A Numerical Analysis of Optimal Extraction and Trade of Oil under Climate Policy

We introduce endogenous investments for increasing conventional and non-conventional oil extraction capacity in the integrated assessment model WITCH. The international price of oil emerges as the Nash equilibrium of a non-cooperative game. When carbon emissions are not constrained, oil is used throughout the century, with unconventional oil taking over conventional oil from mid-century onward. When carbon emissions are constrained, oil consumption drops dramatically and the oil price is lower than in the BaU. Unconventional oil is not extracted. Regional imbalances in the distribution of stabilisation costs are magnified and the oil-exporting countries bear, on average, costs three times larger than in previous estimates.Climate Policy, Integrated Assessment, Oil Production, Oil Revenues, Oil Trade

Regulating Unconventional Oil and Gas Production: Towards an International Sustainability Framework

Many of the emerging literatures on unconventional oil and gas production have taken the form of arguing for and against its positive and negative impacts. Studies have taken the form of exploring how it could result in increased energy production, energy security, financial returns and profits to local entities, increased investments in priority sectors, and generation of local employment opprtunities. On the other side, there have been explorations of the costs of fracking to the environment, human health, long term sustainability and contamination of drill sites. Less attention have been paid to exploring the possibilities of an International framework through which we could achieve a win-win scenario, i.e maximizing the economic potentials of unconventional oil and gas by reducing the environmental side effects. This paper discusses an International framework built on the theory of sustainable development, through which the environmental concerns associated with unconventional oil and gas production can be addressed

The Development of Non-Conventional Oil and Gas in Indonesia: Case Study on Hydrocarbon Shale

Oil and gas fuel from unconventional types of reservoirs was the development of alternative sources in addition to oil and gas fuels from conventional type reservoirs that can be obtained to meet domestic needs. The development of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs has developed rapidly outside Indonesia, such as in North America and Canada. One type of unconventional oil and gas reservoir was obtained from shale rock reservoirs. Hydrocarbon shale produced from shale formations, both source from rock and reservoir. This unconventional hydrocarbon has a big potential to be utilized. In this study, an analysis of the development of unconventional oil and gas from Shale Hydrocarbons carried out in Indonesia. This research included the distribution of shale reservoir basins, the number of unconventional shale reservoir resources, factors affecting the development of unconventional oil and gas in shale reservoirs in Indonesia, efforts made by the government to promote exploration activities, exploitation of shale reservoirs in Indonesia, and existing regulations for non-conventional oil and gas. The development of unconventional oil and gas reservoir shale needed to be developed immediately and will attract investors to meet domestic needs for renewable energy needs. From the geological data obtained, there were 6 basins and 11 formations that analyzed for commercialization. Tanjung and Batu Kelau Formation was a prospect formation from 4 desired data categories. In terms of regulation, it still needed improvement to increase the interest of upstream oil and gas entrepreneurs in the unconventional oil and gas shale reservoir. Research in the field of unconventional oil and gas exploitation technology for hydrocarbon shale needed to be improved.                 &nbsp

ECONOMIC PROFITABILITY OF THE BAKKEN, NORTH DAKOTA UNCONVENTIONAL OIL PLAYS BASED ON A TYPICAL WELL PERFORMANCE WITH CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS

Increases in oil prices after the economic recession have been surprising for domestic oil production in the United States since the beginning of 2009. Not only did the conventional oil extraction increase, but unconventional oil production and exploration also improved greatly with the favorable economic conditions. This favorable economy encourages companies to invest in new reservoirs and technological developments. Recently, enhanced drilling techniques including hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have been supporting the domestic economy by way of unconventional shale and tight oil from various U.S. locations. One of the main contributors to this oil boom is the unconventional oil production from the North Dakota Bakken field. Horizontal drilling has increased oil production in the Bakken field, but the economic issues of unconventional oil extraction are still debatable due to volatile oil prices, high decline rates of production, a limited production period, high production costs, and lack of transportation. The economic profitability and viability of the unconventional oil play in the North Dakota Bakken was tested with an economic analysis of average Bakken unconventional well features. Scenario analysis demonstrated that a typical North Dakota Bakken unconventional oil well is profitable and viable as shown by three financial metrics; net present value, internal rate of return, and break-even prices

Independent Expert Scientific Panel – Report on Unconventional Oil and Gas

No abstract available

A drill by any other name: social representations, framing, and legacies of natural resource extraction in the fracking industry

How do people interpret ambiguous and uncertain events? This study explores this question in the context of unconventional oil and gas development, or “fracking”, with implications for natural resource extraction generally. Drawing on the theories of social representations and framing, we test the hypothesis that legacies of natural resource extraction—conceptualized here as collective schemata of interpretation—shape perceptions and actions toward new forms of energy development. Based on an analysis of survey data from the “Twin Tiers” regions of New York and Pennsylvania (n=590), we find that negatively perceived legacies of past resource dependence, net of other factors, lead to opposition and political behaviors related to unconventional oil and gas development. Our findings suggest that regional legacies of natural resource extraction act as a sense making tool, working to translate the ambiguous, novel phenomenon of unconventional oil and gas development into something understandable in light of past experiences

Regulating Unconventional Oil and Gas Production: Towards an International Sustainability Framework

Many of the emerging literatures on unconventional oil and gas production have taken the form of arguing for and against its positive and negative impacts. Studies have taken the form of exploring how it could result in increased energy production, energy security, financial returns and profits to local entities, increased investments in priority sectors, and generation of local employment opprtunities. On the other side, there have been explorations of the costs of fracking to the environment, human health, long term sustainability and contamination of drill sites. Less attention have been paid to exploring the possibilities of an international framework through which we could achieve a win-win scenario, i.e maximizing the economic potentials of unconventional oil and gas by reducing the environmental side effects. This paper discusses an international framework built on the theory of sustainable development, through which the environmental concerns associated with unconventional oil and gas production can be addressed

Shale Gas Roundtable: Deliberations, Findings, and Recommendations

In response to the desire of regional, multi-sector leaders to elevate and inform the regional energy dialogue, the Shale Gas Roundtable was created in the fall of 2011 to fulfill a three-part mission related to unconventional oil and gas production, transport, and use: Building and sustaining relationships among relevant cross-sector stakeholders to better support diverse regional environmental protection, community quality of life, and economic development goals; Identifying high-priority focus areas through consensus-building dialogue, extensive research, and shared goals for the region; and Assessing the focus areas and developing ideas and recommendations that promote the improved management of and outcomes from regional unconventional oil and gas development

A review of physical supply and EROI of fossil fuels in China

This paper reviews China’s future fossil fuel supply from the perspectives of physical output and net energy output. Comprehensive analyses of physical output of fossil fuels suggest that China’s total oil production will likely reach its peak, at about 230 Mt/year (or 9.6 EJ/year), in 2018; its total gas production will peak at around 350 Bcm/year (or 13.6 EJ/year) in 2040, while coal production will peak at about 4400 Mt/year (or 91.9 EJ/year) around 2020 or so. In terms of the forecast production of these fuels, there are significant differences among current studies. These differences can be mainly explained by different ultimately recoverable resources assumptions, the nature of the models used, and differences in the historical production data. Due to the future constraints on fossil fuels production, a large gap is projected to grow between domestic supply and demand, which will need to be met by increasing imports. Net energy analyses show that both coal and oil and gas production show a steady declining trend of EROI (energy return on investment) due to the depletion of shallow-buried coal resources and conventional oil and gas resources, which is generally consistent with the approaching peaks of physical production of fossil fuels. The peaks of fossil fuels production, coupled with the decline in EROI ratios, are likely to challenge the sustainable development of Chinese society unless new abundant energy resources with high EROI values can be found

Unconventional oil resources exploitation: a review

Unconventional crude oil sources are geographically extensive and include the tar sands of the Province of Alberta in Canada, the heavy oil belt of the Orinoco region of Venezuela and the oil shales of the United States, Brazil, India and Malagasy. High production costs and low oil prices have hitherto inhibited the inclusion of unconventional oil resources in the world oil resource figures. In the last decade, developing production technologies, coupled with the higher market value of oil, convert large quantities of unconventional oil into an effective resource. From the aspect of quantity and technological and economic recoverability are actually the most important tar sands. Tar sands can be recovered via surface mining or in-situ collection techniques. This is an up-stream part of exploitation process. Again, this is more expensive than lifting conventional petroleum, but for example, Canada's Athabasca (Alberta) Tar Sands is one example of unconventional reserve that can be economically recoverable with the largest surface mining machinery on the waste landscape with important local but also global environmental impacts. The similar technology of up-stream process concerns oil shales. The downstream part process of solid unconventional oil is an energetically difficult process of separation and refining with important increasing of additive carbon production and increasing of final product costs. In the region of Central Europe is estimated the mean volume of 168 million barrels of technically recoverable oil and natural gas liquids situated in Ordovician and Silurian age shales in the Polish-Ukrainian Foredeep basin of Poland.Web of Science21325724