Across the nation, America’s independent oil and natural gas producers are safely developing our vast natural resources to provide the energy our country needs. As IPAA highlighted in this week’s Declaration of Independents, from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale to the Niobrara play in Colorado – technology, innovation, and hard work has led to record breaking oil production, creating thousands of jobs and enhancing our energy security in the process.
And plenty of folks have taken notice. Here’s what they’re saying:
In Kansas:
- “Hundreds of workers seeking high-paying jobs are flocking to places like Harper County, which had resorted to paying people to live there because of its declining population. Businesses are coming back from the dead. Oil companies began exploring Southern Kansas over a year ago, seeing enormous potential in the area now that new technologies like horizontal drilling and fracking have made it possible to tap into the oil-rich Mississippian Limestone formation…Wherever oil is being tapped, the jobs soon follow.” (CNN, 5/23/12).
North Dakota:
- “North Dakota has passed Alaska to become the No. 2 oil-producing state in the country, reflecting how the embrace of new drilling technology is redrawing the U.S. energy map. North Dakota’s daily production of oil rose 3.1% to 575,490 barrels in March, according to preliminary state data, 1.4% more than Alaska’s daily production of 567,480 barrels for the month.” (Wall Street Journal, 5/15/12)
- “North Dakota could double its oil production by 2015 to more than 1 million barrels daily, putting it on par with Texas “if everything goes our way,” the state’s top oil regulator told industry and government officials Wednesday.” (Associated Press, 5/23/12)
- Record breaking attendance at Williston Basin Petroleum Council Expo: “’It speaks to the fact that North Dakota is really becoming recognized as a place to come and do business,’ Ness said…This year, the conference’s 340 exhibition booths sold out in 17 minutes, Ness said. Many attendees are from small businesses that are looking to grow their companies. ‘Primarily, people are here to find their niche in the Bakken,’ Ness said.” (Grand Forks Herald, 5/23/12)
Pennsylvania:
- “Between 2009 and 2011, Pennsylvania’s natural gas production more than quadrupled due to expanded horizontal drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing. This drilling activity, which is concentrated in shale formations that cover a broad swath of the state, mirrors trends seen in the Barnett shale formation in Texas.” (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 5/23/12)
- “Horizontal drilling boosts Pennsylvania’s natural gas production. Between 2009 and 2011, Pennsylvania’s natural gas production more than quadrupled due to expanded horizontal drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing.” (The Financial, 5/22/12)
Colorado:
- “Noble Energy Inc. is expanding its operations in Colorado with $8 billion in investment over the next five years. The company is developing horizontal wells that stretch nearly two miles through the oil-rich Niobrara formation, which lies beneath a big swatch of eastern Colorado… “We are continuing to ramp up and invest” in the Niobrara, Chuck Davidson, Noble’s chief executive officer said in an interview. “This is a major area for us.” The company is spending $1.3 billion in Colorado in 2012 — about a third of its capital — and plans to spend a total of $8 billion over the next five years, Davidson said. Noble is one of three major drillers in the Colorado portion of the Niobrara. The others are Anadarko Petroleum and EOG Resources.” (Denver Post, 5/22/12).
Ohio:
- “Ohio’s natural gas and oil production potential is massive, and there are ways to secure the energy resources for the future…David Mansbery, president and founder of Duck Creek Energy, said the hydraulic fracturing is a necessary part of securing our energy future. He said the shale in Ohio and Pennsylvania is important to the entire country. Mansbery cited what he called recent studies that show the energy reserves in that shale is immense. ‘We do contain the reserves of Saudi Arabia,’ Mansbery said.” (ABC 5, 5/17/12)
Oklahoma
- “Economist Russell Evans, executive director of Oklahoma City University’s Steven C. Agee Economic Research and Policy Institute, said the oil and gas industry helped Oklahoma weather the recession better than most other states. ‘Oklahoma continues to be defined by its oil and gas industry,’ he said. Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association Chairman Bob Sullivan said producers understand the importance of their contribution to the state’s economy. ‘We know that we are being counted on to produce for Oklahoma,’ he said. The oil and gas industry’s input to Oklahoma’s economy in 2011 totaled more than $61 billion, or about $1 of every $3 in the gross state product, Evans said. That figure comes from adding the industry’s direct and indirect output to the spending of its 344,000 workers in Oklahoma.” (The Oklahoman, 5/10/12)
Even in Massachusetts:
- “Clean Harbors is just one example of how the unlocking of natural gas reserves hundreds of miles away promises to benefit Massachusetts companies and the state economy. At first glance, the abundant supplies in Northeast shale formations offer lower energy costs for businesses and consumers; Lexington forecasting firm IHS Global Insight estimates that lower natural gas prices will save households an average of $926 a year through 2015. But as Clean Harbors also shows, booming gas production is providing a market for one of the state’s main exports: expertise. Consulting, financial services, and even technology firms are finding new customers in the shale industry.” (Boston Globe, 5/23/12).