Dust permeates the air at a Chesapeake Energy Co. hydraulic fracturing operation at a well site near Carrizo Springs, Texas. (John Davenport/San Antonio Express News)
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Eagle Ford shale
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Jake Lacey
A Petrohawk Energy Co. drilling site at the Eagle Ford Shale in McMullen County. (Jake Lacey)
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Jake Lacey
A Petrohawk Energy Co. drilling site at the Eagle Ford Shale in McMullen County. (Jake Lacey)
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Jake Lacey
A Petrohawk Energy Co. drilling site at the Eagle Ford Shale in McMullen County. (Jake Lacey)
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Jake Lacey
A Petrohawk Energy Co. drilling site at the Eagle Ford Shale in McMullen County. (Jake Lacey)
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Rosetta's well fracturing operation in the Eagle Ford shale. We can add cutline details when you decide which (if any) of these to use. Please let me know when you're out of the story. (Rosetta)
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Welding crews are busy laying pipelines such as this one east of Karnes City, Texas in order to get oil and gas extracted from the Eagle Ford shale formation to market. Pipelines are critical because hauling by truck is more expensive. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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Eric Poor, and employee of the Lufkin Company, works on a newly installed pump jack that pumps oil from the Eagle Ford shale formation near Kenedy, Texas. The Eagle Ford shale underlies 24 Texas counties that stretch from a region northeast of San Antonio to Laredo and Webb County. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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Truck traffic has increased in small town like Cotulla, Texas due to the increased oil and gas production in the Eagle Ford shale formation area. (Wednesday March 23, 2011) JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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Dust permeates the air at a Chesapeake Energy Co. fracking operation at a well site near Carrizo Springs, Texas Thursday May 5, 2011. The site is over the Eagle Ford shale formation where oil and gas is being extracted in the area. Fracking is also known as hydraulic fracturing. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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This is one of Chesapeake Energy's hydraulic fracturing operations over the Eagle Ford shale formation near Carrizo Springs, Texas. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a practice used to coax natural gas and petroleum from rock formations like shale. The head of the well is the red, vertical extension on the bottom right corner. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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Jacob Garza of Cheapeake Energy pours a chemical mixture called cross linked gel that is mixed with sand used in the hydraulic fracturing process to extract oil and gas from the Eagle Ford shale formation in South Central Texas. This well site is located near Carrizo Springs, Texas. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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An oil worker walks pass the manifold (right) and frac pumps (left) at a Chesapeake Energy hydraulic fracturing operation near Carrizo Springs, Texas Thursday May 5, 2011. Hydraulic fracturing is a method of removing oil and gas from rock formations such as the Eagle Ford shale formation in south central Texas. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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An oil worker walks on the drilling platform at a rig in McMullen County, Texas. Development of the oil and gas rich Eagle Ford shale formation south and east of San Antonio has provided jobs and improved economic conditions in the area for many. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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Flares burn under the Texas sky near petroleum and gas storage tanks in McMullen County, Texas. The sight of oil and gas equipment in counties over the Eagle Ford shale formation is becoming more common as drilling in the area increases. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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A rig worker is perched high up on a rig on State Highway 97 between Fowlerton and Cotulla, Texas over the Eagle Ford shale formation. A sign on the rig read: Precision Rig #43. (Wednesday March 23, 2011) JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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Housing for oil field workers has become an issue for small towns like Asherton, Texas with little to no hotel space available for lodging. Companies are moving in and putting up temporary housing for workers. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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Morning traffic builds Thursday November 17, 2011 at the intersection of State Highway 119 and State Highway 72 in Yorktown, Texas. The town is in the oil rich Eagle Ford shale formation area where drilling is increasing and the enormous amount ot truck traffic is taking its toll on roads there. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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Morning traffic builds Thursday November 17, 2011 at the intersection of State Highway 119 and State Highway 72 in Yorktown, Texas. The town is in the oil rich Eagle Ford shale formation area where drilling is increasing and the enormous amount ot truck traffic is taking its toll on roads there. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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A tanker truck rolls past crumbling asphalt Thursday November 17, 2011 at the intersection of State Highway 119 and State Highway 72 in Yorktown, Texas. The town is in the oil rich Eagle Ford shale formation area where drilling is increasing and the enormous amount ot truck traffic is taking its toll on roads there. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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A tanker truck rolls past crumbling asphalt Thursday November 17, 2011 near the intersection of State Highway 119 and State Highway 72 in Yorktown, Texas. The town is in the oil rich Eagle Ford shale formation area where drilling is increasing and the enormous amount ot truck traffic is taking its toll on roads there. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
Midsize oil producers with solid track records in the Eagle Ford Shale will find it easier to borrow money, an expert said Monday at a series of seminars sponsored by the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.
“A broad range of companies are interested in energy investing,” said Bryan Frederickson, managing director at Houston-based GulfStar Group, an investment bank that advises companies with revenue of $15 million to $350 million.
The alliance’s conference in San Antonio, billed as “Challenges in the Eagle Ford,” had about 150 attendees.
Lenders are competing for midmarket deals, he said, and “Texas and the Southern states in general are target markets for investment, and energy is a top focus.”
Companies with proven reserves and diversified geography that are oil producers will have the best chance of getting the capital they need, Frederickson said.
Company leaders, though, need to approach a lender with a clear business plan that defines what the funds would be used for.
Recycling of waste
In another seminar, Austin lawyer John Hays Jr. urged producers to be involved with the Texas Railroad Commission’s rule-making on recycling of drilling waste.
The present rules aren’t compatible with today’s technologies, he said, and inhibit recycling of waste.
The commission’s definitions of stationary recycling plants and mobile recycling plants are confusing. Cleaning up and updating the rules will help with oil and gas waste disposal and reduce costs, he said.
Keystone XL
Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told members of the alliance that he fears the prospect of more federal regulations of hydraulic fracturing could restrict drilling, and “my job in Congress is to get the federal government out of your way.”
Also, he said he will fight for the building of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would deliver Canadian crude oil to the Texas coast.
“I’d much rather buy my oil from Canada than from Hugo Chavez and Amadinejad,” Olson said in reference to the Venezuelan and Iranian presidents.
President Barack Obama, he said, “has decided to punt and not make a decision until 2013.”
