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The Niobrara Shale Play – the Next Bakken? [ 0 ] February 1, 2013 The Niobrara shale formation extends across northeastern Colorado, northwestern Kansas, southwestern Nebraska and southeastern Wyoming.  The play ranges in thickness from 275-400 feet deep, with three primary carbonate-rich benches that average 10-25 feet thick with 5-10% porosity. Within the Niobrara, oil and natural gas are found at 3,000-14,000 feet beneath the earth’s surface.  O&G producers tap these resources through both vertical and horizontal wells typically drilled at 7,000-8,000 feet with variable geopressures. To date, most of the Niobrara’s O&G development focuses on the Denver-Julesburg Basin (“DJ...

SmallerLarger Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services Expand Photo A cloud formation fills the sky as an oil pump is silhouetted in front of it near the town of Hereford on the northeastern plains of Weld County. Drilling operations throughout northern Colorado are suspected to only have tapped into a fraction of the oil and natural gas in the region. Tribune file photo | A cloud formation fills the sky as an oil pump is silhouetted in front of it near the town of Hereford on the northeastern plains of Weld County. Drilling operations throughout northern Colorado...

After a decade or more of shale development in the US, the country remains "in the early innings" of that growth with tens of billions more dollars expected for infrastructure and development, according to an analysis by investment bank Credit Suisse unveiled Tuesday. Overall, strong drilling activity and continued technological progress should lead to "significant oil production growth still to come in the key regions such as the Permian [Basin] ... as well as the Eagle Ford, Bakken and Niobrara (Wattenberg)" shales, the report, "The Shale Revolution II," said, referring to the West Texas, South Texas, North Dakota/Montana and Colorado...

For decades, OPEC nations have, for the most part, enjoyed a good living. As long as oil prices remain high, they can recover billions of barrels of oil at relatively low cost and sell it to the rest of the oil-thirsty world. But the North American shale oil boom is shaking things up for the cartel. In fact, the surge in U.S. and Canadian oil production resulting from the application of new drilling technologies threatens to reduce OPEC's share of the global oil market this year to its lowest level in more than a decade. Does that imply gloom and...

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....

Shale Show 2013 will take place Tuesday-Wednesday, Oct. 1-2 at the Nolan County Coliseum in Sweetwater’s Newman Park. Shale Show is an energy technology showcase, business networking, and information sharing event that will be held in every odd-numbered year in Sweetwater, in the heart of the Cline Shale and America's Energy Solutions Region. Shale Show is open free to the oil and gas industry, regional leaders and businesses, and to the general public. A very limited number of indoor and outdoor display spaces are still available for a fee. Shale Show is a nationwide event. With more than 150 exhibitors...

In Texas these days, there’s a feeling of absolute and unwavering confidence in the concept of an US energy revolution. From the depths of reserves to the richness of the energy, an incredible transformation is taking place. We’ve been talking about the significant impact of the US’s oil production for a while now, but the buzz about shale oil and gas is only getting louder. At Morgan Stanley’s energy forum in Houston in August, Director of Research John Derrick and Portfolio Manager Evan Smith said shale was the prevailing topic. One area that’s driving this game-changing trend is located only...

Permian Basin oil production outstrips the Eagle Ford The Permian Basin is out-producing the Eagle Ford Shale in terms of crude oil production. The Permian Basin is out-producing the Eagle Ford Shale in terms of crude oil production. The Eagle Ford may be at the top of San Antonians’ minds when it comes to oil and gas activity, but crude production in West Texas is now outpacing the shale to our south. From January to June, West Texas’ Permian Basin pumped out 889,808 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, passing up the Eagle Ford’s 598,706 bpd output, according to Texas...

Eagle Ford, Permian Basin on Target to Surpass 2 MMbopd in 2013 Texas oil production from just two fields, the Eagle Ford shale and the Permian Basin, is likely to total well over 2 million barrels of oil per day (MMbopd) this year, if recent output trends continue, and could approach 2.5 MMbopd sometime in 2014, according to analysts. The Eagle Ford has been front and center in energy news, and has stolen some of the limelight from the Permian Basin. However, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have rejuvenated production in the Permian Basin in recent years, and many of...

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Eagle Ford Shale oil production is expected to reach 1 million barrels per day next summer — and keep growing as operators add tens of thousands of more wells to the giant South Texas field. “This is a huge oil producer,” said Subash Chandra, a managing director and at the investment banking firm Jefferies & Co. He spoke Wednesday to more than 4,000 people attending Hart Energy’s third annual DUG Eagle Ford Conference at the Convention Center. More than 11,100 wells have been permitted in the Eagle Ford since 2008, but the research firm DrillingInfo estimates...

Drilling beyond the Eagle Ford Shale Southwest Research Institute is running training field trips where geologists from oil and gas companies look at places where the Eagle Ford is exposed at the surface. This photo shows a road cut exposure along U.S. Highway 90 west of Del Rio, where the formation is known as the Boquillas. The contrast of colors in the rock is a result of variable weathering patterns.(Southwest Research Institute) The Eagle Ford Shale is more than just the Eagle Ford. Operators in South Texas are drilling into other rock formations, taking horizontal turns — and in some...

Far below the surface of the promised land, a hidden treasure lies. If it can be carefully liberated from the geological layer in which it is caught, it promises nothing less than to transform Israel’s economy. It is called oil shale. And, along with Jordan, Israel just so happens to sit upon the world’s second largest deposits of the stuff. Oil shale deposits are overwhelmingly located outside conventional oil-rich areas such as the Middle East and North Africa. So if safe, economic processes for extracting this alternative oil resource can be put into effect, dependence on the energy-exporting Middle East...

Unsurprisingly, oil prices are up in reaction to the Syrian mess. It’s worth keeping in mind that President Putin is at the top of the list of world leaders who benefit from this. The linkage between oil prices and Russia’s revenues cannot be ignored in calibrating what has, and may happen yet in the Middle East. Hydrocarbons account for two-thirds of Russian export revenues and nearly half of its state budget. And until very recently just two regions, Russia and the Middle East, dominated world trade in oil and gas. Russia has regularly boasted of being an “energy superpower”. Indeed...

We are all, I know, just marking time until the Oprah Winfrey interview with Lindsay Lohan takes place. So let us while away the tedious, meaningless hours by talking about fracking. This, as I'm sure you are aware unless you have elected to move to the bunker early (possibly when the Winfrey-Lohan news broke), is the process of drilling holes in the ground and forcing water down them at such high pressure that it fractures the shale rock beneath, releasing gas. They do it a lot in America and David Cameron wants to do it here – starting with West...

Energy: A Saudi prince has warned that his oil-reliant nation is under threat because of fracking technology being developed in the U.S. and spreading around the world. OPEC is now caught between Riyadh and a hard place. Indicative of the panic rippling through the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries over the U.S.-led fracking boom, billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal says his Gulf Arab kingdom needs to reduce its reliance on crude oil and diversify its revenues, lest the era of gold-plated toilets come to an end. In an open letter to his country's oil minister Ali al-Naimi and other...

A Saudi prince has warned that his oil-reliant nation is under threat because of fracking technology being developed elsewhere around the world.Billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said the Gulf Arab kingdom needed to reduce its reliance on crude oil and diversify its revenues. His warning comes as rising shale energy supplies in the United States cut global demand for Saudi oil. In an open letter to his country's oil minister Ali al Naimi and other government heads, published on Sunday via his Twitter account, Prince Alwaleed said demand for oil from Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) member states...

Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has warned shale oil and gas development poses a threat to the kingdom's economy, the Wall Street Journal's Summer Said reports. In an open letter to Saudi oil minister Ali al Naimi [in Arabic], Alwaleed also warns the kingdom must diversify its revenue streams in the face of flagging oil demand. A source translated the key portion of the note: With all due respect to your Highness’ viewpoint about shale gas and that it poses no danger on Saudi economy at ‘the present time’, I was hoping that your Highness would also shed light...

Linc Energy claims to have found rock formations containing more than $20 trillion worth of oil Brisbane company Linc Energy says independent studies have confirmed a major shale oil source in South Australia's far north, which officials have estimated could be worth $20 trillion. The company says U.S. consultants have carried out drilling and geological and seismic surveys around Coober Pedy. Linc Energy holds rights over more than 65,000 square kilometres of land in the Arckaringa Basin and started explorations in 2008. In a statement to the Stock Exchange, the company said reports from U.S.-based consultants indicate underlying rock formations...

July 02, 2013 Harvard has a new US Shale Oil Study forecasts US as world number one oil producer with 16 million barrels per day of all liquid oil in 2017 Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook In a paper titled “The Shale Oil Boom: A U.S. Phenomenon,” [64 pages] Maugeri wrote that the unique characteristics of shale oil production are ideal for the United States -- and unlikely to be mirrored elsewhere in the world. These factors include the availability of drilling rigs, and the entrepreneurial nature of the American exploration and production industry, both critical for the thousands...

A report has revealed that 2012 saw the largest single-year increase in US oil production ever recorded. US production grew due to an increase in techniques such as fracking, a method for extracting shale oil and gas, the report by oil giant BP said. Overall, global energy consumption grew by 1.8% in 2012, a smaller increase than in 2011. China and India accounted for almost 90% of that growth.