Shale Gas May Be a Mexican Mirage MEXICO CITY, Dec 5, 2011 (IPS) - In spite of mounting scientific evidence about its negative aspects, Mexico is getting ready to intensify exploration for shale gas, natural gas found trapped in shale, a sedimentary rock. The state oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), is planning to sink wells into 175 shale gas reserves between 2011 and 2015, on a budget of 700 million dollars a year. Since February, PEMEX has been extracting three million cubic feet of shale gas a day from a well in the northern state of Coahuila, where it has invested 25 million dollars. "It's a good thing for Mexico to know what resources it has, but it's not advisable for the country to pursue this adventure. The technology involved is very controversial. Shale gas is found in areas where there is no water," Lourdes Melgar, an expert at the private Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), told IPS. "We have to explore all the alternatives. Mexico depends mostly on oil and gas for energy .
Shale Gas Turns the Tables on Petroleum Powers CARACAS, Jan 3, 2012 (IPS) - Countries that have always depended on imported oil and gas, like Chile, Paraguay, Poland or Ukraine, and especially heavy consumers such as the United States and China, could become self-sufficient in natural gas in the near future and even start exporting it. Shale gas - natural gas extracted from shale rock - may well be several times more abundant than the proven reserves of conventional natural gas on the planet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Moreover there are large volumes of natural gas in sandstones, and other non-conventional sources. But the real news from EIA studies is that shale gas is abundant in territories previously regarded as poor in fossil fuels or dependent on imports: China, the United States and Argentina head the list, but large reserves are also found in South Africa, Australia, Poland, France, Chile, Sweden, Paraguay, Pakistan and India. "We're heading toward greater availability of fossil fuels.
New York Rules on Hydrofracking Get 20,000 Comments Wednesday was the deadline for people to make their opinions heard on a draft of the state’s environmental impact statement and proposed regulations governing the hydraulic gas drilling process. The first task facing state environmental officials is to cull any new information from those comments after three years of debate and two rounds of hearings. They have not said when they expect to be done fine-tuning the environmental document and rules, beyond saying that the work will be completed this year. Across the state, a sharp divide was evident this week on whether state officials need to do further study and perhaps hold another round of public review, with environmental groups arguing yes and the gas industry pressing for a quick resolution. Gas industry representatives want changes in the state’s proposed rules, criticizing them as overly restrictive and based on unrealistic worst-case situations.
EPA Connects 'Fracking' To Water Contamination hide caption A worker at Encana's Frenchie Draw gas-drilling rig in central Wyoming guides sections of steel pipe into an 11,000-foot well in 2009. The EPA on Thursday has tied contamination in drinking water to chemicals used in the drilling technique, called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." Jon Hurdle/Reuters /Landov A worker at Encana's Frenchie Draw gas-drilling rig in central Wyoming guides sections of steel pipe into an 11,000-foot well in 2009. For the first time, a government study has tied contamination in drinking water to an advanced drilling technique commonly known as "fracking." The Environmental Protection Agency released a draft study Thursday tying the technique, formally called hydraulic fracturing, to high levels of chemicals found in ground water in the small town of Pavillion, Wyo. The gas industry and other experts have long contended that fracking doesn't contaminate drinking water. A spokesman for Encana called the EPA study "speculation."