Fed Energy Estimate Rocked by Geologists’s Findings
- Posted on August 25, 2011 at 4:00pm by
Becket Adams
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Because of what appears to be poor planning on the part of seemingly inept, bureaucratic federal agencies, the U.S. will have to correct its Marcellus Shale reserve estimate from 410 trillion cubic feet of gas to 84 trillion, according to Business Insider.
Geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey have just released a report that contradicts–and outranks in authority–the shale estimates made by the Energy Information Administration. Sheepishly, the EIA has not (and most likely won’t) challenged the USGS’ findings.
“They’re geologists, we’re not. We’re going to be taking this number and using it in our model,” an EIA analyst told Bloomberg.
Although the USGS’s new estimates are slightly higher than their previous findings, there is still an enormous difference between what was previously thought to be available in the shale deposits and what may actually be there.
Shale gas in the United States is rapidly increasing as a source of natural gas. Because of the application of hydraulic fracturing technology and horizontal drilling, the development of new sources of shale gas has actually helped to offset declines in production from conventional gas reservoirs, and has led to increases in reserves of U.S. natural gas.
Furthermore, it has been a commonly held belief that the Marcellus shale in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, would contain enough reserves to supply the majority of the northeast U.S. with natural gas.
In fact, it was just in April that the estimate released by the EIA increased Marcellus reserves by a multiple of 42 “based on new technology and information.” As part of their estimate, they triumphantly proclaimed that America would have “enough recoverable natural gas to heat homes and run power stations for 110 years.”
The geologists, to whose expertise they defer, would disagree with that claim and almost every other figure they have supplied.
With hopes and expectations raised like this, it is easy to see how the apparently irreconcilable discrepancy between the two estimates might be slightly off-putting, to say the least.
One final thought: if the USGS‘s report carries more weight and authority than the EIA’s (and it is more likely to be accurate), then why weren’t they sent out first?
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Comments (63)
W@nd@
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 2:41pm4Truth2All
they are already throwing stones at you
Report Post »in the media
with obama at the helm
we are truly headed down the rocky path of of the stone age
look around you
shops empty
people stuck in devalued property
jobs flying away like migrating geese and
everyone beating feet to get their latest barely enough to get by on help ck
from daddy big govt! Hello
how long do you really think this will last
when the well dries up and
the funds stop funneling into the govt…
who will be first to go?
useless eaters
guess who that is
elderly and
disabled and
retarded!
chilling dont you think!
they have just the mindset to do it too!
AzSage
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 2:34pmEIA, USGS. They are both federal government. I don’t believe either. Let’s wait and hear what the private sector says. Ultimately they are the ones to put up the money for exlporation and development.
Report Post »IlovemyAkita
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 2:26pmwhy the hell would we do anything that makes sense.
Report Post »Tim Law
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 5:12pmToo true! If any Gov. agency is involved, we’ll never be able to make any sense of it. That’s why we have so many to do the same thing, if one screws up they can blame the other one. Yet we’re still paying everyone of the clowns to make our lives miserable.
Report Post »Caniac Steve
Posted on August 28, 2011 at 7:31amit is sad that a governemnt agency can’t even get their lie right !! after all the most feared words in America are ” I’m from the government,and I’m here to help” !
Report Post »lylejk
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 1:52pmYou think I trust the new numbers? These guys are hired pawns of the BO administration and just using excuses to not drill our own oil. Definitely gotta kick the yahoos who are running the show out and I mean yesterday. :)
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 2:29pmYou nailed it, they want to get gas above $7 a gallon, they want people starving in the streets, they want everyone having to grow their own food in their back yards.
Report Post »turkey13
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 4:16pmThat won’t work – growing produce in your back yard. The obama Adm. has decided that across the country communities can charge a $500.00 permit or fine you $500.00 for not having a permit. Look at all the lost revenue your city would loose if you grew rather than bought at the store.
Report Post »4blackhorses
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 5:39pmIt had to have been someone in the Federal Energy Commission after going through a bitter divorce, gave the faux information to the Energy Information Administration, wanting to make the ex in particular and the whole administration as a bunch of idiots. It needn’t gone that far…they are!
The Federal Energy Commission was created by “Don’t touch my peanuts” Jimmy Carter in order to reduce our dependency on foreign oil, what a piece of art work that’s turned out to be. You may have noticed that our “dependence” hasn’t dropped one iota and, in fact the FEC itself has become a Federal Budget Expenditure of well over $600 Billion a year. Cut the middleman of dependency, cut FEC!!
The Energy Information Administration? They‘ve just ineptly demonstrated why they aren’t needed! How much more taxpayers money could be saved without this federal bureaurcracy!!!!
Report Post »Wilkins
Posted on August 28, 2011 at 5:07amNo one’s gonna bother growing their own food when government starts distributing all that yummy soylent green for free.
Report Post »TxMadMac
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 1:39pmObama scientists, gore scientist ? Not buying any of it !!!
Report Post »NukeFromOrbit
Posted on September 8, 2011 at 11:19amYou got that right!
Report Post »Zeb
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 12:37pmPsalm 2011
Report Post »Obama Is the shepherd I did not want.
He leadeth me
Beside the still factories.
He restoreth my faith in the Republican party.
He guideth me in the path of unemployment
For his party’s sake.
Yea, Though I walk through the valley of the bread line,
I shall fear no hunger, for his bailouts are with me
He has Anointed my income with taxes,
My expenses runneth over.
Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will live in a mortgaged home forever.
W@nd@
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 2:31pmi dont generally like to see the Word of God used in this manner
Report Post »I made an exception
because so many of obama followers
looked at him like a messiah figure
a god he is NOT!
i see him only as THE One in league
with the fallen angel
who has brought hell on earth to America!
NJONY
Posted on August 28, 2011 at 12:28amSad but true.
Report Post »HumbleMan
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 7:01am… I will live in mortgaged home til Thursday, when the government banks foreclose and I must fend for myself with the other serfs in the street.
Report Post »RodT82721
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 12:05pmIt really doesn’t matter which agency is wrong or right, for that matter.
What will matter is how the EPA will put a stop to all this fuel being available!
This not good news for the windmill folks and solar panel builders in China.
Maybe someone in Washington can find some bug that will be disturbed, or they can always use the ‘effects on the polar bears’ to start shutting down any production.
Report Post »In N.E. WY they use the Sage Grouse.
Bonnieblue2A
Posted on August 27, 2011 at 9:56pmAdd central Kansas to the list of windfarms stopped by the Prairie Grouse.
Report Post »Zeb
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 11:23amMethane hydrate isn’t a familiar term to most, but it is gaining popularity in the energy sector. In the realm of energy R&D, methane hydrates are being evaluated as a potential fuel for the future.
WHY ?
Estimates on how much energy is stored in methane hydrates range from 350 years‘ supply to 3500 years’.
http://www.ornl.gov/info/reporter/no16/methane.htm
Report Post »OneofMany
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 1:16pmVery Interesting.
Report Post »don young
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 10:59amI live in texas they are drilling everwere you go.
Report Post »The_Hut_In_Co
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 8:56pmI live in Colorado and they were drilling all over western Co. until “We” voted the demoncrats into power! Those morons are He!! bent on shutting down any energy development. SFA!
Report Post »TXBadOneToo
Posted on August 27, 2011 at 2:37amThed Feds are working to shut down many drilling sites in West Texas to protect a Lizard. Even with Gov. Perry TX will be impacted by the tree huggers in Washington. That is until Perry is running Washington..
Report Post »huntrr
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 10:45amGeology is just as much emperical in it’s ability to describe fact/truth as are the bureaucrats that try to control our lives. Who cares which is “right”. Lets just get on with being able to provide for our needs and not quibble over “little” bits of information
Report Post »dnewton
Posted on August 27, 2011 at 7:12amThe size of the find can make a difference in the banks willingness to finance the operation. Two wildly different estimates has the same effect as the difference between unemployment estimates.
Report Post »JRook
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 10:39amHmmm guess which agency is more influenced by the oil and gas companies who want to create enough public support to ignore the impact of fracking.
Report Post »The_Hut_In_Co
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 9:45pmFrack this you freaking moron!
Report Post »alaskajohn
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 10:16amDoesn’t matter 84 trillion 410 trillion even the low number is a huge supply for the next fifty years, if the greenies let it be produced.
Report Post »Callie369
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 2:59amHere in the Williamsport, Pa., area, there has been a lot of new jobs because of Marcellus gas. This is an area that also had not been invaded with ILLEGAL ALIENS.
Oil companies out of Texas have brought a lot of employees with them, and wouldn’t you know, there are a LOT of ILLEGALS among them. In fact, 9 were recently arrested…..seems illegals have a tendency to be sexual perverts and can’t be trusted around children. Several were set up for deportation and several are awaiting trial. Thanks a helluva lot Texas and Gov. Perry, lover of illegals and shamnesty!!!!
Also, local people can no longer find apartments and houses and many are being evicted from places they have lived in for years!!! Why? Owners are tripling the rents and renting to the gas people, and in the case of the illegals, many are piling into apartments meant for 2-3 people. It is no longer safe to be on the streets as the sun starts going down!
Report Post »CHEFJK26
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 8:44amWow, the gas people and illegals are the ones raising the rent. I would have thought that some the good people of Williamsport owned the apartments and houses that they were the ones that were raising the rent. To think they would evict people..next thing you know they will be gouging people with high rent rates. Oh wait they are yes the good people of Williamsport. Sounds like you have more problem than just a few illegals. Nothing like greed to bring out the real person. Blame to “gas people” for the high rent. It’s your neighbor that is charging the high rent not the “gas people” . Those evil “gas people” are the ones spending money in your little town
Report Post »4truth2all
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 9:55amIt’s your fault… no, it’s your fault,
Report Post »it’s your fault, No, it’s your fault!
I’m going to hit you. No, I’m going to hit you.
I’m going to shot you. No, I’m going to shot you!
bang…bang…………………………………………………………………………………..
If everybody did things as God would have us do, not ONE of these problems would exist!
But then again who wants to live in the stone ages !!!
steamer56
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 10:47amHey! Whether you like Perry or not is up to you. But don’t blame him for the illegals invading your part of the country. It the Federal government’s responsibility to secure our borders! Not the governor of Texas.
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 2:35pmDoes sound like their fault if they won’t hire locals, but hire illegals and bus them in. I know this happened on the coast after Katrina and during the oil spill. The locals couldn’t find a job, couldn’t get hired to rebuild their own homes, couldn’t get hired to clean up their own beaches, couldn’t find a place to rent. Because all the rental property still standing was full of wetbacks brought in to soak up the federal money and ship it back to Mexico.
Report Post »lacabeza
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 2:26amI won’t believe either government agency.
Perfect opportunity to create some jobs. Obama could create a committee to form a committee to create a new government agency for hiring more bureaucrats to hire brainwashed deadbeats to parrot the political agenda of the day. And they can rob the rich even more to pay for it. Not their rich buddies though.
There’s nothing like net-negative union jobs!
Report Post »408 CheyTac
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 2:46amIt‘s George Bush’s fault
Report Post »Misdirection
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 2:51amHow about the government lets the market decide how much gas could be harvested. Like Geologist know everything by conducting one study… How many times have scientists been wrong and we still take every new study like the word of God.
Report Post »Wolf
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 9:51amThe only thing Oturd can create is a PITA, and not much of one at that.
Report Post »Homeschoolmama
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 1:29amSave tax payers money, eliminate the EIA.
Report Post »righthanddrive
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 8:52am….and the USGS, and the EPA, the CIA, BBC, my birthday…..oh dear me, where have I dug down to?
Report Post »But seriously, given the administrations war against fossil fuels, why should we believe the USGS? Will they not want to downplay the reserves so that BHO can help his friends spend our tax money of ‘fool’s energy’?
Deep_Thoughts
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 1:04amDefinitely Bush’s Fault
Report Post »smokeysmoke
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 1:00ammore reason to let the free market find and invest in ALL energy sources… never be too dependent, make sure all are working efficiently……. quit subsidizing inefficiency
Report Post »triumph4
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 12:18amI just read that in Nothern Dakota there is more oil than anywhere else in the world, what is going on? Left or right thay lie about oil, it really gets to me
Report Post »OilManInTX
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 3:15pmThey’ve known this for 5 years. The hard part is getting it to the surface.
Report Post »TheCenturion
Posted on August 25, 2011 at 11:36pmHmm, something very fishy here. Are there no “endangered species” to save in this area?
Report Post »Lumen
Posted on August 26, 2011 at 2:04amHillbilly pigs and chikin’s of West Virginia need saved!
Report Post »ktmrider1
Posted on August 25, 2011 at 11:08pmthe answer is to have more biologist keeping us from having jobs and fuel
Report Post »psst
Posted on August 25, 2011 at 11:02pmJust as an aside. Does anyone have this problem, sometimes when I try to post on the Blaze or I’m reading stories on the Blaze, my computer locks up.I would have another window open , I bring that up, no problem, or I can change that window to other windows or whatever, but the Blaze window still remain frozen.I can bring up another Blaze window which works, but the one that locked up, remain frozen. I have to do a control -alt-delete to end it.I had just posted on this story a few min. ago and Bam. Locked up.
Report Post »But lIke I was saying before the lock-up.
Because of what appears to be poor planning on the part of seemingly inept, bureaucratic federal agencies, the U.S. will have to correct its Marcellus Shale reserve estimate .
–
Um, why are the words appear and seemingly in this sentence.
Correction.
Because of normal and usual screw-ups by by inept bureaucratic federal agencies, who always have no idea what they are doing, be it wiping their kharses or tying their shoe laces,the U.S. will have to correct its Marcellus Shale reserve estimate from 410 trillion cubic feet of gas to 84 trillion, according to Business Insider.
valkor1958
Posted on August 25, 2011 at 10:59pmIt‘s all Bush’s fault!!!
Report Post »Bullfrog85
Posted on August 25, 2011 at 10:55pmTime to put on your boots boys, and don’t plan on taking them off
Report Post »Socialism-Sucks
Posted on August 25, 2011 at 10:45pmNo problem……..we will all just add a few pounds of air in our tires and get tune-ups on our cars and trucks like Obama Hussein says!
Report Post »JCoolman
Posted on August 25, 2011 at 10:43pmSounds like Bernaise is alive and well.
Report Post »