Southern Company brings Marcellus Shale gas to north Georgia
Customers of Atlanta Gas Light and other utilities in northwest Georgia will benefit from new shale natural gas supplies being brought on line by Williams Partners LP, parent company of Transco.
The 115-mile Dalton Expansion Project connects the existing Transco pipeline system in Coweta County with two new delivery points in Paulding and Murray counties in north Georgia. Southern Company Gas unveiled its 50-percent investment (approximately $210 million) in the Dalton Expansion Project and its intention to lease its capacity on the line to its subsidiary, Atlanta Gas Light, and other utility interests.
The pipeline was designed to transport approximately 448,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day, enough natural gas to meet the daily needs of about 2 million homes. The line will serve an Oglethorpe Power Corp. electric generating facility, the city of Cartersville and Atlanta Gas Light.
For more information, visit www.Atlantagaslight.com or call (404) 584-4165.
Evolving Oklahoma STACK play continues to draw interest
Despite the fact the Oklahoma Sooner Trend Anadarko Basin Canadian and Kingfisher County (STACK) oil and gas play is still evolving and its total potential is undetermined, evidence thus far indicates the play is delivering impressive results, leading operators to commit significant 2017 capital expenditure to its development, according to new analysis from IHS Markit.
"The Oklahoma STACK play is early in its development, but wells have shown great productivity," said Imre Kugler, associate director, energy research at IHS Markit and author of the "IHS Markit Plays and Basins: Oklahoma STACK" analysis. "Questions still remain regarding potential across various horizons; however, for operators with acreage and capital to test the play, economic upside exists, so the biggest six operators in the play are on track to invest more than $2.5 billion during 2017."
The STACK play is located in the northern Anadarko Basin, the deepest Phanerozoic basin on the North American craton.
For more information, visit www.Ihsmarkit.com or call (303) 305-8021.
U. S. shale oil production to reach 9 Mb/d by 2025
McKinsey Energy Insights (MEI) has released its North American Shale Oil Outlook. Under its price recovery scenario, which assumes West Texas Intermediate prices will hit $60-$70/bbl from 2019 onward, MEI expects shale drilling and completions to grow at 20 percent paid annually (p.a.) and production to increase at 12 percent p.a. through 2021. U. S. shale oil production is estimated to reach 9 million barrels per day (Mb/d) by 2025, but this could vary by 5.4 Mb/d depending on oil price scenarios.
MEI found operators have reduced drilling time by an average of five days while improving initial production (IP) by 33 percent from 2014 to 2016. Wells with better completion designs -- like high-proppant- volume wells -- have experienced 35-percent higher IP than average, but these gains are subject to additional costs due to water and sand sourcing. MEI forecasts the number of wells completed will grow at 21 percent p.a. until 2021, requiring total capital expenditure spend to increase 25 percent p. a. to reach 2014 spending levels.
For more information, visit www.Mckinseyenergyinsights.com or call (713) 751-4369.
EIA's Drilling Productivity Report adds Anadarko region
To provide more complete coverage of U.S. crude oil and natural gas production, EIA is expanding the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) to cover the Anadarko region, which covers most of the production from the Anadarko Basin in 24 counties in Oklahoma and five counties in Texas. Two other regions -- the Marcellus and the Utica -- have been combined into one Appalachia region.
Before including the Anadarko, the DPR reported on 73 percent of all active onshore rigs in the U.S.: 680 of the 928 onshore rigs nationwide as of July 2017. Including the 129 active rigs in the Anadarko region will increase the report's coverage to 87 percent of all active U.S. onshore rigs.
For more information, visit www.Eia.gov or call (202) 586-8800.
