In Praise of Little Guys; Fracking as Case Study

choi

(1)
(a) Gregory Zuckerman, The Little Guys Who Saw Our Economic Future; Corporate caution and complacency come at a cost. Wall Street Journal, Nov 2, 2013.
http://online.wsj.com/news/artic ... 4579169513659659306

Quote:

"The resurgence in US energy came from a group of brash wildcatters who discovered techniques to hydraulically fracture—or frack—and horizontally drill shale and other rock. Many of these men operated on the fringes of the oil industry, some without college degrees or much background in drilling, geology or engineering. * * *  in 1998, one of Mr [George] Mitchell's engineers finally figured out how to properly fracture shale

"Bucking conventional wisdom is always risky, and many would-be mavericks in finance and the energy industry have failed. But corporate caution and complacency have their costs too, and today's emphasis on short-term performance means that executives are even less likely to take long-term risks, to anticipate the unexpected. For the next great business revolution, it would be smart to bet once again on stubborn, flamboyant dreamers.

Note:
(i) John Paulson (1955- ; founder and president of Paulson & Co., a New York-based hedge fund; became a billionaire by short-selling subprime mortgages in 2007 and made $3.7 billion that year)

is not the same as Henry "Hank" Paulson, the treasury secretary under George W Bush.
(ii) Jeff Greene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Greene
(1946- ; in 2007 married Mei Sze CHAN [of Chinese descent, born in Malaysia, grew up in Malasia and headed to New York City after college])
(iii) Andrew Lahde
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Lahde
(iv) "In 2003, Alan Greenspan warned that the nation's gas fields were running dry and urged Congress to back costly facilities to import gas."

One LNG facility was planned--first in Boston harbor and then in sea off southern Massachusetts to avert a disaster in case of terrorism--but cancelled.
(v) Harold Hamm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Hamm
(1945- ; the 13th and youngest child of Oklahoma cotton sharecroppers; CEO of the oil-exploration company Continental Resources since 1967)

The English surname Hamm is "from Old English hamm, denoting a patch of flat, low-lying alluvial land beside a stream."


(b) Free online reading of both Prologue and Chapter 1 Introduction
http://www.gregoryzuckerman.com/the-books/the-frackers/
("Download Prologue / Intro here (PDF)")

in
Gregory Zuckerman, The Frackers; The outrageous inside story of the new billionaire wildcatters. Portfolio, 2013.

My comment: Taiwan prides itself on being little and nimble.

choi

(2) Bryan Burrough, The Birth of an Energy Boom; A look at the companies, and technological advances, that unleashed the fracking frenzy. New York Times, Nov 3, 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/0 ... an-energy-boom.html

My comment:
(a) The English surnames Burrough/Burrow/Burrows mean "a hill or tumulus, Old English beorg, a cognate of Old High German berg ‘hill’, ‘mountain’ (see Berg)."
(b) "Throughout, Mr Zuckerman maintains a laserlike focus on the fracking companies and their top executivers. This results in what I call conference-room history; I can’t remember a single scene set around an actual well, or even a single description of one."

Well, I do not mind. There are books about kings and generals. And there are books about the mass and soldiers.

choi

(3) Liam Denning, Big Oil's Tricky Mix of Shale, Scale. Wall Street Journal, Nov 4, 2013 (in the half page Heard on the Street).
http://online.wsj.com/news/artic ... 4579171982311927414

Quote:

(a) Offshore, especially deepwater, drilling demands capital and technology that only Big Oil can afford, "Not so with shale. Onshore wells cost a fraction of a deepwater hole in the Gulf of Mexico.

(b) "What's more, shale development requires intensive drilling of many wells rather than the handful common to a conventional project.

"In a presentation last year, consultant PFC Energy, acquired recently by IHS, highlighted the differences. An average well drilled in Angola produces almost 14,000 barrels a day in its first year of production and that output declines by about a fifth in the first four years of operation.

"In contrast, a well drilled in the Eagle Ford shale, where Shell is selling assets now, might produce just a few hundred barrels a day in its first year, dropping by more than a third in the first four years.

Note:
(a) Mostly offshore at the northern border, Angola's crude oil production "ranks second in sub-Saharan Africa," after Nigeria.
(b) Crude oil produced in Sub-Sahara Africa mainly exports to China, followed by US.
(c) Sub-Saharan Africa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-Saharan_Africa
(Sudan is classified as North Africa by the United Nations")
(d) Petroleum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum
(section 12.3 Production: In Africa: Algeria > Nigeria > Angola > Sudan > Equatorial Guinea> Gabon > South Africa)

choi

(4)
(a) What is shale gas and why is it important? Energy Information in Administration (EIA), US Department of Energy, Dec 5, 2012 (in the section Energy in Brief).
http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/article/about_shale_gas.cfm

View graphics only.
(b) Russell Gold, US Shale Producers Drilling Bigger, Faster Wells; Boom in oil and natural gas far from over, federal data show. Wall Street Journal, Oct 22, 2013.
http://online.wsj.com/news/artic ... 4579151874236726940

Quote:

"New statistics [Drilling Productivity Report. EIA, Oct 21, 2013] from the federal government suggest the industry is becoming more efficient: Companies have figured out ways to use fewer drilling rigs to produce bigger and better wells in shale formations

"There is little evidence that the US has used up its good drilling locations, according to the new data.