The number of rigs drilling for natural gas fell last month to the lowest level in 10 years, as historically low gas prices have forced companies to cut operations. The number of gas rigs have fallen 15 of the last 17 weeks, according to recent numbers put out by Baker Hughes the rig count has slid to 606 the lowest number since April 2002. On the other hand total rig count for oil and gas were up 20 last week totaling 1,965. Last year for the same week Baker Hughes reported a total of 1,836 rigs operating in the U.S

Data, in this case, really is the new oil. Information technology is enabling our industry to get more barrels of each asset.

Oil companies are using distributed sensors, high-speed communications, and data-mining techniques to monitor and fine-tune remote drilling operations. The aim is to use real-time data to make better decisions and predict glitches.

The companies began to employ such technologies more than a decade ago, partly to help its aging workforce multitask remotely. But the technologies have gained speed along with the underlying trends: cheaper computing and communications technology, and a proliferation of sensors and analytical software. The industry term is the “digital oil field.

Approval for the Greater Natural Buttes project in the Uintah Basin, announced by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, comes as the Obama administration is supporting natural-gas production as a way to create jobs with a cleaner-burning fuel than coal or oil.

Once Anadarko’s wells are up and running, they would be expected to produce about one billion cubic feet of natural gas a day, according to Anadarko, enough to heat or cool about 5.5 million homes.

“It’s a significant amount of natural gas,” said John Christiansen, a spokesman for Anadarko, which already has 2,200 wells in the region.

The Greater Natural Buttes project is the uncommon case in which an energy company won the support of environmental groups, which are often vocal critics of oil and natural-gas development. Anadarko agreed to pull previous proposals to expand drilling to new areas, including parts of a proposed red-rock wilderness area, said Heidi McIntosh of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, an environmental group.

While the politicians, the special-interest groups and the media continue to wrangle over the pros and cons of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline project, it seems to me that we’ve lost focus and a few key points have been left in the dust.

Critics have decried the estimated number of jobs the Keystone Pipeline will produce, warned of dire environmental consequences, and doubted whether the pipeline will do anything to lower skyrocketing gas prices.

You say tomato, I say tomahtoh: jobs will be created as well as saved

Let’s agree to disagree on the jobs estimates—TransCanada has put the number at 20,000, some US politicians have inflated it to 200,000, and the US State Department has issued its verdict of 5,000 to 6,000. One thing is for sure: construction and maintenance of the pipeline will create jobs, both direct and indirect.

But let’s look at the flip side of the jobs-created coin. What about the workers whose livelihoods are endangered if the pipeline project is never completed? Thousands of jobs are at stake in the Gulf Coast area refineries that were built for heavy oil. These refineries now process oil from Mexico and Venezuela, but heavy oil production in both countries is falling. And some of Venezuela’s oil is being diverted elsewhere for political reasons.

You say neither, I say nyther: killing Keystone won’t be a win for the environment

Another hotly contested element of the Keystone Pipeline is the potential environmental impact. It amazes me that so much coverage of the environmental concerns fails to mention that the US Department of State Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs has stated that the project will be safer than any other domestic pipeline under current regulations. (There’s already a network of more than 100,000 miles of crude trunk and gathering pipeline in the US; the Keystone pipeline will add about 1,700 miles more.)

What many in the media also fail to consider is that the alternatives to the pipeline—tankers and trains—are far more destructive from an emissions standpoint and just as dangerous in relation to potential spills.

And let’s not forget this simple fact: whether or not we allow this pipeline, Canada will be increasing production from its tar sands and shipping that oil by whatever method is available. Those hoping to stop the continued exploitation of the Canadian tar sands by blocking the pipeline will only succeed in keeping that oil from reaching US refineries, with the likely result of China taking advantage of our nation’s short-sightedness. And how will Canada’s oil reach China? Overseas tankers, of course, creating a greater risk of oil spills as well as additional emissions. Once again, the environment loses, as do American workers and consumers.

Let’s not call the whole thing off: Keystone is a win for consumers

Experts can’t even agree on how the Keystone Pipeline might affect oil prices in the US, noting that gas prices have less to do with actual supplies and more to do with speculators and projected demand. Some even warn that gas prices may rise as a result of the pipeline, as the glut in the Midwest is currently keeping prices down. Once that oil is rushing through the pipeline, they predict, Midwesterners, at the very least, will see their prices rising.

The stock markets are hard to predict, but how many times have we seen huge responses to even the tiniest positive news? Don’t underestimate the power of positive forward momentum. Each barrier to Keystone causes uncertainty in the market while new construction of a pipeline delivering a fresh supply of oil to the US sends a message of hopeful growth that can only buoy Americans’ confidence and the economy along with it.

Chris Faulkner is the Founder, President and CEO of Breitling Oil and Gas, an independent oil and natural gas company based in Irving, Texas. With diverse and extensive experience in all aspects of the oil and gas industry in North America, Europe and the Middle East, Mr. Faulkner is an advisor to the ECF Asia Shale Committee and sits on the Board of Directors for the North Texas Commission.

Original Article: http://www.oilonline.com/blog/main.asp?Tid=45&id=252&cat

May 2, 2012
Chris Faulkner

Original Article: http://www.oilgasmonitor.com/oil-gas-secrets-secrets-oil-gas-investments-average-individual/1938/

The best kept secret of oil and gas investing is that there is no magical secret – even my own company is constantly evaluating current and prospective investments and making adjustments as market dynamics change and commodity prices fluctuate. There are, however, some tried-and-true keys to choosing investments in oil and gas.

Of course it should go without saying, but the oldest rule of thumb bears repeating, and repeating, and repeating (and you should be able to recite this with me): if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. This can be a particularly difficult adage to keep in mind when you’re looking at oil and gas investments that promise a 50% return in a couple years.

The dilemma, as is true of any high-risk investment, is that there is a real potential for such astronomical returns in limited situations. There’s also a potential that the oil or gas well will come up dry and investors should be aware of that going into any project.  Investing in oil and gas drilling programs is a good choice, if you go into it with realistic expectations. And remember that a direct investment in drilling offers investors high and immediate tax deductions, whether or not the well comes up dry.  If the drill hits oil or gas, you’ve reaped the tax deductions along with the highest returns available from any investment.

For investors who are less risk-tolerant but still interested in direct investments, consider investing in oil and gas royalties with operations that are already active and producing.  You’ll want to understand which basins the oil and gas wells are in, how long they have been producing and, most importantly: how many years of reserves are left in the ground.  Oil and gas royalties have return potential of 8% to 12% or even higher and offer you a steady stream of monthly revenue for decades.

And you couldn’t pick a better time to invest in gas and oil. Between the Bakken, Barnett, Fayetteville, Marcellus, Horn River, and the re-ignited Permian Basin plays, the US is in the midst of an oil and gas boom that could still be resounding generations from now, thanks in large part to new technologies that have helped the drill bit reach previously inaccessible reserves.  As more wells are drilled using new techniques, expect even more innovations and improvements in drilling to lead to even greater accessibility to formerly off-limits reserves.

Simply do your due diligence before committing to a drilling investment. To help find successful companies, industry partners, and operators, follow a few key steps:

• Find out the operator’s success rate: if you’re thinking of investing in a new drilling project, compare the operator’s number of wells drilled to the number of wells producing; also compare the company’s performance to the county and state averages
• Get ahold of production and financial estimates: if you’re looking to invest in producing wells, the operator should have projections you can review (and if an operator balks at sharing these estimates, it’s time to walk away)
• Look at the operator’s track record: don’t focus solely on the project you’re interested in investing in—look at the success rates of several of the operator’s last projects
• Invest only in direct working interest –  If you invest in oil and gas through working interest you are sure you get your tax deductions and you will receive a deeded title to your interest in that well; partnerships and joint ventures should be looked at with skepticism
• Look at the operator’s track record: don’t focus solely on the project you’re interested in investing in—look at the success rates of several of the operator’s last projects
• Seek innovation: the most successful operators are constantly looking for better, more economical ways to find and extract natural resources; find out what types of investments an operator is making in technology and research and development to increase chances of successfully drilling productive wells

The current market offers stability and growth potential that should be attractive to any investor.  As the economy continues to improve, leading to higher gas and oil usage, careful oil and gas investors can surely only win.

The new rules will also require additional testing of oil and gas well construction and require the industry to have a management plan for the water used in the process.

“This proposed rule will strengthen the requirements for hydraulic fracturing performed on federal and Indian lands in order to build public confidence and protect the health of American communities, while ensuring continued access to the important resources that make up our energy economy,” the Interior Department said in a statement.

The move is part of a broader administration effort to increase rules for the controversial practice. Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency tightened air pollution requirements for new oil and gas wells.

by Contributor on 07 May 2012

Ayesha Rascoe, World Environment News, Reuters

The Obama administration unveiled long-awaited rules on Friday to bolster oversight on public lands of oil and natural gas drilling using fracking technology that has ushered in a boom in drilling but also triggered environmental protests.

Interior’s proposal would update its decades-old fracking regulations with new reporting standards and a requirement that companies get approval before using the drilling technique. The proposal also would require companies to reveal chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing after they complete the process.

In the past, drilling companies had resisted calls to fully disclose the chemicals they use in fracking, which they regarded as proprietary information. The industry also believes it should be regulated by states instead of the federal government.

But critics, who say fracking has polluted drinking water, want the federal government to tighten regulations, and say drillers should reveal their chemicals before they inject them underground along with water and sand in the fracking process.

Fracking has unlocked vast new reserves for the United States but has provoked an intense backlash from some environmental groups and some neighbors of drilling sites.

“As we continue to offer millions of acres of America’s public lands for oil and gas development, it is critical that the public have full confidence that the right safety and environmental protections are in place,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement.

The rules would not affect drilling on private land, where the bulk of shale exploration takes place. Still, the administration has said it hopes the rules could be used as a template for state regulators.

“Most shale plays are out of the reach of Interior,” said Whitney Stanco, an analyst with the Guggenheim Washington Research Group.

A Guggenheim analysis found that only about 5 percent of shale wells drilling in the United States in the past decade were located on federal lands.

The Obama administration has walked a fine line on natural gas drilling, promoting the potential of the country’s huge shale gas reserves, while stressing the need to ensure drilling is safe.

Interior estimated that its regulations would cost an annual average of about $11,833 per well to implement. The department will collect public input on the rules for 60 days, with plans to finalize the rules by the end of the year.

As proposed, the rules “will undoubtedly insert an unnecessary layer of rigidity into the permitting and development process,” Independent Petroleum Association of America head Barry Russell said.

But not all producers greeted the rules with apprehension. Chris Faulkner, chief executive of Breitling Oil & Gas, said that regulations mandating more transparency for fracking have been a long time coming.

“Those of us in the industry who have upheld high standards and maintained clean track records will collectively breathe a sigh of relief today, as after 40 years of fracking in the US, there is now an industry standard,” Faulkner said.

DISCLOSE WHEN?

Environmentalists and some lawmakers said the rules didn’t go far enough.

Interior’s proposal on disclosure differs from a draft of the rules that leaked to the media earlier this year, by mandating disclosure after fracking is completed.

“Requiring the information before the fracking occurred would have caused in our view delays that were not necessary,” Salazar said on a conference call.

Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette, a vocal proponent of expanding fracking regulation, called the measure “seriously inadequate.”

“We’re all seeking common-sense solutions to ensure the safety of natural gas production, but with all due respect, requiring disclosure after fracking has already occurred seems less common-sense and more ‘closing the door after the horse has left the barn,’” DeGette said in statement.

Some environmentalists said communities need to know what chemicals may be pumped into the ground before drilling happens, so water supplies can be monitored in real time, however.

“Unfortunately, these proposed rules from the Department of the Interior fall far short of what’s needed to protect public health,” said Jessica Ennis of Earthjustice.

Separately, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday laid out a draft framework for companies to get permits when they use diesel in fracking, a practice many environmentalists would like to see banned.

Fracking is exempt from Safe Drinking Water Act, except in cases where diesel is used as a fracking fluid.

(Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson and Timothy Gardner in Washington and Edward McAllister in New York; Editing by Dale Hudson, Gerald E. McCormick, Eric Beech and Sofina Mirza-Reid)

By Chris Faulkner Breitling Oil & Gas Corp.

Forget the burbling pool of “Texas tea” that sent the Clampetts to a life of luxury in Beverly Hills. Pennsylvania is sitting on top of a sea of natural gas that has already lifted the state out of the recessionary funk still bogging down the rest of the nation. The drilling promises to become an economic boom of historic proportions for Pennsylvania and its residents, as well as the entire nation.

According to a July 2011 study by Pennsylvania State University, the natural gas production from the Marcellus Shale reserves that span several states but lie primarily beneath Pennsylvania created $1.1 billion in much-needed tax revenues for the state in 2010 alone.1 The study estimated that Marcellus gas producers would generate value-added revenues of more than $12.8 billion in 2011 and another $14.5 billion in 2012, creating more than 300,000 direct and indirect jobs and $2.6 billion in state and local taxes for Pennsylvania in 2011 and 2012.2 Authors of the Penn State study say the Marcellus Shale could become the single-largest-producing gas field in the United States.

The Marcellus Shale could become the single-largest-producing gas field in the United States, according to a Penn State study.

 WHO PROFITS?

Clearly, the Marcellus Shale gas industry has and can continue to fill local and state coffers with much-needed tax revenues, but residents of Pennsylvania benefit directly, as well. For example, gas companies reportedly are paying $1,000 an acre as a bonus at signing plus royalties for leases allowing them to dig.3 This steady and sustainable income is a windfall for many struggling families, farms and ranches. The Penn State study found that in 2008, gas producers paid more than $1.8 billion in leases and bonuses to landowners in Pennsylvania, $2.17 billion in 2009 and $2.6 billion in 2010.

In addition to these lucrative leases, the Marcellus natural gas industry is creating well-paid jobs. The average oil worker’s salary is $70,000.5 Estimates of the number of jobs created by the Marcellus Shale gas industry vary, with an August 2011 Pennsylvania College of Technology study putting the number of direct and indirect jobs as high as 23,844 in 20096 and the July 2011 Penn State study citing 67,000 in 2010.7 What these and other studies agree upon is that the Marcellus Shale gas industry creates jobs.

According to Penn College’s study, each well sustains about 150 different occupations, from roustabouts to welders, title searchers and maintenance.8 The good news about these jobs is that, contrary to what some critics are saying, they’re not temporary. In fact, most are generational, creating steady employment for decades.

RIPPLE EFFECT

As indicated by these employment statistics, the natural gas industry creates jobs directly and indirectly, sending beneficial economic ripples throughout the region. Consider, for instance Penn State’s estimates that “23,730 jobs have been created in construction trade, 16,581 in retail trade, 14,886 in mining, 12,815 in health and social services, 11,042 in professional services, 9,974 in wholesale trade, and 7,767 in hotel and food services.”

Pennsylvania’s leaders are touting this ripple effect in their state. While touring U.S. Steel’s Irvin plant in March, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley said: “If you’re going to drill for gas, you’re going to need steel. Steel for drilling rigs, steel for platforms, steel for pipelines. Clearly, this is a great opportunity for Pennsylvania.”

According to Scott Buckiso of U.S. Steel, mills are now running 24 hours a day to keep up with the demand for steel tubing. Buckiso estimated that about 20 percent of the Irvin mill’s production is dedicated to the gas industry, more than double what it was a few years ago.

Cawley also noted the impact on other industries related to the steel mill, such as Dura Bond Pipe, which is now building a $12 million steel pipe coating facility to handle the extra work from Pennsylvania’s steel mills.

The result of this ripple effect has been to help Pennsylvania achieve an unemployment rate below the national average for the last several years. As of January, the state’s unemployment rate was 7.6 percent, as compared with the national average of 8.3 percent.

COMMUNITIES BENEFIT

The positive economic ripples created by the Marcellus Shale gas industry travel far and wide, boosting local businesses along with tax revenues. The Pennsylvania College of Technology estimates that for every dollar spent by a drilling company, another $1.80 to $1.90 is spent by a consumer or a business.

Penn State’s study estimates that the Marcellus development has created more than $500 million in added value in the retail trade, finance and insurance, health, and social services industries, with another $200 million in the transportation, information, administrative services, and hotel and food services industries.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition has even created an online directory of local businesses, manufacturers and other professionals to help gas producers “buy local” and to make oil companies more accessible to individuals and businesses interested in becoming part of the supply chain. According to the coalition’s website, Marcellus on Main Street is a business directory “designed to support responsible shale gas development by connecting the natural gas industry, and its employees, to local vendors, suppliers and services — no matter how small a business may be.”

Total spending by the Marcellus gas industry for 2008, 2009 and 2010 came to more than $21 billion, at least 95 percent of which occurred in Pennsylvania.

EVERYONE SAVES

Job creation, increased consumer and business spending, and additional tax revenues aren’t the only beneficial ripples from increased Marcellus Shale gas production. As Marcellus natural gas production rises, natural gas prices fall. This doesn’t mean lower prices only for household use of natural gas; it also means lower prices for electricity. Lower gas and electric prices, in turn, increase consumer spending power.

The Penn State study found a 12.6 percent reduction in natural gas prices due to higher output from the Marcellus Shale in 2010 — translating to a decline in total energy expenditures by $633 million. “In other words, without the Marcellus, consumers would be paying more than $633 million in additional energy costs,” notes the Penn State study.18

The study continues, “From the house-hold perspective, reductions in energy expenditures act like a tax cut for the Penn-sylvania economy, increasing discretionary income.”19

INCREASED PRODUCTION EQUALS IMPROVED INFRASTRUCTURE

Before wells can be drilled and natural gas from the Marcellus reserves can be transported, many Pennsylvania roads require improvement in order to handle the load of the heavy equipment and materials.

According to the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, the Marcellus Shale gas industry has invested $411 million in road improvements since 2008.20 In February, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, R, signed into law HB 1950, which allows counties to impose an impact fee on well drilling for up 10 years.

The Corbett administration estimates that the fee will generate up to $180 million in the first year alone,22 with money primarily earmarked for costs associated with regulating drilling and repairing and improving, roads and other infrastructure damaged or otherwise impacted by population growth, heavy machinery and truck traffic.

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

This is just the beginning. The Bipartisan Policy Center expects the Marcellus Shale to yield its reserves for the next 100 years.

In fact, because of new technologies allowing gas companies to access this formerly inaccessible shale gas reserve, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that the United States will become an exporter of natural gas by 2021.24 This bears repeating: The United States could soon be exporting natural gas.

As IHS Global Insight notes, improved shale gas recovery methods have dramatically changed the U.S. energy outlook in the space of only a couple of years. In 2010 shale gas already made up 27 percent of U.S. natural gas production. IHS Global expects shale gas to grow to 43 percent of U.S. natural gas production within the next five years, and to 60 percent by 2035.

The United States could soon be exporting natural gas.

The supply has been there all along, of course. As improvements in hydraulic fracturing, also called hydrofracking or fracking, improved the industry’s ability to tap those reserves, however, controversy over water contamination and environmental impact has kept drilling operations from reaching full potential.

What will change the debate is the aforementioned ripple effect. Lower prices associated with a domestic supply of natural gas and oil can have wide-ranging implications for energy prices and a variety of U.S. energy-intensive industries, from chemical, aluminum, steel, glass and cement to other manufacturing industries.

The key, of course, is for the United States to get out of its own way and allow gas companies to tap the vast domestic natural gas sources that are primarily reachable only through fracking.

OVERCOMING THE HYDROFRACKING MYTH

While some are still concerned about potential environmental impacts of fracking, the scientific evidence is cause for relief.

By far the greatest concern has been the effect of hydrofracking on the quality of groundwater, with claims of carcinogen-polluted water inflamed by dramatic accounts and misinterpretation of the data. The Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin in February published its findings from an exhaustive study of the claims versus the facts, concluding that there is little actual evidence of risk to aquifers.

“It appears that many of the water-quality changes observed in water wells in a similar time frame as shale gas operations may be due to mobilization of constituents that were already present in the wells by energy (vibrations and pressure pulses) put into the ground during drilling and other operations rather than by hydraulic fracturing fluids or leakage from the well casing,” the study said. “None of the water-well claims involve hydraulic fracturing fluid additives, and none of these constituents has been found by chemical testing of water wells.”

The study included a review of adverse health effects associated with the chemicals most commonly cited as potential pollutants due to hydrofracking. Interestingly, although fracking has been in use for more than 50 years, the studies have not found any direct evidence of health problems associated with these chemicals in gas and oil workers or people living near the drilling activity.

In addition, Aqua America completed independent testing of water near well sites in Pennsylvania and, as of March 2011, had found no evidence of any adverse impact on these water supplies.

A few facts about hydrofracking can go a long way toward countering the sometimes sensational (and unproven) claims:

• Fracking involves drilling down to levels of as much as 10,000 to 15,000 feet, far below the aquifer, which is only about 300 feet below the surface.

• Before any water, chemical and sand mixture is used to fracture the shale, a steel pipe encased in cement is laid through the well. This system ensures that the fracking mixture is delivered directly to the shale layers targeted for fracturing, 10,000 to 15,000 feet below the aquifer.

• The fracking mixture and the released oil or natural gas are then sucked back up through the protected wellbore and stored in surface reserve tanks. Some is filtered for reuse; some is disposed of at a regulated disposal center.

• The fracking mixture is 99.5 percent water, 0.5 percent chemical, and sand. Breitling Oil & Gas uses a chemical mix typically containing between 15 and 30 different chemicals, with an emphasis on chemicals that are considered safe for human consumption.

As in any human endeavor, there are varying levels of compliance with safety regulations, and human error can occur. Strict compliance with current regulations is sufficient to protect the aquifer while allowing American companies to tap into these rich U.S. reserves.

After years of high unemployment in Pennsylvania, the Marcellus shale gas reserves are turning the state’s economy around and creating a historic opportunity, the effects of which will reverberate in the form of increased prosperity for decades to come.

By Matthew Brown on May 03, 2012

With all the buzz over fracking—and the 86 percent drop in U.S. natural gas prices the boom has helped cause—you’d think the rest of the world would crash the party. Yet shale development in China, home to the world’s biggest unconventional gas resources, has been slower than predicted. Early enthusiasm faded in Poland after studies pegged drilling costs at three times higher than in the U.S. In 2011, Britain’s Cuadrilla Resources stopped fracking after some minor quakes were linked to its drilling in northwest England. The practice has been banned elsewhere. “When you think about how quickly shale gas became successful in North America, there might be a bit of an expectation for it to happen just as quickly outside of the U.S.,” says Robert Clarke of energy consultant Wood Mackenzie. “That just isn’t reality, unfortunately.”

Fracking involves pumping a cocktail of water, chemicals, and sand under pressure to fracture rocks and release deposits of gas and oil. U.S. gas deposits within shale fields are among the world’s cheapest to exploit, thanks to accommodating geology. European basins tend to be smaller and occur in shapes that are less cost-efficient to access, says Pawel Poprawa, formerly a geologist at the Polish Geological Institute. Projects in parts of the Northeast U.S. can turn a profit selling gas for $3 per million Btu. In Poland, the cost is likely closer to $9. That’s bad news for ExxonMobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), and other companies that grabbed 109 licenses in Poland in recent years in hopes of a U.S.-style gas gold rush.

A similar story is emerging in China where Exxon agreed last year to explore shale fields with China Petrochemical, Asia’s biggest refiner. Chinese shale deposits won’t produce substantial amounts of gas for about 10 years and will cost at least three times as much to drill as U.S. fields, says Chris Faulkner, chief executive officer of Breitling Oil & Gas. China aims to produce 6.5 billion cubic meters of shale gas by 2015 and set a target of 60 billion to 100 billion cubic meters by 2020. The U.S. produced 96 billion in 2009. “China will not have a shale gas revolution on the scale seen in the United States, and it is highly unlikely that China will achieve its target” by 2020, Fan Gao, a research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, wrote in a report in March. Hurdles include a population density five times that of the U.S., water availability of about one-fifth, and an immature oil-service industry and pipeline infrastructure. As China’s population becomes more aware of health and safety issues, environmental issues could also be a “showstopper,” she said.

France banned fracking in July, citing environmental concerns, and in October canceled exploration permits held by Total (TOT) and Schuepbach Energy. Bulgaria followed suit in January, stripping Chevron of a drilling license after protesters marched in the capital of Sofia.

The relatively slow development of shale abroad should benefit the U.S. Japanese utilities were paying $20.87 per million Btus for Yemeni gas in January—eight times U.S. gas prices at the time. The bigger the price gap, the greater the profit for shippers of gas from the U.S.

The bottom line: Fracking should remain a primarily American practice, because gas extraction costs in other nations can be nine times as high.

Brown is a reporter for Bloomberg News in London.

The new plan, which TransCanada submitted to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality on Wednesday, takes the Keystone project out of the deep freeze that began in January when Obama agreed with the recommendation of the State Department to reject the initial pipeline application.

That federal approval is necessary because the pipeline, which will originate in Alberta, Canada, must cross the border for oil to reach gulf coast refineries.

Environmentalists, already disposed to fight oil production, focused on concerns that the pipeline would harm Nebraska’s sensitive Sand Hills region. The formal effort by TransCanada and Nebraska officials to find a new route officially stopped with the president’s January announcement. This past week, state law makers in Nebraska approved legislation allowing for the review process to resume.