US Exported over $430 Billion

[G8trGr8t]

and Pickens doesn't even address methane hydrates. the amount of gas hydrocarbons that could be harvested boggles the mind

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/gas-hydrates/

The worldwide amounts of carbon bound in gas hydrates is conservatively estimated to total twice the amount of carbon to be found in all known fossil fuels on Earth.

Recent mapping conducted by the USGS off North Carolina and South Carolina shows large accumulations of methane hydrates.
A pair of relatively small areas, each about the size of the state of Rhode Island, shows intense concentrations of gas hydrates. USGS scientists estimate that these areas contain more than 1,300 trillion cubic feet of methane gas, an amount representing more than 70 times the 1989 gas consumption of the United States. Some of the gas was formed by bacteria in the sediments, but some may be derived from deep strata of the Carolina Trough. The Carolina Trough is a significant offshore oil and gas frontier area where no wells have been drilled. It is a very large basin, about the size of the State of South Carolina, that has accumulated a great thickness of sediment, perhaps more than 13 kilometers. Salt diapirs, reefs, and faults, in addition to hydrate gas, may provide greater potential for conventional oil and gas traps than is present in other east coast basins.


The immense volumes of gas and the richness of the deposits may make methane hydrates a strong candidate for development as an energy resource.
Because the gas is held in a crystal structure, gas molecules are more densely packed than in conventional or other unconventional gas traps. Gas-hydrate-cemented strata also act as seals for trapped free gas. These traps provide potential resources, but they can also represent hazards to drilling, and therefore must be well understood. Production of gas from hydrate-sealed traps may be an easy way to extract hydrate gas because the reduction of pressure caused by production can initiate a breakdown of hydrates and a recharging of the trap with gas.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2113828.html

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A half mile (800 meters) below the ground at Prudhoe Bay, above the vast oil field that helped trigger construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline, a drill rig has tapped what might one day be the next big energy source.

The U.S. Department of Energy and industry partners over two winters drilled into a reservoir of methane hydrate, which looks like ice but burns like a candle if a match warms its molecules. There is little need now for methane, the main ingredient of natural gas. With the boom in production from hydraulic fracturing, the United States is awash in natural gas for the near future and is considering exporting it, but the DOE wants to be ready with methane if there's a need.

"If you wait until you need it, and then you have 20 years of research to do, that's not a good plan," said Ray Boswell, technology manager for methane hydrates within the DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory.

The nearly $29 million science experiment on the North Slope produced 1 million cubic feet (30,000 cubic meters) of methane. Researchers have begun the complex task of analyzing how the reservoir responded to extraction.

The world has a lot of methane hydrate. A Minerals Management Service study in 2008 estimated methane hydrate resources in the northern Gulf of Mexico at 21,000 trillion cubic feet (595 trillion cubic meters), or 100 times current U.S. reserves of natural gas. The combined energy content of methane hydrate may exceed all other known fossil fuels, according to the DOE.

we have approximately 200 years of known natural gas reserves based on estimated usages. we have 100 times that or 20,000 yers worth of gas trapped in methane hydrates that we are just beginning to explore wrt production.

No way, no how are we anywhere near short of running out of nat gas over the next 100years regardless of how much we use once they commercialize the extraction of gas from the methane hydrates and that is anticipated to happen over the next 5 - 10 years.

The USGS really has no clue how much nat gas we have because there are so many areas that are yet to even be explored. The new ultradeep wells being drilled on shore or in shallow water are cutting edge experimental stuff that will yield another massive amount of gas once they design new tools, guages, and well development techniques to work at the pressures, depth (25k feet), and heat associated with ultradeep well

[gatorev12]

Methane has vast potential...but vast consequences too. Methane is a *very* powerful greenhouse gas and any drilling blowout that would release vast quantities of methane into the atmosphere or the ocean would have severe and long-term consequences that wouldn't be easily fixed.

[mocgator]

Originally Posted by wgbgator

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...r-in-2011.html

I don't know if there is info on 2012 yet.

Umm... no..

"U.S. Was Net Oil-Product Exporter for First Time Since 1949"

Oil products are not oil.

[Gatoragman]

No oh most enlighten one, I don't understand. Technology is moving at such a pace that future needs of of these natural resources may not even be a factor, not to mention the fact that we have no idea of how many hundreds of year theses resources may last at current usage rates. So no I don't understand why we make other countries wealthy and not our own. You are probably one that saved all your halloween candy to eat later, only to find out that it is stale and no good....

[gator996]

I'm not talking political side here....

I've looked at private placements around energy for clients....


There is no question the technology is still dirty...very dirty...



I say that with the full realization of how powerful cheap, national energy has serious long-term growth & security issues...

[Gatorrick22]

Originally Posted by G8trGr8t

Finished petroleum products
It is illegal to export crude oil. Exception used to be Alaska to Japan.

I hear what you're saying, but why not use the other nations' oil supply first and keep ours as long as we can? So long as oil can never be exported then the only problem I see is if foreign countries buy/invest in privately owned/pumped oil. We need to keep those profits here in the U.S.. And we need to keep America/Americans making the profits from drilling on their own private land.

[northgagator]

G8trgr8t you may find this link interesting

http://www.mrmethane.com/

[G8trGr8t]

980 BILLION is ten year capex expected in oil and gas over next ten years.

1 million new jobs directly related to the growth.

The golden goose that 0 refuses to embrace

[gatorev12]

Originally Posted by gator996

There is no question the technology is still dirty...very dirty...

Fair enough...no non-renewable energy source will ever be totally "clean"--but natural gas is a lot cleaner than oil or coal.

But in saying that though, there's always drawbacks to any power source that's out there. Solar power is limited to what you capture in the daytime and typically requires large tracts of land to harness marketable amounts (though this may change in the future as panels get more energy-efficient and can store energy longer); wind is even more limited to very specific geographic areas (and also requires lots of land)...and worse, it's one of the worst at being able to supply energy on-demand since the wind isn't always blowing at peak usage hours. Long-term, I think tidal and solar are the best bets to invest money and resources in...but the technology is still at least a decade or so away in the meantime, non-renewables will be needed.

[rpmGator]

So if we stop competition and other energy systemsl, and keep sending those tax dollars to oil, we wont' have to buy as much.

Piss down someone else's back, it aint' raining.

We had an oil embago in the 1970's, did it your way. Our dependence got worse...

Oil has won each decade, and here we are doing it again.

Wonder why?

[G8trGr8t]

we didn't have 6 trillion cubic feet plus of natural gas at our disposal or a couple of million barrels of oil a day from fracking or a few million barrels a day available from Canada until the last few years. A few things have changed fromt he 70's. Opent he window and go outside, you might be shocked.

It isn't raining and nobody's pissing down your back but never let a few facts get in the way of a good emotional outburst.

fwiw. MAJOR Australian shale oil find announced yesterday could be holding up to $20 Trillion worth of oil at $100 per barrel.

[G8trGr8t]

Originally Posted by Gatorrick22

I hear what you're saying, but why not use the other nations' oil supply first and keep ours as long as we can? So long as oil can never be exported then the only problem I see is if foreign countries buy/invest in privately owned/pumped oil. We need to keep those profits here in the U.S.. And we need to keep America/Americans making the profits from drilling on their own private land.

Because we have to buy energy. Either we buy it from ourselves and keep those jobs, royalties, and tax dollars here or we ship all that money to other countries to circulate in their economy.

We have enough nat gas to last 200 years at current consumption rates and we are constantly discovering more. Oil exploration is booming with directional drilling and fracking technology advancing. Currently, they recover less than 10% of oil in place. For every million barrels theya re pumping out of ND daily, they are leaving 9 million there for advanced resource recovery methods to go back and get. There is no real rational basis for any serious discussion involving running out of hydrocarbons when you include nat gas and the progression of the recovery technology over the last 5 - 7 years.

And many foreign countries and companies are already buying up oil lease rights. Mostly as jv partners provinding funding for working interests but some outright buyouts. Statoil (Norway national oil company) bought a big piece in ND. Respol (spanish) owns property rights in multiple formations China CNOOC is jv partner with working interests in multiple formations around the country. Many others, including British, French, Australian, Japanese, Taiwan, etc have investments in american energy resources.

Data Point - Continental Resources just recently drilled and tested shale oil layers beneath the bakken in a formatiion referred to as the 3 Forks. Although they have been drilling for over 5 years in ND now, they had not gotten around to testing the 3 forks formation. A few wells later, they increased their proven reserves by over 52% this year as they proved up the commercial viability of the 3 forks formation. Beneath it are two more formations (Tyler, Red River) that they have yet to test. The USGS and even the industry have no idea how much oil they can recover out of ND/Montana but they do know that it is a boatload more than anybody currently acknowledges. Same thing is happening in Kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, California, Arkansas, Ohio, West Virgina, Pennsylvania.....the more they look and test, the more oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids they find and can make money off of when WTI is above $75.

datapoint - Massive methanol plant deal reached for Louisiana while theya re idling other plants where the feedstock is so much more. Once rest of world figuresout to tap their energy sources, we are going to lose our price advantage so we better lock down these deals and take avantage of the cost advantage we have now.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA and OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/23/13 -- Methanex Corporation (MEOH) (TSX: MX)(NASDAQ: MEOH)(SANTIAGO: Methanex) and Chesapeake Energy Corporation today announced the execution of a 10-year agreement to supply all of the natural gas required for Methanex's one million tonne per year methanol plant in Geismar, Louisiana. Commencement of natural gas deliveries will coincide with the startup of the plant, which is expected by the end of 2014.

John Floren, President and CEO of Methanex commented, "We are thrilled to have entered into this agreement with Chesapeake, the second largest natural gas producer in the U.S. This contract will enhance our ability to reliably supply quality product to our U.S. customers for at least the next 10 years. The agreement is structured so that the natural gas price is linked to the methanol price, and both Methanex and Chesapeake will share in the risks and rewards resulting from the changing price of methanol over the decade of this contract. This gas pricing formula, in addition to the capital cost advantage of relocating a methanol plant as compared to a new-build facility, enables the project to be profitable across a broad range of methanol prices."

Mr. Floren continued, "Having a 10-year contract in place for 1 million tonnes of methanol production per year reduces our exposure to short-term natural gas price fluctuations, which will lower the natural gas price risk for the site if we decide to relocate a second plant to Louisiana. We expect to make a decision during the first half of 2013 on whether to proceed with a second relocation project."

James C. Johnson, Chesapeake's Senior Vice President of Marketing added, "We are excited to support the ongoing revitalization of the U.S. manufacturing sector through our long-term gas supply arrangement with Methanex, the world's leading methanol producer. The unique structure of this transaction provides return certainty and price diversification for Chesapeake while providing margin protection and price stability for Methanex. Furthermore, Methanex's investment and plant relocation to Louisiana demonstrates the compounding economic and employment benefits to be derived from the shale gas revolution. We believe this is truly a "win-win" arrangement for both companies."

Methanex is a Vancouver-based company and is the world's largest supplier of methanol to major international markets. Methanex shares are listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada under the trading symbol "MX"; on the NASDAQ Global Market in the United States under the trading symbol "MEOH"; and on the Foreign Securities Market of the Santiago Stock Exchange in Chile under the trading symbol "Methanex." Methanex can be visited online at

[G8trGr8t]

OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Continental Resources, Inc. (CLR) increased its year-end 2012 proved reserves to 785 MMBoe (million barrels of oil equivalent), a year-over-year gain of 54 percent. With the 2012 increase, Continental has grown proved reserves at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent since year-end 2009.

Proved reserves growth in 2012 primarily reflected strong production growth in the Bakken play of North Dakota and Montana, which Continental believes is the nation's premier oil play. Continental is the largest producer and leaseholder in the Bakken, with approximately 1.1 million net acres. The Company has also accelerated production growth in its South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP), an oil- and liquids-rich play in Oklahoma.

Thirty-nine percent of Continental's total 2012 proved reserves, or 309.0 MMBoe, were proved developed producing (PDP), compared with 40 percent of year-end 2011 proved reserves.

Crude oil reserves represented 72 percent of 2012 total proved reserves, a significant increase over year-end 2011, when crude oil accounted for 64 percent of the Company's 508 MMBoe in proved reserves. The higher percentage of crude oil proved reserves in 2012 was accomplished despite two crude-oil concentrated divestitures.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/contin...221700692.html

[biomedgator]

Not very educated on this subject but would depending on the regime in office would that conservation/preservation laws to wild life and nature affect how expensive it would be to actually pull oil out of the ground in certain areas. It might be just cheaper to buy abroad. I also think why not use up others while we save ours when there is better technology to pull oil out of the ground.