Posted on 09/25/2008 8:42:56 AM PDT by thackney
Texas energy regulators, trying to cope with the biggest oil boom in decades, dipped into an environmental cleanup account Tuesday so they can whittle down a backlog of well permit requests and expand drilling.
The Texas Railroad Commission voted unanimously to tap up to $750,000 from the Oil Field Cleanup Fund, an account normally used to plug abandoned wells and remediate contaminated drilling sites. The money in the account comes largely from industry permit fees.
"We are in extraordinary times, and they demand some extraordinary measures," said Commissioner Victor Carrillo, a member of the three-member panel.
Industry advocates have been pushing the Railroad Commission, which once regulated railroads but now oversees the oil and gas industry, to seek emergency funds to reduce bureaucratic and costly delays in the permitting process.
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
Just goes to show ANY successful fund is destined to become a general fund.
Sounds a bit shady to me.
Chesapeake expected to slow Barnett Shale drilling
***********************EXCERPT***********************
Wed, Sep. 24, 2008
Chesapeake Energy Chairman Aubrey McClendon said Tuesday that the company’s level of drilling in the Barnett Shale has probably peaked and should slowly decline over the next decade as the company increases its activity in new fields such as Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale.
McClendon spoke during a conference call with financial analysts to discuss the company’s announcement Monday that it is cutting its drilling and development budget by 17 percent in light of lower natural gas prices. Analysts generally applauded the decision and said they expected other producers to follow, although none has made similar announcements.
Asked to detail what changes the reduced drilling budget would bring, McClendon replied that the company is boosting Haynesville drilling and holding steady in Arkansas’ Fayetteville Shale.
"And we will be starting a slow ramp-down in the Barnett that will probably last a decade or so," he said. Chesapeake has 43 rigs in the Barnett, he said. "I think we’ve reached our high-water mark there."
Not just that area. They are spread all over the state.
Texas Rig count, Sept averages
TEXAS-OFFSHORE - 10
TEXAS-INL WATER - 1
DISTRICT 1 - 27
DISTRICT 2 - 35
DISTRICT 3 - 62
DISTRICT 4 - 92
DISTRICT 5 - 186
DISTRICT 6 - 129
DISTRICT 7B - 31
DISTRICT 7C - 72
DISTRICT 8 - 133
DISTRICT 8A - 27
DISTRICT 9 - 41
DISTRICT 10 - 99
Chesapeake is also ramping down their drilling efforts due to cash expenditures being upside down from revenue, numerous deals made wherein they are “carried” on their working interest participation and a recognition that the previous drilling frenzy would not be as wise today, given a softening of Natural gas prices that will probably stay around for awhile.
Well the environmentalists are the reason for the high cost and delays associated with the permitting process, so it only is fair to use their “clean up” money to pay for cutting through the red tape they created. ;)
Think of it as the oil equivalent of LEOs using seized ill-gotten gains from criminals to pay for investigating, procecuting and incarcerating the criminals. Too bad we can’t jail the environmentalists while we are at it. ;)
Thats fine as long as these drillers can afford cleanup and decontamination requirements individually. Currently they can afford it, in the future a good spill may be an outfits end game, then who pays?
Listen to yourself, you sound like a damn liberal loon. Texans clean up after themselves, they don't need no damn "requirements" to do so.
Good! We have Texans all over up here doing gas wells, pipelines, and exploration. Great people (even the illegals they bring along are exceptionally friendly). We (landowners) keep a close eye on all of them even though its probably not necessary.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.