Lights, Cameras…Fracking!

Great time Thursday night at the grand, lovely Warner Theater in Washington, D.C., for API’s “Big Screen Energy” event, featuring film trailers from pro-energy documentaries on hydraulic fracturing including “Truthland,” “Empire State Divide” and “Frack Nation.” After the trailers, representatives of the films talked about their projects and answered questions from the audience. Some important points that emerged:

#1: Shale Energy = Economic opportunity

For lots of people in the Marcellus Shale portions of Pennsylvania, energy from fracking is helping them alter the courses of their lives. And it could help even more if New York state approves hydraulic fracturing on some scale. “Empire State Divide’s” Karen Moreau said New York agriculture needs working capital to survive. Energy development from that state’s portion of the Marcellus could supply that, keep farms operating and allow them to be handed off to the next generation, said Moreau, who since making her film was named executive director of the New York State Petroleum Council.

#2: Countering Frack Fiction

“Truthland,” featuring Pennsylvania science teacher and mom Shelly Depue, spends much of its 34 minutes dispelling misinformation about hydraulic fracturing and natural gas development. The film is a step toward centering the national fracking debate on science and fact instead of fear and misrepresentation. “Frack Nation’s” Phelim McAleer said some opponents aren’t interested in responsible development; they want to block natural gas altogether.

#3: The Right to Prosper

Moreau said the divide in New York over fracking is actually a property rights test – whether individuals may develop resources on their land. She said some opponents of natural gas development in New York’s southern tier, the counties in the Marcellus along the Pennsylvania border, aren’t residents of those areas. Still, they are trying to control or block development. The contest is still playing out, as state officials weigh how much development, if any, to allow.

Again, the evening provided an interesting perspective on an important public policy issue. At the center of it is a truth, noted by McAleer: the ability of energy to lift lives, to lift standards of living. McAleer said the lack of affordable, reliable energy usually characterizes areas that are impoverished and unhealthy – places where people have little chance to lift themselves. Energy changes that, he said.

In energy from shale, the United States has an historic opportunity to be more prosperous – with abundant fuel for the lifestyles of its citizens and the power to revitalize critical industries like manufacturing and chemicals. The U.S. also can make its future more secure, less dependent on imports. Industry’s role is to develop these resources safely and responsibly. It is doing this while striving to continually improve technologies and performance.

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Bakken Shale: Supplying Energy, Supporting Communities

Check out a couple of new videos from North Dakota in which Hess employees and others talk about how energy development in the Bakken Shale formation is changing lives and growing the state’s economy.

Part 1:

Part 2:

The narrative isn’t complicated. As Hess’ Steven Fretland notes in the first video, the Bakken is believed to hold between 8 billion and 40 billion barrels of oil reserves. Companies developing the energy resources need workers, and workers need places to live and services to support their lives. Fretland, who was raised in North Dakota, says Bakken energy is reversing historic trends:

“Younger kids, after they left, you know, you hated to see them go but then they come back and they decide … it’s where they’re going to have their home and raise a family and hopefully retire with the industry.”

In the second video, Hess’ Steve McNally says hydraulic fracturing that has revolutionized energy development is responsible for North Dakota’s jobs boom:

“The impact on the North Dakota area and the U.S. in the short term is numerous jobs. There’s a tremendous amount of employment opportunities here. For anyone who wants to work, you can get a job.”

The point, underscored in this new industry spot, is that fracking has made an old frontier state like North Dakota a new energy frontier. Previously unreachable shale resources are now available in abundance through responsible development. Learn more at Energy From Shale.org.

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Editorially Speaking, New York Times is Behind the Curve on Shale Gas

Here’s what caught our eye in an otherwise relatively benign New York Times editorial on shale natural gas and hydraulic fracturing:

“For their part, the oil and gas companies — both the ExxonMobils and the mom-and-pops that abound in hydrofracturing — need to drop their warfare against necessary regulations.”

And later:

“Stronger federal rules are plainly needed.”

Last things first: Stronger federal rules? Where has the Times’ editorial board been the occasions when EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has downplayed the notion of federal shale gas regulation overlaying existing state regulation? Here’s Jackson last fall:

“We have no data right now that lead us to believe one way or the other that there needs to be specific federal regulation of the fracking process. … So it's not to say that there isn't a federal role, but you can't start to talk about a federal role without acknowledging the very strong state role.”

And a couple of days later, on MSNBC:

“States are stepping up and doing a good job. It doesn’t have to be EPA that regulates the 10,000 wells that might go in.”

It’s likely Jackson knows there’s not much the feds could add to the competent, efficient oversight that state regulators already are providing. And the Times doesn’t explain what it believes federal regulation – probably duplicative, almost certainly unnecessary – would accomplish.

In fact, industry recognizes the need for regulation. We just believe it’s best handled by the states. That’s why we’ve worked with the states through the STRONGER organization to develop regulatory regimes tailored for their specific circumstances. API and its members also have worked hard to develop industry standards that often form the basis for state regulations – on wellbore integrity, water management, community relations and more. Industry supports disclosure through the FracFocus online chemical registry.

All of the above address the editorial’s other assertion – that energy companies need to “drop their warfare” against regulation. Sorry, but the real warfare here has been waged by the Times in its “Drilling Down” series, a collection of inaccuracies, misrepresentations and manipulations that the Council on Foreign Relations’ Michael Levi dubbed a “war on shale gas.” This has included flawed reporting on mortgages, leases and the economic future of shale gas – at one point drawing a penalty flag from the newspaper’s own ombudsman. 

So, while noting the editorial’s positive points about shale gas, we encourage the newspaper’s editorial board to get up to speed on the good work states are doing to regulate industry activity, as well as industry efforts to get shale gas development right.

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Launching: American Energy Works.org

The intersection of a recent anti-natural gas fundraiser at the trendy Brooklyn Winery – featuring fabulous culinary delights prepared by a group of talented chefs – and the natural gas that made the evening possible was, well, simply mouth-watering.

New York Daily News columnist Bill Hammond writes that the “Taste of the Marcellus” event last week was hosted by a group called Chefs for the Marcellus, to showcase the kinds of foods they say could be jeopardized if New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo OKs hydraulic fracturing in that state’s portion of the Marcellus Shale. Hammond:

"Guests were treated to eggplant-stuffed okra, smoked lamb belly with fermented tofu and whipped ricotta jewel on toast — along with wines from the Finger Lakes and beers from Cooperstown’s Ommegang brewery. Th... more »

Jill is a district manager for Total Safety, a company that provides service solutions for various aspects of the oil and natural gas industry, as well as power-generation and industrial markets. For her, the industry is about future job security: “It’s really an industry that’s not going away.”

Her video:

Visit American Energy Works.org for more videos and information about the people who’re at work for America’s energy future.

A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds two of the top three issues that Americans care about the most in this election year are … jobs and reducing the federal budget deficit. Check and check. America’s oil and natural gas industry can help with both. Respondents were asked to weigh the importance of a number of issues (see chart), and 92 percent said creating good jobs is “extremely/very important.” On cutting the federal deficit the figure was 86 percent. Jobs and revenue to the government – we can help.

With the right policies in place – increasing access to American natural resources, the right approach to energy regulation, encouraging energy investments and more – our industry could create 1.4 million jobs by 2030. Here’s how the Wood Mackenzie energy consulting firm charts the pot... more »

Energy-driven economic growth is more than theory in places like Mount Vernon, Ohio, and Chandlersville, about 60 miles to the southeast. Shale energy is building growth in both places – in different ways.

In Mount Vernon, Ariel Corporation is experiencing demand for the reciprocating gas compressors it manufactures, which are used to extract, process, transport, store and distribute natural gas from shale. In Chandlersville, Steve Addis and his wife own and operate Annie’s Restaurant, which is seeing an influx of workers who’re drilling new shale gas wells in the area. Both show how the oil and natural gas industry supports jobs beyond direct industry jobs.

More in this video:

Visit American Energy Works.org for more videos and information about the people who’re at work for Am... more »

ConocoPhillips’ Bob Morton is chief materials scientist at the company’s technology center in Bartlesville, Okla. The chemical that allowed development of low-sulfur gasoline and diesel – without sacrificing octane and without increasing the cost of the fuel – was developed there, he says.

Coming up with environmentally friendly consumer products is Morton’s mission:

“What I really love about my job is sometimes I’m given the opportunity to see something that nobody has seen before. And when those moments happen truly, those are the things that I think are the most wonderful parts of doing the job.”

Check out Bob’s story:

Visit American Energy Works.org for more videos and information about the people who’re at work for America’s energy future.

... more »

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Well-Paying Jobs…Like Ours!

We like talking about our industry’s job-creating ability – how, with the right policies America’s oil and natural gas companies could create a million new jobs before the end of the decade.

Some industry opponents dismiss the assertion by deriding the number of wage positions supported by oil and gas activity. We don’t. Every job means a paycheck for an American who’s glad to have it, especially in this economy.

But guess what? Our industry supports well-paying jobs, too. Payscale.com’s list of high lifetime-earnings jobs is topped by two from oil and natural gas – petroleum engineer and landman/senior landman.

Payscale.com says the typical earnings total for a petroleum engineer over a 45-year career is nearly $6.3 million. The average starting pay is more than $84,000, and at 20+ years the typical salary is $151,000. No. 2 on the list, a landman will earn $5.38 million over a 45-year career, Payscale notes. Starting pay averages $53,600, growing to $138,000 at 20+ years. Payscale lead analyst Katie Bardaro:

“This list is dominated by left-brained jobs that require analytical thinking. We are a tech-heavy, analytics-heavy society, so jobs that focus on those skills pay well.”

Especially jobs in fields that have a future – like oil and natural gas. Our industry literally fuels America’s economy now and will do so in the future according to government estimates. It’s an industry that’s going to be around.

So what other positions made Payscale’s Top 10? Glad you asked:

Software/senior software engineer ($4.36 million over 45 years)Electrical/senior electrical engineer ($4.17 million)Mechanical/senior mechanical engineer ($3.9 million)Software/senior software developer ($3.83 million)Financial analyst/senior financial analyst ($3.44 million)Communications coordinator/manager ($3.32 million)Marketing coordinator/manager ($3.31 million)Certified public accountant ($3.2 million)

Guess what again? You can find virtually all of these positions in the oil and natural gas industry – from the people who’re pioneering “intelligent field” technologies to manage modern, global exploration and development to the folks who develop marketing campaigns – you know, like this one.

Granted, a number of these careers can be found on other paths. Yet the list illustrates the breadth of our industry, its need for workers in the future and the promising career-long opportunities that this industry provides.

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Crude Production Rise: Credit Where Credit’s Due

Last week the Energy Information Administration (EIA) told us that U.S. crude oil production in the first quarter of the year topped 6 million barrels per day (bbl/d) for the first time in 14 years. EIA’s chart:

EIA’s analysis:

“Strong growth in U.S. crude oil production since the fourth quarter of 2011 is due mainly to higher output from North Dakota, Texas, and federal leases in the Gulf of Mexico. … After remaining steady between 5.5 million and 5.6 million bbl/d during each of the first three quarters of 2011, EIA estimates that U.S. average quarterly oil production grew to over 5.9 million bbl/d during the fourth quarter and then surpassed 6 million bbl/d during the first quarter of 2012.”

Certainly, great news like that will restart discussion of who deserves credit for such a production milestone – beyond, of course, the energy companies that are actually pulling the oil from the ground or the seafloor. Politico Pro [subscription required] reports White House spokesman Clark Stevens emailed in the administration’s claim for credit:

“Despite misleading rhetoric by some in Washington, President Obama has made expanding responsible oil and gas production here at home a clear priority and the facts speak for themselves. Since the president took office, domestic oil and gas production has increased each year, with oil production in the first quarter of 2012 higher than any time in 14 years and natural gas production at its highest level ever, and that is certainly thanks in part to steps taken by this administration.”

That’s one view. Others disagree. Politico quotes Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service:

“In the end, the president and Congress can’t take credit for what price and technology have delivered. It would be akin to taking credit for the iPad. … Unless there is a price collapse, or a true scientific indictment of fracking, one can expect to see plentiful growth in light sweet crude coming from the Rockies, North Dakota, and even Ohio or West Virginia.”

And Richard Newell, the EIA’s head from 2009-2011:

“In a political year, different parties would like to take credit for positive news in the energy sector and I think here the credit largely goes to technology."

And also Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy fellow at Rice University, who notes that North Dakota and Texas shale production has occurred mainly on private land, while increases from the Gulf result from the actions of previous administrations:

“Production rises from Gulf of Mexico would have been in the hopper way before President Obama took office.”

Settling the argument isn’t as important as recognizing that with the right policies the oil and natural gas industry can further develop America’s energy wealth. With the right strategies and leadership, the United States could see 100 percent of its liquid fuel needs met from North American sources. And along with it: jobs and tax revenues for government.

Strategies, policies and action: It’s what separates election-year rhetoric from substantive progress toward a more secure energy future.

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American Energy Works: Tanker Safety Officer

Janet DeCastro of Polar Tankers wanted a life at sea, so she entered the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. One of the requirements for cadets was to go to sea for a year on a commercial vessel, and DeCastro’s assignment was aboard an oil tanker.

The experience has become a 24-year professional career – and is one of 9.2 million jobs supported by the oil and natural gas industry. In the video below, DeCastro talks about the ships on which she serves, and the role she plays ensuring safe delivery of oil and protection of the environment:

Visit American Energy Works.org for more videos and more stories from the people of the oil and natural gas industry, who are at work for America.

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