Role

Natural gas will play an ever expanding role over the next decade to meet the energy needs of New Brunswick (NB), according to a 10-year energy plan unveiled by the New Brunswick Department of Energy on Wednesday.

Tracking potential impacts of Marcellus Shale drilling activity on water quality will be the focus of a $750,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation, according to Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), which is to lead the collaboration.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has named a former Boots & Coots executive to lead a newly created oilfield services unit that will house the producer’s growing business and complement its massive U.S. drilling program.

A plan unveiled last Friday by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) to transform its natural gas pipeline system into a role model for the industry carries a price tag of more than $1.9 billion spread over the next three-plus years, according to information released as part of the utility’s proposal to state regulators. Shareholders would absorb a little more than 25% of the total cost estimate.

For the second time in a matter of weeks, President Obama last Tuesday acknowledged that natural gas will play a critical role in the nation’s energy portfolio going forward. “We have a lot of natural gas here in this county,” he said at a town hall meeting in Annandale, VA. He acknowledged the risks associated with hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of the nation’s prolific shale natural gas supply, although he did not mention the practice by name. In late March, Obama championed natural gas as a new source of energy (see NGI, April 4). “The problem is…extracting it [shale gas] from the ground. The technologies aren’t as developed as we’d like and so there are some concerns that it might create pollution in our groundwater, for example. So we’ve got to make sure that if we’re going to do it [fracking], we do it in a way that doesn’t poison people,” Obama said.

For the second time in a matter of weeks, President Obama Tuesday acknowledged that natural gas will play a critical role in the nation’s energy portfolio going forward.

For the second time in a matter of weeks, President Obama Tuesday acknowledged that natural gas will play a critical role in the nation’s energy portfolio going forward.

Natural gas-fired generation and storage in Wyoming and California could play a key role if Wyoming is to fulfill a long-term strategy of making itself a major exporter of wind-generated electricity, according to a second phase study released Monday by the state Energy Office and Wyoming Infrastructure Authority (WIA). The cost of a 12 GW wind collector system and integration system for wind and natural gas would total tens of billions of dollars, the report said.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) on Thursday elected a new leadership team to helm the executive committee and announced the addition of almost three dozen associate member companies.