Posted on 10/08/2013 10:01:15 PM PDT by ckilmer
SWEETWATER — U.S. oil production for the week ending Aug. 30 averaged 7.62 million barrels per day, which is the highest weekly output of crude oil in the nation since Oct. 1989. That increase is almost exclusively because of increases in domestic shale oil production in states such as Texas.
The vast majority in a packed room at the Nolan County Coliseum nodded their heads in a gesture of pride to that news, delivered directly by Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick. She spoke about the robust energy industry in the state during the Shale Show in Sweetwater this past week.
Craddick was elected to serve a six-year term in November 2012. She is native of Midland and an attorney specializing in oil and gas, water, tax issues, electric deregulation and environmental policy.
“We knew the Cline Shale existed but for now is under the Spraberry Trend until somebody names it (Cline Shale),” Craddick told attendees, emphasizing the commission’s data, including drilling permits has not yet reflected the Cline Shale name.
Spraberry Trend — also known as the Spraberry Field, Spraberry Oil Field and Spraberry Formation — is a large oil field in the Permian Basin covering large parts of six counties, with a total area of about 2,500 square miles. Two-third of the oil production in Texas comes from the Permian Basin, which Craddick said contains 10 to 14 shales — unlike other areas such as Eagle Ford in South Texas that only has one shale.
The biggest buzz around nowadays is the Cline Shale, a formation roughly 140 miles north to south and 70 miles wide on the eastern flank of what is mapped as the Permian Basin, running through portions of Mitchell, Coke, Fisher, Glasscock, Howard, Irion, Nolan, Reagan, Scurry and Sterling counties. Some maps include Upton, Tom Green, Crockett and Schleider counties.
There is no doubt the oil and gas industry is the driving force in the economy in Texas: Crude oil production in the state totaled an estimated 71.1 million barrels in August, nearly 10.2 million barrels (16.7 percent) more than in August 2012, according to data from the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.
Then you have the number of Texans estimated to be on oil and gas industry payrolls reaching a record 282,700, according to statistical methods based upon Texas Workforce Commission estimates revised in March.
Craddick said 25 percent of employment in Texas is directly tied to the oil and gas industry with an average salary of $125,000 a year and equates to about $12 billion a year in taxes.
“That’s real jobs and those are real money and we need to tout that,” Craddick said. “People are coming to Texas to see what we do.”
As with any other economic booms, the expected Cline Shale will have infrastructure challenges.
“We’re better prepared in the Permian Basin to have more growth, but as an industry, we’re always behind,” Craddick said in an interview after her speech. “We have to make sure that the infrastructure is in place, but it’s almost hard for that infrastructure to be in place until you know what that growth is going to be.”
The commissioner tagged the Texas Railroad Commission as “the most important regulating agency in the state,” but an agency that does not over-regulate the industry.
The commission recently has undertaken massive overhaul of Rule 13, which will take effect in January. Rule 13 governs the commission’s requirements for casing, cementing, drilling and completion standards, and adopted amendments intended to clarify those requirements.
“One of the things we try to do is have workshops all over the state so people understand (Rule 13) and hopefully they are being more informed about it,” Craddick said. “Our goal is to give companies and operators opportunities to come to the workshops and get informed so they know the rules before it goes into effect.”
As far as energy independence is concerned, the magic year, should you ask Craddick, is 2020. Last year, the International Energy Agency said the U.S. would overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s top oil producer before the end of the decade.
The IEA predicted the U.S. would become a net energy exporter by 2030 and nearly energy independent by 2035.
Spraberry Trend — also known as the Spraberry Field, Spraberry Oil Field and Spraberry Formation — is a large oil field in the Permian Basin covering large parts of six counties, with a total area of about 2,500 square miles. Two-third of the oil production in Texas comes from the Permian Basin, which Craddick said contains 10 to 14 shales — unlike other areas such as Eagle Ford in South Texas that only has one shale.
The important thing is that because Spraberry Field is likely completely in Texas, it will be very easy to construct petroleum pipelines to connect with the refineries in the Houston area. And that could mean a major economic boom as the pipeline infrastructure is built up. In short, this new oil boom means Texas will experience unprecedented economic growth by 2013 standards.
Ping.
We have yet to even scratch the surface of the available oil In this country alone. We need to exploit every resource we have and we can do so safely. Even with Obama doing everything possible to stop the exploration and extraction of oil from our own lands, we are quickly approaching energy autonomy.
If we could call off the EPA dogs, increase coal production and use as well, we could make the economy boom with cheap energy for the next century at least.
“We’re better prepared in the Permian Basin to have more growth, but as an industry, we’re always behind,”
yep...
I predict the next energy boom after this will be the development of much safer nuclear power plants using the liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) molten-salt reactor technology. Since the USA has the largest thorium-232 deposits in the world, that could mean we could build hundreds of LFTR units and effectively end the age of coal-fired power plants and not have to build massive solar arrays or wind turbine farms with their ecological downsides.
I predict the next energy boom after this will be the development of much safer nuclear power plants using the liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) molten-salt reactor technology. Since the USA has the largest thorium-232 deposits in the world, that could mean we could build hundreds of LFTR units and effectively end the age of coal-fired power plants and not have to build massive solar arrays or wind turbine farms with their ecological downsides.
............
Yeah that’s been the buzz for several years now. The technology is there. the feds could do this easily in a couple years since the lftr’s were developed by the feds and mothballed. its stupid and crazy that they’re not developing lftr’s now. But they’re not. Few others have the kinds of deep pockets to do this sort of thing. That said there’s about three groups in the USA and one in canada that are working on lftr designs. plus one in each of europe china and japan that I’ve heard of. Hard to know what will happen. Though I think it will happen. Its a matter of when. We’ll see. The meaning of lftr is that the oil and gas industry need to drill and profit all they can for the next 10-15 years because waiting out there somewhere is a category killer like cheap lftr produced electricity.
I agree, however coal is so efficient and cheap it is a shame that we would not exploit it.
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