Why Marcellus shale gas really is a game changer
From Wikimarcellus
OPINION
by Thomas Copley
November 27, 2009
Prior to the upsurge in shale gas drilling, and the vast new reserves that are now understood to exist, the odds-on favorite for supplementing the waning conventional domestic supply of natural gas was liquefied natural gas (LNG) brought here from Indonesia, the Middle East, and Russia. Huge capital investments were made in LNG terminals that now sit largely idle. For example, there is the Costa Azul terminal built on the west coast of Mexico with a capacity of 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, or about 15 percent of the natural gas used in California. The Sabine Pass facility on the Texas-Louisiana border is another one built that now gets practically zero business. A massive floating LNG terminal was also proposed for Long Island Sound, but was put on hold due to opposition by environmentalists as well as the Obama Administration.
The present U.S. gas glut is in no small measure the outcome of intense shale gas drilling the past few years in the Barnett, Haynesville and Marcellus shale formations that has created a bountiful supply of domestic gas and dimmed the prospects for building additional LNG terminals. Clearly, the development of shale gas and other unconventional sources such as coal-bed methane has helped enhance the energy security of the U.S. and its allies, and reduced the need for imported LNG. That's something to ponder when shale gas gets completely trashed for the supposed perils of hydro-fracing.
Thanks to Marcellus shale drilling in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, now Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, D.C. and other east coast cities have a guaranteed source of natural gas whereas formerly the best hope for expanding these cities' supplies was by importing LNG from unstable and/or unfriendly regions of the world.
