Fracking in China, Europe and US

choi

(1) Christina Larson, The Promise and Peril of China's Shale Gas. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Apr 22, 2013.
http://www.businessweek.com/arti ... potential-and-peril

Quote:

"The U.S. shale-gas revolution was launched largely on the flatlands of Texas, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and other accessible areas. In China’s mountainous Sichuan basin, 'the formations seem to be more faulted and folded, which makes it more difficult and less economic to drill long horizontal well bores,' says Briana Mordick, an Oil & Gas Science Fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council and formerly a geologist at Anadarko Petroleum.

"The inflexible structure of China’s state-controlled oil and gas industry hampers efforts to exploit reserves. 'In the US, it was not the oil and gas majors that started the shale boom' but rather small wildcat operators 'willing to accept a high-risk, high-reward proposition,' says Melanie Hart, an analyst on energy policy and China at the Center for American Progress in Washington. 'In a market system, you can have many small and large players all specializing in different pieces of the process.'


Note:
(a) summary underneath the title: Reserves far surpass America's. Getting it out is the problem.
(b) While we are with the magazine, a separate report in the same issue:

Dexter Roberts, with Jasmine Zhao, In China, the Humor's Getting Darker.
http://www.businessweek.com/arti ... -in-china-right-now

choi

(2) Mark Scott, Europe Struggles in Shale Gas Race; Unsuccessful extraction attempts, and wary citizens and officials. New York Times, Apr 25, 2013 (in the rare section Energy).
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/2 ... race-shale-gas.html

Quote:

" The fact that Europe is much more densely populated than the United States also makes it difficult to win government approval to tap the new energy deposits, which are often near major cities. Further complicating matters are shortages of technical expertise and drilling rigs, and regulations that differ widely among countries.

"Although it has some of the largest deposits of unconventional gas in Europe, France banned fracking in 2011, and Bulgaria and the Netherlands have followed suit with similar measures.

"The cost of extracting European shale gas, for example, is roughly double that of American reserves, according to Wood Mackenzie estimates, and other alternatives, like liquefied natural gas, which can be imported on ships from Qatar and elsewhere, also are a cheaper option for many of Europe’s energy-hungry companies.

choi

(3) Diane Cardwell and Clifford Krauss, Fueling Up for the Long Haul; The trucking industry is set to expand its use of natural gas. New York Times, Apr 23, 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/2 ... wanted=all&_r=0

Quote:

"This month, Cummins, a leading engine manufacturer, began shipping big, new engines [produced under a joint venture with Westport Innovations] that make long runs on natural gas possible.

"The move could also cut the country’s oil import bill. There are currently about eight million heavy and medium-weight trucks consuming three million barrels of oil a day while traveling the nation’s highways. That is nearly 15 percent of the total national daily consumption * * *  Roughly two-thirds of the diesel used as transportation fuel nationwide feeds three million 18-wheelers, the main trucks hauling goods over long distances.

Natural gas "is cheaper, saving truckers as much as $1.50 a gallon * * * natural gas vehicles can cost almost twice as much as conventional trucks and because only a few gasoline stations have the specialized equipment needed to dispense the fuel.

"As of May 2012, only 53 LNG fueling stations were in the United States, more than two-thirds concentrated in California, along with 1,047 compressed natural gas stations around the country, according to the Energy Department. In comparison, there were 157,000 fueling stations selling gasoline.


Note:
(a) Cummins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cummins
(Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana; the largest producer of diesel technology; founded in 1919 by Clessie Lyle Cummins)

* The Irish surnames Cummins/Cummings means son of Cumming. The latter's origin is unknown.
(b) Westport Innovations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westport_Innovations
(best known for its technology that allows the diesel engine to operate on natural gas without modifications to the engine's combustion chamber; section 1 History)

Based in Vancouver, British Columbia.