Like other forms of petroleum production, and innovative technologies such as liquefied natural gas and nuclear, shale gas and oil need a political “licence to operate”. The still-born nuclear industry shows what happens when industry and regulators fail to win the public argument over safety and environmental impacts.

Hydraulic fracturing has already unleashed a storm of protest threatening the technology’s viability. Critics point to the enormous amount of water used, stressing supplies for households and farming, the potential for cancer-causing chemicals to seep into freshwater aquifers, risk of earthquakes, and the enormous number of truck movements disrupting local communities, not to mention the impact on global warming.  MORE

Word on the street is that PetroChina, China’s biggest oil-and-gas producer and distributor, plans to pay slightly more than $1 billion for a 20% stake in a Shell shale gas property in Canada.

For PetroChina to purchase Shell’s Groundbirch operations, located in British Columbia, the companies need approval from both nations, which appears to be in place. MORE

About 141 trillion cubic feet of gas can be recovered from the Marcellus shale using current technology, down from the previous estimate of 410 trillion, the department said today in its Annual Energy Outlook. About 482 trillion cubic feet can be produced from shale basins across the U.S., down 42 percent from 827 trillion in last year’s outlook.  MORE

Right now in the US, 1m British thermal units of gas can be had for about $2.40. That is not only the lowest in a decade; it is the cheapest ever compared with an equivalent amount of oil, at about 14 per cent of the price. A little over six years ago, natural gas peaked at 140 per cent of oil’s price.

Read more HERE (registration required)

The study by the US Energy Information Administration was issued as eight companies are seeking permission to liquefy and export as much as 19 per cent of domestic production. The plans have run into opposition from manufacturers who worry the exports will weaken US competitiveness.

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The Mayan calendar prophesied the end of the world this December.  But for Latin America’s energy scene, the year is shaping up to be anything but a march toward the end of time.  There are several themes to consider as 2012 unfolds.

For starters, the year counts several elections with important geopolitical and energy implications.  Without Leonel Fernandez on the ballot, residents of the Dominican Republic will choose from a new slate of candidates in May. Mexico goes to the polls on July 1st to choose Felipe Calderon’s successor.  In October, Venezuela conducts another referendum on Hugo Chavez’s 21^st Century Socialism.  November’s election in the United States will decide the fate of Barack Obama’s presidency.

The topic of unconventional sources of hydrocarbons remains vital. What these long-unexploited resources are now doing to upend the conventional wisdom when it comes to energy policy debates across the hemisphere shows no sign of abating. Indeed, the focus on shale gas and its potential will continue to impact natural gas and liquefied natural gas developments across the hemisphere.

Read more from Jeremy Martin of the Institute of the Americas of HERE

Today, almost overnight in natural-resource years, we are not only self-sufficient in natural gas, we have enough natural gas for the rest of this century on the basis of current demand.  This same horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technology is now being used in liquids-rich shales to increase oil production.  These resource plays are in their infancy and can clearly improve the energy security of the United States.

Read More HERE

The growth in extraction from shale has made the US the world’s largest producer of natural gas. It is now poised to enter the global liquefied natural gas export market.

Read the Full Article at the Financial Times HERE (registration required)

“We will be sold out by April – all four trains. We have a very large number of parties that we are negotiating with,” Cheniere’s Charif Souki told Reuters.

Houston-based Cheniere plans to begin construction on the $5 billion LNG plant next year, pending regulatory approval, in a bid to export some of the US’ vast reserves of natural gas.

The proposed export plant, which would be the first built in the US in nearly 50 years, will comprise up to four production trains with the capacity to export 4.5 million tonnes per year (mtpa) of LNG each.

The total is equivalent to 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas – about 3% of US daily consumption.

Cheniere has already sold 7 mtpa of capacity in two recent deals with Britain’s BG Group and Spain’s Gas Natural Fenosa helping to secure financing for the first two trains of the project, which still needs environmental approval from the US federal energy regulator.

“From the income we will generate from BG and Gas Natural it should not be difficult to finance it,” Souki said, adding that the company is in the process of raising $5 billion.

Related Reading:  Find the BG Article in Americas and Gas Natural in Europe and link

Gas Natural Fenosa Deals with Cheniere Energy to Buy US Shale Gas Sourced LNG

Cheniere and BG Group Sign LNG Export Deal

President Ollanta Humala’s government says it seeks to correct market distortions through the negotiations so that royalties paid on exported fuel are always higher than those paid on fuel used domestically.

Talks between the government and the consortium, led by Argentina’s Pluspetrol, started during former President Alan Garcia’s government.

Spain’s Repsol-YPF, U.S.-based Hunt Oil, South Korea’s SK Energy, Algeria’s Sonatrach and Argentina’s Tecpetrol are also part of the consortium.

Peru is seeking to ensure that gas in lot 88, one of the consortium’s largest, is reserved for the internal market. Liberating lot 88 was one of the principal campaign promises from Humala, who took office in July.

“The royalties are going to take some time, but the liberation of lot 88 is not going to take long,” said Aurelio Ochoa, head of the state-run Perupetro agency in charge of negotiating for the government.

Ochoa explained that currently, gas that is consumed domestically pays a royalty of $1 per each million BTU (British thermal units), while fuel that is exported brings in about $2.30 per million BTU.

However, he said said that when Peru begins to export gas to Mexico in January, the royalty would be only $0.19 per million BTU, considerably less than the local market rate.

Repsol-YPF, responsible for exporting liquefied natural gas in Peru, has signed an agreement with Mexico, where it will initially send 100 to 120 million cubic feet and then increase to 420 million cubic feet in four years, according to Ochoa.

Since 2010, Peru has been sending liquefied natural gas principally to Europe and Asia.

Ochoa assured that possible alternatives are being evaluated for the Mexican case, in what would be an attempt to avoid civil unrest. Protests have broken out over the distortions in royalty payments.

“We are seeing what could be a way out, even conversing with the Mexican government, no alternatives have been ruled out that could resolve the issue,” he said.