Russia Orders Military Exercise..

[kato13]

Originally Posted by Olefin

Actually they have a big one - embargo the Russians - it means the US supporting the needs of the Europeans for natural gas and I am not sure if we have enough ships to be able to do it - but if they can get enough of the European Union states and other countries to not buy their gas and oil then Putin is in major trouble

The Polish natural gas industry and infrastructure could also benefit from US technology, equipment, and know how. Fracking could be the key to breaking the energy grip the Russians have over Western Europe. I know the UK is considering increased fracking as well.

Fracking has been so politicized on both sides of the Atlantic. Even though IMO this is logical and in times of potential conflicts compromises should be made, I still see this being a very tough sell.

[RN7]

Originally Posted by kato13

The Polish natural gas industry and infrastructure could also benefit from US technology, equipment, and know how. Fracking could be the key to breaking the energy grip the Russians have over Western Europe. I know the UK is considering increased fracking as well.

Fracking has been so politicized on both sides of the Atlantic. Even though IMO this is logical and in times of potential conflicts compromises should be made, I still see this being a very tough sell.

The Russians and OPEC are already starting to get worried about the potential of American oil and gas oil shale that is being tapped through fracking. America's oil and gas shale reserves are so big they could potentially eliminate the monopoly that Russia and OPEC states have over the worlds energy supply.

Shale gas and oil reserves are also found in very large quantities in other countries notably Russia, China and Argentina among others. But America has a very significant advantage over the rest of the world in exploiting shale oil and gas for five main reasons; geology, technology, incentive, infrastructure and water. Fracking is still in its infancy but through current production from 14 major shale fields in the United States; notably Bakken in North Dakota and the Barnett and Eagle Ford in Texas; America has already overtaken Russia as the biggest producer of natural gas in the world and will soon overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest producer of oil. By the 2030's America is projected to be entirely energy self sufficient. These figures are only based on what's being produced from active shale fields and conventional oil fields in the United States, but American industry is already retooling around petrochemicals because of it. But the biggest oil shale fields in America and the world hasn't even been touched yet, as they lie on federal lands beneath US western states. The Piceance Basin, the Uintah Basin and the Green River Formation of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming are believed to hold between 1.5 to 3 trillion barrels of recoverable shale oil, which on the lower figure is five times the conventional oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.

Good news for us, and hard luck OPEC and Russia.

[kato13]

Originally Posted by RN7

Shale gas and oil reserves are also found in very large quantities in other countries notably Russia, China and Argentina among others. But America has a very significant advantage over the rest of the world in exploiting shale oil and gas for five main reasons; geology, technology, incentive, infrastructure and water. Fracking is still in its infancy but through current production from 14 major shale fields in the United States; notably Bakken in North Dakota and the Barnett and Eagle Ford in Texas; America has already overtaken Russia as the biggest producer of natural gas in the world and will soon overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest producer of oil. By the 2030's America is projected to be entirely energy self sufficient. These figures are only based on what's being produced from active shale fields and conventional oil fields in the United States, but American industry is already retooling around petrochemicals because of it. But the biggest oil shale fields in America and the world hasn't even been touched yet, as they lie on federal lands beneath US western states. The Piceance Basin, the Uintah Basin and the Green River Formation of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming are believed to hold between 1.5 to 3 trillion barrels of recoverable shale oil, which on the lower figure is five times the conventional oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.

Good news for us, and hard luck OPEC and Russia.

Yeah th US is swimming in Natural Gas and will be for a LONG time. The biggest problem is transport. Ships are not as economically feasible for transporting gas as they are with oil. A trans Atlantic pipeline has been mentioned, but it has gotten about as much serious attention as a space elevator.

[Olefin]

Keep in mind that the US doesnt buy oil from the Russians - we buy some minerals but not much really - for an embargo to work the US has to get the EU to sign onto it and the former Eastern Bloc countries - and that means being ready to step up to the bar with natural gas -

Putin right now is only staying in power because of the petrodollars and gas dollars - cut into that and he is in big trouble very fast

[RN7]

Originally Posted by kato13

Yeah th US is swimming in Natural Gas and will be for a LONG time. The biggest problem is transport. Ships are not as economically feasible for transporting gas as they are with oil. A trans Atlantic pipeline has been mentioned, but it has gotten about as much serious attention as a space elevator.

Shale gas is only the first phase of this. US East Coast LNG refineries that were importing large volumes of natural gas from OPEC countries as little as five years ago have stopped importing due to the volumes of shale gas now being produced in America, and are converting to export terminals. Gas hungry Europe is lining up to import American gas and the Russians are worried, and there is talk about exporting it to even more gas hungry Asia as well. Oil will be the next phase and this will kill OPEC and could lead to the US pulling its forces out of the Middle East who's importance will become redundant to America for energy supplies.

[kato13]

How is Europe set up for offloading? It looks like 3-4 ships a day could offset the volume of Russian gas, but I am expecting it would require a total revamping of the distribution network. West to East rather than the other way around.

[RN7]

Originally Posted by kato13

How is Europe set up for offloading? It looks like 3-4 ships a day could offset the volume of Russian gas, but I am expecting it would require a total revamping of the distribution network. West to East rather than the other way around.

A lot of the OPEC gas that used to be shipped to America has been diverted to the European market so they already have an alternative source if things turn tasty. Europe is mainly a gas importer so they already have the infrastructure in place.

[stormlion1]

Shipping wise the US doesn't have enough ships to send anything to Europe large scale. The US and the EU would have to depend on short-term foreign flag carriers and there are not many set up for that kind of transport. That being said, shipyards across the planet would quickly receive orders for ships to carry product across the Atlantic, good for the ship building industry. The only other real option would be to build that long made fun of pipeline across the Atlantic. Of course they could do it from Newfoundland to Greenland down to Iceland and across to Europe from there. Only sections would be underwater and the rest on land. Only problem would be the Environmentalist screaming bloody murder and the potential for some foreign power in attempting to cut that pipeline at some point.

[RN7]

Originally Posted by stormlion1

Shipping wise the US doesn't have enough ships to send anything to Europe large scale. The US and the EU would have to depend on short-term foreign flag carriers and there are not many set up for that kind of transport. That being said, shipyards across the planet would quickly receive orders for ships to carry product across the Atlantic, good for the ship building industry. The only other real option would be to build that long made fun of pipeline across the Atlantic. Of course they could do it from Newfoundland to Greenland down to Iceland and across to Europe from there. Only sections would be underwater and the rest on land. Only problem would be the Environmentalist screaming bloody murder and the potential for some foreign power in attempting to cut that pipeline at some point.

I couldn't see any US president signing off on a Trans-Atlantic oil or gas pipeline stretching from Newfoundland across to Greenland and Iceland and then terminating in England or France. It is probably feasible to build one but imagine what would happen if the there was a big oil leak under the Atlantic Ocean such as in the Grand Banks and it started killing off all the fish!

Among European countries only Denmark and the Netherlands are self sufficient in gas, and of the major European economies only Britain has large gas resources and that only meets half of its needs. I think there are about 400 LNG carriers afloat around the world at the moment. I don't know who owns them but I suspect all of the American and British supermajor oil companies have a few as well as the traditional main shipping countries in Europe and Asia.