Some mayors in Canada are working to halt coal bed methane drilling because the toxic water produced in the process may be polluting local waters according to the report posted below from the Financial Post.  They say the employment benefits are small compared with the risks to fishing, recreation, and health.  One company affected is PetroBank (PBEGF) which I own because of its patented technologies for extracting oil from deep deposits of tar sands in a move economical and environmentally benign way.    Stop drilling, B. C. mayors …

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An excellent analysis of U.S. natural gas supply prospects and recent history has been posted at The Oil Drum.  It fleshes out a much discussed conclusion that new finds of unconventional gas combined with better extraction techniques could yield much higher NG production.  In fact production has recently been increasing - by as much as 8% according to this article. My sense is that there are two potentially large new sources of demand that could ultimately cause NG prices to rise again.  One is transportation.  A lot of new …

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A study released on 7/30/08 by Amercan Clean Skies Foundation and Navigant Consulting states that U.S. unconventional natural gas deposits are sufficient to supply 118 years of U.S. demand at 2007 levels.  Newly developed fracking and horizontal drilling techniques have made it possible to recover enormous quantities of gas from tight sands, coalbed methane, and gas shale formations, reports the Oil & Gas Journal (8/4/08) On the demand side, some leaders are starting to advocate the use of NG in lieu of petroleum to power cars.  Two Congressmen, Rahm …

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A recent post published at Seeking Alpha provides interesting data and commentary - both from the author and readers - regarding the prospects for various nat. gas producers, particularly in regard to the Marcellus Shale play.  I’m not sure this is the day to be loading up on such stocks, but some day the sun will shine on them again.  

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