Bloomberg is reporting that bottlenecks on the U.S. natural shale gas superhighway are starting to stack up, raising concerns about whether the infrastructure can be built fast enough to meet surging supplies.
Shale gas output will expand by 24 billion cubic feet, or 32 percent, through 2025 from last year, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates. To support that growth, the country’s shale gas industry needs to spend $170 billion over the next seven years on pipelines, compressor stations, export terminals and other related infrastructure, said Meg Gentle, chief executive officer of shale gas exporter Tellurian Inc.
“One threat to the U.S. being able to export LNG and expand its export capability is the overall commitment to invest in infrastructure to move natural gas,” Gentle said in an interview at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Future of Energy Summit in New York last Tuesday.
It’s a warning that for parts of the country the pipeline woes aren’t over yet. Appalachian producers have been grappling for the better part of the shale boom of the past decade with limited pipeline access. Spot prices there slumped to record lows last year and have started to rebound as new capacity starts up.
Permian Problem
Now the Permian Basin, known for its oil-rich layers of rock, is facing the threat of having to slow down the output of crude because drillers lack the capacity to handle all the shalegas that’s flowing as a mere byproduct.
For companies building multibillion-dollar plants to chill gas into a liquid and ship it abroad, the abundance of cheap shale gas from the Permian in West Texas is an advantage. Developments there “will happen” because it’s an environment supportive to energy infrastructure, she said. That may not happen fast enough for Appalachia.
Producers are getting increasingly concerned about worsening pipeline constraints, Drillinginfo co-founder Allen Gilmer said during a panel at the BNEF summit. It’s harder for the industry to get its hands around this because these limits aren’t being driven by operating or engineering issues but more by “social change and cultural conditions,” he said.
SOURCE: Bloomberg Markets | By Naureen S Malik | bloom.bg/2qFJMPU
Shale gas is natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Shale gas has become an increasingly important source of natural gas in the United States since the start of this century, and interest has spread to potential gas shales in the rest of the world. In 2000 shale gas provided only 1% of U.S. natural gas production; by 2010 it was over 20% and the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration predicts that by 2035, 46% of the United States’ natural gas supply will come from shale gas.
