Internet-based mapping tool to help community officials plan for road maintenance, dust control and other traffic-related problems that accompany expanded oil and natural gas development in the Bakken Shale and adjacent formations. The enhanced mapping includes information and locations for “permit status before spud” to provide the pre-drilling status for newly permitted well sites. It provides a new layer to the DMR oil/gas division’s GIS mapping system, enabling planners to identify where truck traffic could be most concentrated for a given period. “Users will be able to identify the operator of the rig and or well, as well as possible time frames when permits could be drilled,” said Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. The GIS map server is available at the DMR website as part of the North Dakota Industrial Commission (www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas).

An environmental group focused on recreation says industrial-scale development of oil shale is harmful to rivers and could require billions gallons of water annually, significantly more than what is needed for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for shale oil.

As a hedge against higher natural gas prices, a subsidiary of LSB Industries Inc., an Oklahoma-based chemical and equipment manufacturer, has bought an interest in a package of wells and potential drilling locations in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale.