At the bottom of a Corning Leader article about a protest at Talisman Energy's offices in Big Flats, I find this tidbit:
Talisman currently has about 300 Marcellus Shale gas wells in Pennsylvania, but regardless of the fracking debate in New York, the company isn't in a rush to drill here, he said.
"Although we do have land leased in New York State, with the price of gas the way it is, we have enough land in Pennsylvania to keep us busy for a long time, so we don't necessarily have any plans at this point to go work in New York State," Tompkins said. [emphasis added]
I can't say that price will stay that low forever, but I do hope that people who want drilling to happen yesterday realize that the economics - even without disastrous side effects - are terrible at the moment.
If there was ever a good time to pause the conversation and sort through whether this is a good idea in the first place, it's now.
Update: When Exxon says it's losing it's shirt... though this article suggests that some companies are indeed interested.
Update again: And this suggests softness even in the natural gas liquids market. It's going to be a complicated time for gas drillers, whatever New York State may do. How that will affect us, I'm not sure.
And again: Here's what it sounds like when that decline in prices reduces drilling in places that had it. We haven't had the boom, but we haven't had the bust either. (And the bust will come eventually, regardless.)
Posted by simon at June 28, 2012 9:05 AM in energy