Recession

Influenced by China as a global economic barometer and driver of commodity prices, U.S. oil/natural gas production will stay relatively stable amid continued low prices, but over the long-term prices will edge upward, according to Bluford Putnam, chief economist for CME Group.

Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has powered the biggest increase since the 1970s in Alberta oil production from flowing wells outside the northern bitumen sands belt, says the provincial Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB).

The dismal days of 2009 are behind the chemical industry, and while the global recession isn’t completely gone, there are brighter times ahead. Much of that is because of the revolution in shale natural gas and oil, speakers at the IHS World Petrochemical Conference said Wednesday in Houston.

Natural gas trade between Canada and the United States was up in both directions in mid-2012, but it still had far to go to regain ground lost in the global economic recession, according to a scorecard kept by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The growth of the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania’s eastern Marcellus Shale helped the area avoid the worst of the 2008 recession, and the positive effects have only just begun, according to a study by the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development (IPPED). A comparison of the impact of the Marcellus on Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district, the Barnett Shale in Texas and the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas led IPPED to conclude “that there is definite potential for growth in wealth, employment and housing” within Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district, which includes many of the top producing counties. Core drilling counties fared better than noncore drilling counties, but the economic benefits of the Marcellus spilled over throughout the region.

Forward curves plotting electricity demand during the next 20-25 years have shifted dramatically in the past four years in the midst of a “great recession” and a surge in domestic natural gas production tied to shale plays, Wood Mackenzie’s North America Power Service Insight said in its latest release.

Energy analysts predict more than 50% of the natural gas produced in the United States will come from shale by the year 2030, coupled with a rising demand for natural gas in power generation and an opportunity to export to world markets.

The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) held the first of three public hearings on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) Monday evening at the McSwain Extension Education & Agriculture Center in Sanford, NC.

Even before the 2008 nationwide economic recession, natural gas sales in Oregon had begun a slide that continued for at least two years, according to energy statistics for 2010 that were released Friday by the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC).