Hillary Clinton turned the US State Department into the largest fracking lobbying firm in the world. Not even the best gas industry lobbying firms could have facilitated agreements with over a dozen countries to frack their shale. If you support Hillary for president, you support a woman who led a cartel of energy executives on a fracking imperialist mission to developing countries that are burdened by the IMF and led by dictators. UKRAINE: Ukraine queries shale deals as Yanukovich era under scrutiny reuters/article/2014/03/04/ukraine-shell-chevron-idUSL6N0LY02120140304 USAID Assessment on Ukraines Shale Gas Potential: epl.org.ua/fileadmin/user_upload/dodatky_do_sprav/Ukraine_Shale_Gas_Environmental_Assessment_Volume_I_2May2012.pdf 3.1. UNCONVENTIONAL GAS TECHNICAL ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM 3.1.1. OVERVIEW The U.S. Department of State (DOS) launched the Unconventional Gas Technical Engagement Program (UGTEP), formerly known as the Global Shale Gas Initiative (GSGI) in April 2010. Its purpose was to help countries identify and develop their unconventional natural gas resources economically and in an environmentally sound manner. US experience with shale gas has shown that this unconventional energy source can be produced and used in a manner that is attractive to investors and benign environmentally, especially in comparison to coal, its chief competitor. In the US, shale gas production has risen from almost nothing to more than 20% of total supplies in 2011. Production of U.S. shale gas now exceeds 5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) annually (~140 bcm/y). Unlike conventional hydrocarbons, shale formations are found in many countries around the world. Consequently, the UGTEP holds promise not just for the U.S. but also for its other member countries: India, China, Argentina, Poland, Jordan, and Ukraine, among others. Shale, along with other unconventional hydrocarbons, is one of the key energy developments of this century and holds the potential to be one of the most rapidly expanding trends in world energy supplies over the next 20-30 years. By 2030 the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), projects that shale gas will represent 14% of total global gas supplies, providing sufficient reserves for expanded consumption of natural gas. As a lower-carbon “bridge fuel” to reduce CO2 emissions unconventional gas provides an economic path to the future, without destabilizing electric power grids or creating difficult waste disposal and treatment problems.12 The U.S. shale gas experience depended heavily on the existence of a robust oilfield services sector and is unlikely to be precisely duplicated in other countries. However, many important lessons were learned about the geology, technology and environmental management aspects of shale gas. As a result the application of these lessons through UGTEP can be instrumental in helping governments understand the complexities of shale gas development. Governments often have limited capability to assess their own country’s shale resource potential or are unclear about how to develop shale gas in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner through establishing the right regulatory policy and fiscal structures. The ultimate goals of UGTEP are to achieve greater energy security, meet environmental objectives and further U.S. economic and commercial interests. 3.1.2. ACTIVITIES OF THE UGTEP The UGTEP uses government-to-government policy engagement to bring the U.S. federal and state governments’ technical expertise, regulatory experience and diplomatic capabilities to help selected 3.2. ACTIVITIES IN UKRAINE An initial trip to Ukraine was conducted in December 2010 to assess the need and work scope for a cooperative program in Ukraine for GSGI. The trip included Robert Ichord from USAID, two representatives of the GSGI at the Department of State (Rebecca Neff and Alex Greenstein), Brenda Pierce from the US Geological Survey and Donald Hertzmark, consultant. The group met with officials of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENR), the Rada (Parliament), State Geological Survey and others. The outgrowth of this mission was a memorandum signed by the US Government and the Government Ukraine in February 2011 outlining the areas of cooperative activity regarding shale gas in Ukraine. An initial scope of work for an assistance project in Ukraine under the aegis of the GSGI and funded by USAID-Washington was completed during the third quarter of 2011. A contract was awarded to International Resources Group (IRG) under the 2007 USAID Energy IQC. MENR was chosen as the counterpart agency in Ukraine because (i) MENR has signing authority with regard to production sharing agreements (PSAs), the chosen contract form for shale gas; and (ii) USAID had determined that its initial assistance must be in the form of an assessment of environmental issues, law and regulation in Ukraine as they pertain to shale gas exploration, development and production. The institutions and individuals engaged to implement this environmental assessment were: Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC, cooperating with Environmentally Friendly Drilling- EFD) – Richard Haut; University of Leoben, Austria, Department of Petroleum Engineering (EFD) – Gerhard Thonhauser; University of Colorado, Natural Resources Law Center – Kathryn Mutz and Matthew Sura; International Resources Group – Pat DeLaquil and Donald Hertzmark (consultant). In May 2011 a 3-person IRG team led by Robert Ichord and Barbara Britten of USAID plus Pat DeLaquil, then project manager, Richard Haut and Gerhard Thonhauser visited Kyiv to discuss the project with MENR and others in the country. An initial detailed Scope of Work was produced by IRG and finalized in September 2011. This Scope of Work called for an initial Environmental Scoping Statement followed by and Environmental Assessment, each of these documents following standard USAID outlines and practice. In October 2011 Hertzmark and Thonhauser visited Kyiv to meet with the Department of State liaison, Jacquelyn Henderson, other US Embassy-Kyiv officials, MENR officials, the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) staff and other key parties in the oil industry and legal community. The result of the trip was the Environmental Scoping Statement, completed in December 2011. On the completion of the Scoping Statement the Team was provided with an outline and a roadmap for its activities to complete the environmental assessment phase of the project. Each member of the Team was provided with specific assignments in this outline that further directed their focus and activities in law, drilling technology, environmental impacts, and analysis of alternatives and assessment of regulatory environment. Work was started on the modeling of alternative production scenarios for shale gas and how that energy source fits into Ukraine’s energy future. In October and November 2011, Ms. Mutz and Mr. Sura traveled to Ukraine, met with local legal entities and participated in a shale gas workshop that was conducted in Lviv, Western Ukraine. Mr. Sura also contacted a law institute in Western Ukraine that will be providing analysis of local and provincial legal issues for the Team. In the wake of those trips Ms. Mutz and Mr. Sura were able to obtain information that helped to focus their efforts on matters specific to the Environmental Assessment. In January-February 2012 Dr. Hertzmark traveled to Kyiv to meet with counterparts at MENR and to discuss PSA activities with members of the legal and oil communities. Hertzmark presented preliminary findings on selected environmental assessment issues to the MENR counterparts. During February 2012 the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences was able to complete the simulation modeling of shale gas production profiles within the context of selected energy production and consumption scenarios for the country. In February 2012 Mr. Prohaska of Dr. Thonhauser’s staff worked with industry representatives, including both Ukrainian and international companies. Discussions were held with representatives of international oil companies present in Ukraine, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, TNK-BP, among others. The chief subjects of discussion centered on rig count, technical capabilities and hydraulic fracturing infrastructure in the country, if any. In February 2012 Dr. Hertzmark presented preliminary findings to Ambassador Richard Morningstar and others in the Department of State Energy Bureau. In April 2012 the full Team will return to Kyiv to present its findings. 3.3. OBJECTIVES OF THIS ACTIVITY As stated in the Scope of Work the objectives of this activity can be summarized as follows: This project is intended to begin the process of helping the government of Ukraine to develop an environmentally sound framework for pursuing shale gas development. This assessment will compare a range of feasible energy alternatives to shale gas development and identify the relevant environmental, economic, legal and regulatory issues associated with shale gas development. USAID and the IRG technical team will coordinate with the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the Shale Gas Working Group and technical experts designated by that group to ensure that other interested agencies and organizations in Ukraine will be involved in the process and to ensure an environmental assessment that is conducted in an open, transparent and collaborative manner.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 19:57:16 +0000
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