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Natural Gas Trends
It seems that everywhere we look these days- from U.S. shale to massive Turkmenistan reserves- natural gas seems to be the energy source of the future.
Back in 2006 Turkmenistan claimed to have found a field of up to 24 Trillion Cubic Meters of natural gas. At the time BP was saying that the reserves were probably less than 1/10th the amount. Since then the Chinese have been nailing down reserves left and right and it appears that these reserves may be twice as large as originally thought. Unfortunately, the U.S. has been woefully slow to catch on to the Chinese game.
But recently Hillary Clinton got around to sending an envoy to Turkmenistan trying to catch up with the Chinese. See the full report by Dr. Daly from OilPrice.com.
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How Shale Gas Might Transform the Energy Markets
By Marin Katusa, Casey Energy Report
In the midst of roller-coaster oil prices and a global reassessment of nuclear power, in early April a key development in the natural gas arena slipped by mostly unnoticed: a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) about global shale gas potential.
We all know that shale gas discoveries in America have altered the country’s gas picture dramatically – a twelvefold increase in production over the last decade has transformed the U.S. from an importer to a self-sufficient, natural-gas-loving nation, while also pushing natural gas prices way down. U.S. shale gas production increased by an average of 48% a year from 2006 to 2010, and output is expected to rise almost threefold between 2009 and 2035, according to the EIA’s latest Annual Energy Outlook.
In the face of such impressive shale success in America, many began to wonder about shale gas potential in other parts of the world. In response, the EIA commissioned a report estimating the global volume of shale gas outside of the United States, and the results are, well, a bit mind-boggling. Continue reading
Why Europe Should Pay Attention to Algeria
By Marin Katusa, Chief Energy Strategist, Casey Research
Tunisia’s uprising has democracy watchers wondering if the instability will spill over into neighboring North African countries, but really that instability is already there. In the first week of the year, Algeria experienced violent protests after the government hiked prices for staple foods like milk, sugar, oil, and flour. Some 800 people were injured in several days of rioting, prompting President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to cut costs on some foods and lower import duties on others. The rioters went home, but odds are they will return to the streets when prices rise again.
Those rioters are not just angry about high food prices. Unemployment in Algeria is officially at 11%, but estimates from outside of the government run much higher, along the lines of 25%. Inflation keeps creeping up, and the country’s impoverished population, who has very little freedom, has grown distrustful of the government. A massive boycott rendered the results of the last presidential election, where Bouteflika won with 92% of the vote, almost meaningless. Continue reading
How Obama’s Policies will Affect Energy Prices
By Marin Katusa, Chief Strategist, Casey Research Energy Team
Casey Energy Opportunities
One might think the United States would be charging hard on energy security as well as border and other kinds of security in its Global War on Terror campaign. Not so. For example, America imports some 12 million barrels of oil per day, yet maintains a Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) whose maximum is 727 million barrels and its inventory is currently lower, 701 million barrels, because the government cut off shipments to it last year in an effort to modulate gasoline prices. [That is just over a 58 day supply-Editor] The math gets even more discouraging when you work in the fact that the SPR’s daily drawdown capacity is only 4.4 million barrels – so America is completely unprepared for any worst-case scenarios, or even the bad-case ones. Continue reading
