Investment

Pipeline capacity from the Marcellus/Utica shales is being overbuilt, according to a pro-renewable energy group that said in a new report the situation puts utility ratepayers, landowners and energy investors at risk. Pipeline interests disagreed and asserted a continuing need for more capacity from Appalachia.

The global oil market faces a supply shortfall of 4.5 million b/d by 2035 if exploration success — and investments — aren’t stepped up, Wood Mackenzie researchers are forecasting.

Thailand’s largest coal producer, Banpu Pcl, has invested $112 million for a 29.4% stake in a joint venture in northeastern Pennsylvania, the Chaffee Corners Joint Exploration Agreement, which is majority owned by Spain’s Repsol SA (see Shale Daily,Dec. 16, 2014). Banpu’s stake gives it 156 Bcf of reserves and about 21 MMcf/d of potential production.

Thailand’s largest coal producer, Banpu Pcl, has invested $112 million for a 29.4% stake in a joint venture in northeastern Pennsylvania, the Chaffee Corners Joint Exploration Agreement, which is majority owned by Spain’s Repsol SA (see Shale Daily,Dec. 16, 2014). Banpu’s stake gives it 156 Bcf of reserves and about 21 MMcf/d of potential production.

About 40% of the U.S. chemical industry investment being spurred by the American shale gas revolution is either completed or under way, with another 55% in the planning phase, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC).

Two major U.S. utilities recently announced five-year plans to invest billions in their natural gas infrastructure.

A final decision on whether to move forward with the massive LNG Canada export project has been “pushed out to the future,” while unconventional oil and natural gas projects are on the longer-term list, Royal Dutch Shell plc CEO Ben van Beurden said Thursday.

At least 68 major oil and natural gas projects worldwide, worth a total of $380 billion and holding an estimated 27 billion boe of commercial reserves, have been shelved since late 2014, with deferred U.S. oil projects accounting for most of the losses, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd.

There might be blood in the shale patch, but downstream there’s cheap fuel and feedstock continuing to support a Gulf Coast petrochemical renaissance that is projected to grow production capacities for ethylene and derivatives substantially in the coming years.