Qatar Exec: Shale Gas Not Cheap, Copious
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
11 November 2010
By Elwin Green
An energy executive from Qatar, a tiny Middle Eastern nation whose
energy resources have helped to propel it to second in the world in
per-capita GDP, raised the slightest of cautionary flags Wednesday
regarding the prospects for Marcellus Shale natural gas.
Issa Shahin Al-Ghanim, director of strategic planning and policy for
Qatar Petroleum, speaking at the Pittsburgh Middle East Institute's
third annual business conference, said that while some in the energy
industry view the geologic formation underlying much of Pennsylvania as
an industry game-changer, not everyone does.
Future development of the Marcellus Shale will mean drilling far from
existing infrastructure and will involve still-unknown geology, he
said, leading some to the view that "shale gas is neither plentiful nor
cheap."
His comments, along with some by Atef Al-Mohsin, petroleum engineering
manager with RasGas Co. Limited, of Qatar, ran counter to the overall
tone of a subsequent panel discussion, which largely offered positive
assessments of Marcellus Shale drilling.
In addition to Mr. Al-Mohsin, the panel, titled "The Big Drill: Getting
Marcellus Right," featured John R. Duda, director of the Strategic
Center for Natural Gas and Oil at the National Energy Technology
Laboratory in South Park; Kelvin Gregory, associate professor of civil
and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon; Venkee Sharma,
president and CEO of Aquatech International in Coraopolis; and Ray N.
Walker, chairman of the Marcellus Shale Coalition and senior vice
president, Marcellus Shale Division, Range Resources Corp.
Without denying the potential of the shale formation under
Pennsylvania, Mr. Al-Mohsin said technology was a key to success and
that optimal use of natural gas required "state-of-the-art equipment."
In an interview afterward, he said that would mean going beyond the
current practices of drilling and hydraulic fracturing being used in
the Marcellus. Those practices require continually drilling new wells
because their production declines rapidly, he said, so producers should
invest heavily in new technology.
"There is a limit to how many wells you can drill," he said.
Mr. Al-Ghanim's keynote address also touched on the impact of investors
on energy markets."Markets used to be dominated by oil producers and
their customers, people with 20-year horizons," he said. "Now they've
been dominated by financial investors with horizons as short as 20
minutes, or even 20 milliseconds."
The resulting volatility in prices makes it more difficult for both
producers and buyers to conduct business, he said.
The conference also included panel discussions on renewable energy and
sustainability. The concluding event was a speech Wednesday night by
former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright.
The Pittsburgh Middle East Institute (http://pittsburghmideastinstitute.org)
was founded in 2008 by Simin Yazdgerdi Curtis, with the mission of
promoting business, educational and cultural ties between Pittsburgh
and the countries of the Middle East.
Elwin Green: egreen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1969.