Statoil is one of the large companies being investigated by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee to see if the gas extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a hazard to groundwater drinking supplies.
See also: Sabrina Shankman and Abrahm Lustgarten. Congress Launches Investigation Into Gas Drilling Practices. 19 Feb 2010. ProPublica.
Two of the largest companies involved in natural gas drilling have acknowledged pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel-based fluids into the ground in the process of hydraulic fracturing, raising further concerns that existing state and federal regulations don’t adequately protect drinking water from drilling.
Sabrina Shankman and Abrahm Lustgarten. Congress Launches Investigation Into Gas Drilling Practices. 19 Feb 2010. ProPublica.
Statoil is a multinational energy corporation based in Norway. In 2008, Statoil acquired a 32.5% interest in the Marcellus shale gas acreage from Chesapeake Energy Corporation.
The holding covers 1.8 million acres in the Appalachian region of the north-eastern USA.
The acquisition is part of a strategic agreement between the two companies to jointly explore unconventional gas opportunities worldwide.
The agreement covers more than 32,000 leases in the states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and Ohio. Chesapeake plans to continue acquiring leases in the Marcellus shale play. Statoil has the right to a 32.5% participation in any such additional leasehold.
With this transaction Statoil has acquired future, recoverable equity resources in the order of 2.5-3.0 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe). Statoil’s equity production from the Marcellus shale gas play is expected to increase to at least 50,000 boe per day in 2012 and at least 200,000 boe per day after 2020.
Both companies believe that the development programme could support the drilling of 13,500 to 17,000 horizontal wells over the next 20 years.
StatOil (2010)
See also: Marcellus Shale Gas StatOil Web Page (archived)
See: Energy & Commerce Committee Investigates Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing
See: Hydraulic Fracturing: History of an Enduring Technology
See: Natural gas: the commodity world’s ugly duckling
See: Chevron Human Energy Stories | Addressing Climate Change
See: Halliburton
See: BJ Services
See: Schlumberger
See: Superior Well Services – Products – Fracturing Systems
See: Universal Well Services, Inc.
See: Sanjel Corporation
