Marcellus Shale - Opportunities ahead...

Great information for those looking for opportunities in different fields. From transportation to enegy, without forgetting about environmental.

Marcellus Shale

Information provided by Dave Yoxtheimer, Penn State University, Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research  (August 2011)

General Marcellus Shale Facts

·       The Marcellus Shale region covers 95,000 square miles which encompasses 6 states. Of these states, Pennsylvania covers the most area

·       The shale is found at 9,000 feet deep and is only 250 feet thick

·       500 Trillion cubic feet of gas is recoverable over its life

·       Marcellus Shale could supply current US demand for 20+ years

·       Natural gas is used for 50% of home heating currently

·       Natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel

·       There are two dozen shale plays across the US

·       Marcellus Shale is the second largest gas play in the world, second only to the oil field in Iran/Qatar

·       Utica Shale can be found 2,000-3,000 feet below the Marcellus Shale

·       Dry Gas

o   More pure methane

o   Found more in eastern PA

o   Highest yield is in Bradford County; also located in Tioga and Susquehanna Counties

·       Wet gas

o   Contains methane, ethane, propane, butane

o   Costs more to refine but has more commodities available for individual sale, such as plastics

o   Found more in western PA

o   Washington, Green and Fayette counties have large supplies of wet gas

·       In the first 2 – 3 years of the well being tapped, approximately 50% of the gas is recovered

·       Permits take approximately 1 month

·       Transportation is a major expense

Marcellus Shale Drilling

·        3,600 wells drilled to date. Less than half of these are online and producing due to economics

·       1,600 Marcellus wells currently in operation

·       3,000 -4,000 wells per year drilled are predicted

·       Marcellus Shale pads

o   Generally require 6 acres to be cleared

o   Actual well pad is 3-4 acres for equipment and wells on one footprint

o   One pad can hold 6-12 wells, each accessing 2 square miles from one well pad

·       Extra casing and concrete is used closer to the top of the well to protect ground water area

·       Hydrochloric acid is used to clean the well bore to reduce friction in drilling

·       It takes approximately 6 months to build and drill the well

Water Used and Treatment in Marcellus Shale Drilling

·       Almost 2/3 of daily water use is for thermoelectric water

·       8 – 10 Million gallons of water is used each day for fracking

·       10-20% of water used in fracking returns to the surface

·       Flow back treatment options

o   Direct reuse

o   Onsite treatment with reuse

o   Offsite treatment with reuse

o   Offsite treatment and disposal

·       Chemical precipitation, evaporation and filtration are some technologies being used for treatment

·       Approximately 2/3 of the water that returns to the surface is treated, recycled and reused

·       Great opportunity lies with water treatment and varying technologies and sites

·       Pennsylvania does not permit deep underground injection; no disposal into deep wells.

·       May 2011- Governor Corbett mandated that water treatment facilities must properly and adequately treat the fracking water. As a result, several water treatment facilities across PA did not meet these new standards. Only four facilities did of the 20 that were previously in operation; three in the northeastern PA and only one in southwestern PA.

·       Eureka Resources Plant in Williamsport is the only PA plant that can discharge to a stream because of high level of treatment

·       Three other water treatment facilities in PA are permitted to treat Marcellus Shale fracking water and give it back to the industry for reuse

o   Tara Aqua (Williamsport)

o   Blosburg (Tioga county)

o   Reserved Environmental Services Plant (Westmoreland county)

·       2 Million gallons per day of treatment capacity at permanent treatment facility now. This is only 50% capacity

·       There are mobile treatment units available and in use in the field as an alternative to the four qualified permanent water treatment facilities located across the state

·       Mobile units for water treatment are loosely regulated by the state currently

·       Approximately 25-35 mobile units in the field now

·       Taking out metals in water treatment costs:

o   $0.10-$0.15 / gallon – taking out metals for reuse by industry

o   $0.25-$0.30 / gallon – talking out metals and treating the remaining water for return to streams

·       Disposal of fracking water

o   Deep injection sites in Ohio, which is below Marcellus Shale level

o   Sludge is dewatered and taken to landfills that can track radiation levels

·       Water management plan is part of the permitting process

·       Wastewater treatment plans are subcontracted as part of the plan. They also must have a plan (and usually another subcontractor) for disposal of water or sludge

Other opportunities

·       Cracker plant – converts gas to ethane to ethylene for plastics manufacturing

·       Steel making and refractory industries are growing as a result of wet gas

·       Subcontractors

o   Transportation of fracking water

o   Water treatment and new technologies

o   Sludge disposal

California HSR "Blended" Approach

It seems that the California High Speed Rail Authority is working hard in order to overcome all the challenges they are facing. By leveraging on existing infrastructures, HSR in California can be built faster and cheaper.  Please find the latest Statements from the HSR authority. STATEMENTS ON “BLENDED” APPROACH IN CALTRAIN CORRIDOR SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California High-Speed Rail Board Chairman Dan Richard addresses the issue of blended services in the Caltrain corridor: “We’re very interested in enhancing connections between high-speed rail and local transit and other transportation systems. The Governor has told us he wants a plan that will get high-speed rail trains on the track sooner and in a less costly manner than previous plans called for.  If that can be accomplished by electrifying Caltrain’s lines and using that right-of-way, then it’s certainly something we want to consider,' Richard said. “We will still begin construction in the Central Valley.  Some of our plans already call for blending high speed rail with local and regional transportation systems like Caltrain and Metrolink in Los Angeles.  This will result in building high-speed rail better and faster. It will mean less disruption for communities, not to mention the costs that would be saved by taking this approach," Richard said. Concerns have been raised about the High-Speed Authority’s commitment to a blended system in which Caltrain and high-speed rail would share two tracks on the Peninsula, and the Authority is responding to these concerns. The concerns were reported in a Friday newspaper article focused on a recently released environmental impact report for the Bay Area to the Central Valley. The Revised Draft Program EIR is an important technical document prepared in accordance with CEQA requirements. Authority Board member Jim Hartnett added, “as was presented in the Authority’s Draft Business Plan released Nov. 1, and in subsequent discussion with key policymakers, the Authority is actively exploring a blended approach in the Caltrain corridor." Hartnett is a former chair of the Caltrain Joint Powers Board of Directors (San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties). The Authority has been working with Caltrain in studying how Caltrain and High-Speed Rail trains can operate together within the existing right of way. The agency is in the final stages of publishing a 2012 Revised Business Plan and anticipates considering this plan at its upcoming April 5 board meeting. “I believe the 2012 Revised Business Plan should further highlight the blended approach,” said Hartnett. California’s High-Speed Train Project      The California High-Speed Rail Authority is developing a San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles and Anaheim high-speed rail system that will operate at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour. The full system will connect all of the state’s major urban centers, including Sacramento and San Diego. Initial infrastructure construction will begin in the Central Valley, the backbone of the system, in 2012. The project will generate 100,000 construction job-years of employment over the next five years and nearly one million economy-wide job-years over the life of the project. The project is being funded through voter-approved state bonds, federal funding grants, local funding, and public-private partnerships.

HIGH-SPEED RAIL IDENTIFIES PROSPECTIVE DESIGN-BUILD CONTRACTORS

High Speed Rail in california moving as planned. 

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (RFQ) HSR11-16 NOTICE OF OFFEROR SHORTLIST

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has determined that the following firms have submitted qualified Statements of Qualifications as a result of Request for Qualifications HSR11-16, Initial Construction Section, and Construction Package #1. These firms will now be allowed to submit bids on the first segment of the high speed rail project in the Central Valley when the Request for Proposals (RFP) is released.

The companies on the high-speed rail design-build shortlist are listed in alphabetical order as follows:

•   California Backbone Builders (Ferrovial Agroman/Acciona)
•   California High-Speed Rail Partners (Fluor/Skanska/PCL)
•   California High-Speed Ventures (Kiewit/Granite/Comsa EMTE)
•   Dragados/Flatiron/Shimmick a Joint Venture
•   Tutor Perini/Zachery Construction/Parsons 

Opportunities for the PV industry in USA

In recent years, the U.S. market has been driven primarily by the non-residential sector, which accounted for over 50% of total installations through 2008. However, the utility sector has been gaining ground (28% market share in 2010) while residential remained relatively steady around 30% of total installations. In the longer term, the U.S. market has the potential to share three vibrant, growing market segments, each contributing a meaningful share of total demand.

- Residential installations fell slightly from Q1 2011 to Q2. This trend is disappointing, but should not be considered indicative of a long-term pattern for the residential market. Most state residential markets were virtually flat over Q1, but downward trends in Colorado, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania pulled down the total. Our forward-looking view on the outlook for the residential market is more positive, principally because the availability of residential third-party financing programs is growing.

- Non-residential installations grew substantially in Q2. However, this overall figure belies the varied trends among individual state markets. For example, California and Colorado non-residential installations fell substantially, while New Jersey and Pennsylvania grew sufficiently to overcome those losses. The outlook for the non-residential market is mixed, with likely continued high installation numbers through the rest of 2011, but far fewer new projects being signed up. In 2012, tax equity will certainly emerge as a bottleneck if the Section 1603 Treasury program is not extended again.

- Utility installations grew 37% to 50 MW in Q2. As always, quarterly installation figures for the utility market carry the least predictive value for future installations. A single 75 MW project could be completed in Q3, surpassing the Q2 total in one fell swoop. The largest project completed in Q2 was Dover SUN Park, an 11.2 MW single-axis tracking project in Delaware. The utility market is currently benefitting from the first half module price declines, which have improved the financial viability of a number of projects.

Infraestructuras españolas en EEUU, una labor constante

Durante este último año, hemos apoyado a los sectores de Infraestructuras y Energía españolas, impulsando y potenciando las relaciones entre diferentes instituciones y empresas a ambos lados del Atlántico, sobre todo en un Estado tan importante como California, que por sus exigencias a nivel medioambiental y energética (RPS: el 33% de la energía que se consuma en el año 2020 tendrá que venir de fuentes renovables), y el impulso que le están dando a proyectos de Infraestructuras como el Tren de Alta Velocidad, Metro, Cercanías, Puertos, Aeropuertos, Aguas y una importante inversión en mejoras de carreteras, se ha convertido en uno de los principales mercados a nivel mundial.

Hemos organizado un encuentro empresarial en Pennsylvania y California; invitamos a España  con el inestimable apoyo de la CEOE, a importantes autoridades del Estado de California relacionadas con el transporte (California Transportation Comission, San Francisco Transportation Authority, Metro LA, ...) para que vieran y se sorprendieran gratamente de las importantes obras de infraestructuras realizadas durante los últimos años en España, mostrándoles entre otras, obras como la M30, Metro Madrid, AVE, los centros de control de Renfe y Adif en Atocha, el túnel en construcción de la Sagrera en Barcelona, la innovadora línea 9 de Metro de Barcelona y el túnel que une Francia con España en Figueras/Perpiñan; además de mantener importantes reuniones con las principales asociaciones del sector, Ministerio de Fomento y autoridades regionales y locales para mostrarles el potencial y la capacidad de nuestra industria.

Hace tan sólo unos meses logramos que 30 miembros de la California Foundation for de Economy and the Environment (Senadores, Congresistas y máximos responsables de Instituciones y Corporaciones - California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E, AECOM, Grupo Edison, Sempra, Covanta, Calpine, Comcast, etc...- relacionados con la energía y las infraestructuras) visitaran España para conocer en detalle las capacidades de nuestras empresas y para tender puentes hacia la entrada de nuestras compañías en el que es a día de hoy uno de los principales mercados del mundo en estos dos sectores. 

Esta labor institucional es básica para el buen desarrollo internacional de nuestras empresas en estos dos sectores, sobre todo cuando se intenta acceder a un mercado tan complejo, pero a la vez tan atractivo como el Norteamericano, donde prácticamente todas las compañías del mundo están fijando su estrategia comercial. Es muy importante para el éxito de este tipo de acciones, tener en cuenta a las personas que van a decidir en el desarrollo de estos sectores en su Estado, lograr que conozcan bien las características de nuestras compañías, y desarrollar la labor de coordinación entre las diferentes autoridades que consiga que todos los interlocutores tengan un idioma común y manejen los mismos mensajes.

Lograr sorprender a las delegaciones, informar - no sobre-informar- y que les queden claro dos o tres mensajes claves sobre nuestras capacidades, la competitividad de nuestra industria y la diferenciación respecto a los mismos sectores de otros países, son objetivos que se han logrado, y en los cuales les damos continuidad con nuestra labor a ambos lados del Atlántico, identificando aquellas personas con poder de decisión, críticas en el desarrollo de las diferentes iniciativas en estos sectores, para seguir informándoles y mostrárles los impresionantes logros de estas industrias españolas.

Además de nuestras actividades institucionales, contamos con clientes a los cuales apoyamos en Estados Unidos a nivel estatal o nacional, según las estrategias de cada uno de nuestros clientes. Constructoras, Ingenierías y Empresas del sector de las Renovables, a las cuales apoyamos, ya se están implantando y accediendo al mercado gradualmente de una forma sólida y efectiva.