2016 Shale Gas Reality Check explores how the EIA’s projections and assumptions regarding shale gas have changed over the last two years, and assesses the AEO2016 against both Drilling Deeper and up-to-date production data from key shale gas plays.
The transition to clean energy will not be a simple matter of replacing fossil fuels with renewables. Our Renewable Future is a clear-eyed and urgent guide to this transformation.
The COP21 conference in Paris in December 2015 was the biggest international agreement on climate change since Kyoto. Now comes the hard part of cutting greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to keep global average temperature rise under 1.5 degrees Celsius. Many leaders in the environmental and philanthropic communities say the best way to do this […]
In Bakken Reality Check: The Nation’s Number Two Tight Oil Play After a Year of Low Oil Prices, David Hughes—author of Drilling Deeper (which likely remains the most thorough independent analysis of U.S. shale gas and tight oil production ever conducted) and a number of other reports on North American shale gas and tight oil production—looks at how production in the Bakken has changed after a year of low oil prices.
In this update to Drilling Deeper, David Hughes explores how the EIA’s 2015 tight oil projections and assumptions have changed over the last year, and assesses the AEO2015 against both Drilling Deeper and up-to-date production data from key tight oil plays
In this update to Drilling Deeper, David Hughes explores how the EIA’s 2015 shale gas projections and assumptions have changed over the last year, and assesses the AEO2015 against both Drilling Deeper and up-to-date production data from key shale gas plays
Climate change, along with the depletion of oil, coal, and gas, dictate that we will inevitably move away from our profound societal reliance on fossil fuels; but just how big a transformation will this be? While many policy-makers assume that renewable energy sources will provide an easy “plug-and-play” solution, author Richard Heinberg suggests instead that […]
This is a Spanish translation of the Executive Summary of Post Carbon Institute’s report Drilling Deeper.
Drilling Deeper reviews the twelve shale plays that account for 82% of the tight oil production and 88% of the shale gas production in the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reference case forecasts through 2040. It utilizes all available production data for the plays analyzed, and assesses historical production, well- and field-decline rates, available drilling locations, and well-quality trends for each play, as well as counties within plays. Projections of future production rates are then made based on forecast drilling rates (and, by implication, capital expenditures). Tight oil (shale oil) and shale gas production is found to be unsustainable in the medium- and longer-term at the rates forecast by the EIA, which are extremely optimistic.
It is time to take an honest look at our energy predicament and change course. If we don’t, and soon, it’s likely that we’ll find ourselves in a world starved of energy, resources and even basic sustenance. How often do any of us stop to think – really think – about what powers the world around us? Post Carbon Institute asked […]