Shale oil find fuels boom in U.S. business

[longknife]

By Patrice Hill, The Washington Times

To John LaRue, the renaissance in U.S. manufacturing is no dream. It’s already here.

As executive director of the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas, his business is booming and he has aggressive plans to expand and take advantage of the trend. He expects the local economy to double maybe triple in size within a few years as U.S. industries flock to the area, joined by foreign companies as far afield as Italy, Austria and China, all racing to take advantage of the cheap and plentiful oil and natural gas

Read more: Shale oil find fuels boom in U.S. business - Washington Times
Follow us: [MENTION=39892]Was[/MENTION]htimes on Twitter

This is but yet another example of the multitude of benefits that come from expanding oil and gas production here in the USA!

 

[RGR]

Economic activity has a way of trickling around the economy. Why is anyone surprised by it?

 

[waltky]

All Granny wants to know is when gas prices gonna start comin' down?...

US Oil Surge Could Impact Mideast Geopolitics
May 22, 2013 — The United States will account for a third of new oil supplies over the next five years, and will become energy self-sufficient in 20 years, according to a new report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA).

Although U.S. oil imports from Arab Gulf countries increased last year, analysts predict the U.S. will lose its dependence on Middle East imports, which is expected to have a huge impact on international relations and the balance of power. The IEA report describes a 'supply shock' from the United States rippling through world oil markets. "The key to it is the resurgence of shale development in the United States," John Mitchell, an oil market analyst at policy institute Chatham House in London. "It has been building up over some years, but only in the last three years has it reached big proportions."

Shale oil and gas are extracted using pressurized fluid to blast the product out from the rock, a process known as hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking.' Some U.S. states and European countries have banned the practice over fears that it may cause pollution and even earthquakes. But the technology will help the United States become largely self-sufficient in oil by 2035, according to the IEA. U.S. gas production is expected to overtake Russia. When that happens, the concept of energy security will no longer dictate U.S. foreign policy. "Will the Middle East still be so dependent on U.S. military support?" Mitchell asked. "I am sure the answer is probably yes, but maybe the U.S. does not have quite the same interest in that as it did before."

A more energy self-sufficient United States has dramatic implications for Middle East politics, according to Christopher Davidson of England's University of Durham, and author of the book After the Sheikhs: The Coming Collapse of the Gulf Monarchies. "What we are also likely to see is the United States start to hedge its positions a bit better on the Gulf monarchies," Davidson said. "As it loses the dependent nature of this economic partnership, we are perhaps starting to see the U.S. already starting to reach out to opposition groups in Bahrain, for example, and increasingly in Saudi Arabia."

In the midst of the Arab Spring, Davidson says many oil-rich Gulf monarchies are trying to pacify their populations with government handouts. Falling receipts from oil exports could trigger political upheaval. "Within just a couple of years we'll have a public spending deficit in most of the Gulf monarchies," Davidson said. "At the same time, we are also seeing the demonstration effect of the Arab Spring in Syria and north Africa starting to embolden the people of these countries. They are no longer willing to tolerate autocracy."

Davidson says Gulf states will be gearing their oil exports eastwards in the coming decades. "However, what is missing is the security relationship that the Western powers have historically provided to the Gulf," he said. "The Gulf states know, and I suspect they are bluffing, that China and the Pacific Asian states cannot replace the West as this ultimate security guarantor." Analysts say the oil boom will give the U.S. economy a competitive advantage with cheap energy supplies no longer vulnerable to global geopolitics.

US Oil Surge Could Impact Mideast Geopolitics

 

[editec]

By Patrice Hill, The Washington Times

To John LaRue, the renaissance in U.S. manufacturing is no dream. It’s already here.

As executive director of the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas, his business is booming and he has aggressive plans to expand and take advantage of the trend. He expects the local economy to double maybe triple in size within a few years as U.S. industries flock to the area, joined by foreign companies as far afield as Italy, Austria and China, all racing to take advantage of the cheap and plentiful oil and natural gas

Read more: Shale oil find fuels boom in U.S. business - Washington Times
Follow us: [MENTION=39892]Was[/MENTION]htimes on Twitter

This is but yet another example of the multitude of benefits that come from expanding oil and gas production here in the USA!

I actually quite surprised that all these FRACKING finds haven't significantly altered the cost of energy.

Anyone have an explanations for why this appears to be the case?

I think we can probably all agree that if the price of energy dropped significantly, the economy would respond positively to the dropping prices.

Why isn't that happening?

 

[martybegan]

By Patrice Hill, The Washington Times

To John LaRue, the renaissance in U.S. manufacturing is no dream. It’s already here.

As executive director of the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas, his business is booming and he has aggressive plans to expand and take advantage of the trend. He expects the local economy to double maybe triple in size within a few years as U.S. industries flock to the area, joined by foreign companies as far afield as Italy, Austria and China, all racing to take advantage of the cheap and plentiful oil and natural gas

Read more: Shale oil find fuels boom in U.S. business - Washington Times
Follow us: [MENTION=39892]Was[/MENTION]htimes on Twitter

This is but yet another example of the multitude of benefits that come from expanding oil and gas production here in the USA!

I actually quite surprised that all these FRACKING finds haven't significantly altered the cost of energy.

Anyone have an explanations for why this appears to be the case?

I think we can probably all agree that if the price of energy dropped significantly, the economy would respond positively to the dropping prices.

Why isn't that happening?

I think it has to do with the fact that demand for natural gas has paced with the increased supply. In the US we have been exporting an increasing amount of our newfound increase in natural gas supplies, and this affects price as domestic purchasers have to compete with overseas purchasers.

The availibility of NG and the contiued high price of oil has also led to increases in domestic use, be it new power plants running on NG or people switching from oil heat.

 

[longknife]

I think our exporting NG is the big deal. We have no kept up with domestic uses of NG and the ability to refine and otherwise deal with it.

I've not seen any large efforts to convert commercial fleets from gasoline/diesel to NG.

 

[martybegan]

I think our exporting NG is the big deal. We have no kept up with domestic uses of NG and the ability to refine and otherwise deal with it.

I've not seen any large efforts to convert commercial fleets from gasoline/diesel to NG.

The home heating demand if there is a significant change to NG from oil is more than enough to eat up a sizable part of the increased supply. Right now transportation demand is not increasing that much, but it may change if oil prices remain high.

I agree the export market is the prime driver of prices. That being said, while prices are increasing, the increase is modest, still making NG one of the cheaper energy sources out there, and right now, one of the most dependable.

 

[RGR]

This is but yet another example of the multitude of benefits that come from expanding oil and gas production here in the USA!

I actually quite surprised that all these FRACKING finds haven't significantly altered the cost of energy.

They have. But you shouldn't confuse finds of a particular energy type with costs in some other one. Hydraulic fracturing is changing oil production rates in the US faster than at any time in its history, but oil being fungible, price is not directly tied to only local supply. Natural gas is different, and more locally priced, and obviously the great natural gas surge has dropped the price pretty substantially.

Anyone have an explanations for why this appears to be the case?

Yes. You appear to be confused, but I explained why above.