Whack to Shale Gas Estimates

Ahem — like we told you, a great deal of the Marcellus Shale gas they’ve been saying is there, is not recoverable. Now the Energy Information  Administration (EIA) is cutting estimates for Marcellus Shale gas by nearly two-thirds! Here’s the Wall Street Journal today, in “Whack to Estimate for Natural Gas“:

WASHINGTON—U.S. energy officials have cut their natural-gas-resource estimates, saying there is far less gas in a region known as the Marcellus Shale than previously thought…

Despite the downward revision in the amount of unproved but technically recoverable shale gas, EIA officials say the U.S. will still produce more natural gas than it needs in coming years and will likely become a net exporter of natural gas by 2021, in part because producers will look to liquefy the gas and ship it overseas.

The EIA said it is changing its shale-gas estimates amid rampant drilling in the Marcellus Shale and that the heightened activity shed light on available resources. In a sneak peek provided Monday of its closely watched annual energy report for 2012, the EIA said it thinks there are about 480 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in the U.S., down from earlier estimates of 830 trillion cubic feet.

The bulk of the downward revision was the result of changing expectations for the Marcellus, which stretches across Pennsylvania and New York. The EIA says it believes there are 141 trillion cubic feet in the shale, down from 410 trillion cubic feet projected in 2011.

Nonetheless the industry plans to continue its wanton poisoning of air, water, land, animals and public health in order to export gas in liquified form, giving the lie to all three of the biggest myths the industry has tried force-feeding the public: that it’s super-abundant, that it’s safely extracted, and that it’s for domestic consumption. Read the full story here.