Vermont Will Be First U.S. State to Ban Fracking

"We don't want to be shooting chemicals into our groundwater in pursuit of gas that does not exist," Governor Shumlin said Friday after the House vote.
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Berlin is opposed to plans to use the controversial fracking process to extract natural gas in Germany

Germany has put the brakes on plans to use hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, to extract natural gas in places where it is difficult to access, such as shale or coal beds. Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen and Economy Minister Philipp Rösler have agreed to oppose the controversial process for the time being, SPIEGEL has learned.

Sources in the German government said that the ministers were "very skeptical" about fracking, which injects chemicals as well as sand and water into the ground to release natural gas. "There are many open questions which we will first have to carefully examine," Rösler told close associates.

With their stance, the two ministers are opposing plans by energy companies to use the fracking process to tap into deposits of natural gas in shale, especially in northern and eastern Germany. In order to access the gas, the shale needs to be fractured using a mixture of hot water, sand and chemical additives, some of which are poisonous. Environmental groups reject the use of the technology, saying that the chemicals used can contaminate drinking water.

Local Protests

Last week, the energy giant ExxonMobil presented a study by the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research, in which researchers expressed their support for test drilling in the states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Local environmental groups in the affected regions have already got into gear, setting up citizens' initiatives to collect signatures for petitions and organize protests in a bid to block the fracking plans. Activists fear that the chemicals could pollute the local groundwater.

Fracking has been widely used in the US, where production of natural gas has sharply increased in recent years as the use of hydraulic fracturing becomes more widespread. Earlier this month, President Barack Obama's administration unveiled new regulations to improve transparency on the chemicals used during fracking on public land.

Source: speigel

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) may witness a “marginal” increase in its KG offshore development cost

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) may witness a “marginal” increase in its KG offshore development cost from the initially estimated $1.7 billion (approximately Rs 8,800 crore at the current exchange value) due to recent amendments in drilling technology to manage the high pressure and temperature of the reservoir.

First gas from KG-OSN-2001/3, the field has been rechristened as “Deen-Dayal,” is expected in 2013. Peak output from the find is estimated to reach 5.7-8.6 million metric standard cubic metre a day (mmscmd).

Though located in shallow water, development of the gas find is considered “challenging” due to twin hurdles of temperature and pressure. The field development plan (FDP) was approved by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons in November 2009.

According to sources, GSPC has already drilled the “top-hole” section of the four production wells, out of the proposed 15, by using a jack-up rig Deep Sea Driller – I, costing $ 100,000 a day. To drill the final section of the reservoir wall by using a cheaper ($62,000 a day) platform-rig, GSPC has roped in Blade Energy to adopt managed pressure drilling (MPD) technology, which was not part of the original FDP.

Source: Business Line

KG D6 on Wiki

Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KG-D6_Gas_Scam

Chawla committe finds fault with Production Sharing Contract (PSC)

Chawla committee notes the fault line is the PSC between operator RIL and Government.The relationship between the pre-tax investment multiple (PTIM) and the share of contractor profit petroleum changes dramatically once the PTIM crosses 2.5, with the government's share increasing from 28 per cent to 85 per cent. There is thus an incentive for bidder higher PTIM in the bid but work towards lower in actual.
Source: Economic Times

CAG questions enhanced capital expenditure of RIL

What is this controversy about?


Government is the owner and RIL is the contractor of KG gas.Government gets its share of revenue after deduction expenditure of the operator, the higher the expenses lower will be plus to share. RIL claimed increase in capital expenditure from $2.4 billio to $8.8 billion DG Hydrocarbons and Minsitry approved the same between September and December 2006. Analysts were puzzled with this claim as there was no corresponding increase in out put, which plateaued (for D6 block) at 55mmscmd as against production target of 80mmscmd.   

The draft CAG report makes three significant charges:

• First, that the Government gave RIL and Cairn unjustified deadline extensions for the completion of exploration, ranging from three months to 12 months at a time.
• Second, the Government allowed RIL and Cairn to retain unexplored contract areas which ought to have been returned to the Government, and re-auctioned, after a given (in the contract) point in time.
• Third, RIL inflated its capital expenditure requirements by 117 per cent between 2004 and 2006, which cost the Government revenue.

Source: India Today

Power cuts in AP and KG gas availability

AP is reeling under power cuts. Where is the problem?
As per reports, Andhra Pradesh has gas-based power generation capacity of 2,700 MW but due to inadequate pipeline infrastructure produces only about 1900 MW. At the same time there is news on Reliance and GAIL swapping deal valid May 31-  Reliance will supply nearly 2.6 million cubic metres a day (mmscmd) of gas, currently used by customers in Gujarat, to power producers in Andhra Pradesh. This will result in generation of 600MW of power.

If pipe line capacity is a constraint, how  is this additional quantity distributed. If this additional quantity is coming thru existing pipeline, why make this a temporary arrangement?