Oct 04

US-Polish Assessment Of Poland’s Shale Gas Potential Delayed

By Curve natural gas in Europe, natural gas in the USA No Comments »

 

Publication of a joint U.S.-Poland report assessing the central European country’s shale gas potential using U.S. Geological Survey methodology and Polish Geological Institute data has been delayed by at least one or two months, the Polish specialist leading the project told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.

The report was expected to have been ready in September.

“Writing the report will likely take another month or two,” said Pawel Poprawa, head of the Petroleum Geology Laboratory at the Polish Geological Institute. “We have to complete one more working session with the U.S. Geological Survey.”

Supportive government policies have prompted companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhilips, Talisman Energy Inc., Marathon Oil Corp., and Nexen Corp. (NYX), as well as Polish government-controlled PKN Orlen SA and PGNiG SA , to buy licenses to explore for the resource in Poland.

“The report will contain estimates of shale gas reserves in Poland, conducted using USGS methodology, as well as a description of the methodology, assumptions and data used,” Poprawa said. “The preparation of archival data, [which] isn’t always compatible with western standards, is taking longer than we expected.”

Poprawa added he didn’t know when the report would be presented to the public.

Outside the U.S., Poland is one of the first countries where companies are making a serious effort to develop shale gas, which Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called the country’s “great chance,” as it could loosen the central European country’s dependence on Russia for its gas, create tens of thousands of jobs, and fill state coffers.

Current preliminary estimates put Poland’s shale gas reserves at 5.3 trillion cubic meters, equal to more than 300 years of the country’s annual gas consumption.

Source: Dow Jones Newswires

 

Tagged with: • • • • •
Jan 06

Realm Energy in World Oil Magazine

By Curve Realm, Shale Gas plays in Europe No Comments »

Realm Energy was featured in the December 2010 edition of World Oil Magazine.

Click on the image below, to read Chief Operating Officer Mike Mullen’s contribution, discussing the state of shale gas plays in Europe.

Tagged with: • • • •
Jan 29

Russian Gas Giant Feeling the Effects of Shale Gas

By Trevor J. Murphy energy independence 1 Comment »

The exponential potential for shale gas exploration overseas and the shale boom in the United States is forcing one of Europe’s gas giants to re-evaluate what was once considered to be a largely ambitious gas extraction project in the Arctic.

Gazprom, Russia’s biggest gas company and Europe’s biggest gas supplier, said this week they would have to reassess its plan to develop the 3.8 trillion cubic meter Shtokman gas field in the Barents Sea.  Together with partners Statoil and Total, Gazprom has planned to send as much as 90 per cent of Shtokman’s extracted natural gas to the North America, but the company admits that alternative gas suppliers and quickly developing markets for shale gas in the US and abroad is putting Shtokman development plans in jeopardy.

Andrew Neff, an energy analyst at HIS Global Insight says shale gas is “playing havoc” with Gazprom’s prices and projects.

“The potential spread of the shale gas production revolution to Europe, which is believed to have significant untapped reserves of its own, would clearly have a profound impact on Gazprom’s production and marketing strategy,” he told The Guardian.

In an interview with Russia Today television in December, a Gazprom spokesman called shale gas “a joke” and dismissed concerns that a growth in the production of shale gas would pose a threat to the company’s foreign sales.

But the reassessment of the Shtokman fields demonstrates that Gazprom is now taking the threat of shale gas and energy independence very seriously.

Over the past two years, gas exports and revenues fell dramatically for Gazprom. While high monopolistic prices and European dependency on the Moscow-based company certainly played a role in causing country’s to look elsewhere for gas, the role of shale and the desire for energy independence by some countries in Europe such as Poland has undoubtedly been affecting Gazprom.

Oddgeir Danielson, an oil and gas expert in the Norwegian Barents Secretariat, said the repeated postponement of the Shtokman project illustrates current uncertainties in that market and highlights Gazprom’s conflict with shale.

Directors at Shtokman Development will meet again on February 5, 2010 to agree on a new marketing plan for the offshore field. There is a possibility the directors may also delay a final investment decision on the venture.

SOURCES:
Alaska Dispatch: “Gazprom eating crow on shale gas?”
Barents Observer: “Gazprom might abandon Shtokman”
The Guardian: “BP chief hails American breakthrough in gas supplies from shale rocks”
The Moscow Times: “Shtokman Meeting to Consider Gas Buyers”
Business Insider: “Gazprom: Shale is a joke, and it can’t possibly compete with gas”

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • •
Jan 28

Exploring France’s Shale Potential

By Trevor J. Murphy shale gas in Europe No Comments »

Though French energy giant Total recently announced a $2.25 billion joint venture with Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy Corp., the venture isn’t saying much about the potential for shale gas in France.

This particular deal will see Total invest billions of dollars to acquire 25 per cent of Chesapeake’s Barnett Shale assets – a natural gas field in Texas – rather than staying close to home and exploring the rich resources the European country has to offer.

“There is much shale gas in France,” said Francois Laurant, the man in charge of shale gas at Institut Francais du Petrole. “It has been seeping for centuries around the town of Grenoble in midsoutheastern France. But the disputed areas hold black shale in shallower ground than elsewhere in France like the Paris basin.”

Since late 2008, several companies have been seeking permits to explore shale gas prospects in the southern regions of the country. In August 2009, Toreador was granted a contract for the exploitation of the Paris Basin Oil Shale earning the right to develop 649,000 acres (with an additional 153,000 acres pending approval) where an estimated 65 billion barrels of oil are believed to remain in shale plays.

France’s potential – and, undoubtedly Europe’s potential – was further highlighted when oil giants BP, Shell and Statoil began talks of buying Toreador earlier this month (read: Oil giants BP, Shell and Statoil in talks to buy US-based Toreador Resources) in the interest of acquiring its French shale opportunities.

Shale gas is experiencing an unprecedented boom in the United States, but its popularity is pushing companies and entrepreneurs to look beyond US borders for prime investment opportunities. Recently, Vancouver-based Realm Energy publicly threw its hat into the ring for European exploration, concentrating on eight discrete sedimentary basins in seven European countries and submitted applications for oil and gas rights that collectively extend over 1.5 million acres of land.

SOURCE:
Oil & Gas Journal: “Shale Gas Acreage, European Database Draw Interest”
Rigzone: “Toreador Zeroes is on Paris Basin Oil Shale for Future Developments”
Toreador: “Global Activity – France”
Realm: “Realm Energy Makes Aggressive Play for European Shale Gas Deposits”

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • •
Jan 27

MR. W. Gordon Lancaster Joins Realm Energy’s Board of Directors

By Michaela Davies natural gas in the USA No Comments »

Realm Energy International Corporation (“Realm Energy”) (TSX-V: RLM) (www.realmenergy.ca) is pleased to announce that Mr. W. Gordon Lancaster has joined the Board of Directors of Realm Energy.  Concurrent with Mr. Lancaster’s appointment to the Board, Mr. Stuart Macgregor has resigned as a Director of Realm Energy.

Mr. Lancaster is a Chartered Accountant who has had a distinguished career in executive and board positions.  Mr. Lancaster spent 20 years with Deloitte & Touche, the last five of which were as a partner in the Vancouver office, and following this, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the First City group of companies for 10 years.  In 1992, Mr. Lancaster joined the Vancouver International Airport Authority as Chief Financial Officer until 1998 when he joined Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. as Senior Vice President and CFO.  In August 2000, he joined Power Measurement Inc., a Victoria-based high-tech company; a world leader in the design, development, manufacture and marketing of enterprise energy management systems to energy consumers and suppliers.

In 2004, Mr. Lancaster joined Ivanhoe Energy Inc. as Chief Financial Officer where, until his retirement in November 2009, he was responsible for all financial accounting and reporting, including SEC and Canadian regulatory and public disclosure compliance. Mr. Lancaster was also responsible for corporate finance, including the sale of securities and related prospectus filings, negotiations of bank financings, risk management and treasury and cash management.  During this career, Mr. Lancaster has also served on the Boards of Directors of several public and private entities.

“We are very pleased to have Mr. Lancaster join the Board of Realm Energy,” said Craig Steinke, Executive Chairman. “His wealth of experience, especially in the oil & gas industry, will be an invaluable asset to the company. We look forward to his contributions as Realm Energy actively focuses on continued growth and success in developing European shale gas.”

Steinke continued, “Realm Energy would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Stuart Macgregor for his past support.  While he has resigned as Director, we look forward to an ongoing relationship with him as an active shareholder.”


Tagged with: • • •
Jan 20

IEA: “Unconventional gas is unquestionably a game-changer”

By Trevor J. Murphy shale gas in Europe 1 Comment »

The recent capitalization on the exploration of shale gas in North America has transformed the global gas-market outlook, says the International Energy Agency.

The rapid development and extraction of the unconventional gas in places like Haynesville and Marcellus in the Unites States have kick-started the ambition by some companies to look to Europe for vast, unexplored shale plays.

“Unconventional gas is unquestionably a game-changer in North America with potentially significant implications for the rest of the world,” said Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency in a November press release.

The International Energy Agency estimates that unconventional gas resources in Europe, including coal-bed methane, could amount to 35 trillion cubic meters, six times higher than the continent’s conventional gas resources.

Some oil companies have already begun capitalizing on Europe’s un-tapped shale plays. Royal Dutch Shell PLC, for example, is expected to finish drilling its first three wells by the end of March hoping to extract what one spokesman called “enough gas to cover Sweden’s gas needs for at least 10 years.”

Other companies, such as Vancouver-based Realm Energy International, have also announced the will aggressively continue the evaluation and the acquisition of high potential shale deposits throughout Europe (read: Realm Energy, Halliburton Driving Shale Play Development Outside North America).

The Oil & Gas Journal reports that countries currently being evaluated by international oil and gas companies include France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary and the UK.

SOURCES:
International Energy Agency: Press Releases
Oil and Gas India: “Shell begins drilling for shale gas in Sweden”
Oil & Gas Journal

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • •
Jan 04

European Energy Giant Total Acquires Shale Gas Interests

By ckeddy natural gas, natural gas in Europe, natural gas in the USA No Comments »

Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil producer, agreed with Chesapeake Energy Corp. to acquire 25 percent of its upstream Barnett Shale assets.Total will pay $800 million in cash and up to another $1.45 billion by funding 60 percent of Chesapeake’s share of drilling and other costs in a joint venture. The companies said they also intend to acquire additional acreage in the Barnett Shale under the deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval and expected to close by the end of January.

The Total/Chesapeake joint venture is the second major deal in as many months. In December, Exxon Mobil Corp. said it would acquire Fort Worth’s XTO Energy, also a big player in the Barnett Shale, in a deal valued at $41 billion.

Unconventional gas in the U.S. “has been the biggest, most unexpected surprise in the U.S. and global energy,” Exane BNP Paribas analyst Irene Himona wrote in a recent note. Unconventional gas, including so-called tight gas, shale gas, and coalbed methane accounts for around 40% of U.S. gas output, she noted.

Total-Chesapeake deal is another sign of growing interest by the world’s largest oil companies in natural gas as oil resources become more difficult to find. European Giants BP (BP.L) and Statoil (STL.OL) have also entered into deal Chesapeake in the past 18 months. Western companies are also looking closer to home for investments, as barriers to investment in resource-rich countries such as Russia, Saudi Arabia limit their options.

Other Sources: RIGZONE

Tagged with: • • • • • • •
preload preload preload