By now, northwest Louisiana residents are used to Hollywood A-listers mingling at local eateries or filming crews temporarily blocking favorite access routes.

And although the productions have put known landmarks or bit appearances by locals on the big screen, few have focused on people in our neck of the woods. That changes Saturday with two new reality shows premiering on CMT.

Although the TV station’s news releases and commercials say the two close-knit extended families featured in “Bayou Billionaires” and “My Big Redneck Vacation” are from Shreveport, they instead hail mostly from DeSoto and south Caddo parishes. Both shows have similar premises at their core: putting the family members in unfamiliar situations and filming their reactions. Their zany adventures are meant to showcase their “fish out of water” experiences.

‘Bayou Billionaires’

FRIERSON — CMT describes “Bayou Billionaires” as a “modern rags to riches story” featuring Kitten and Gerald Dowden and their extended family who spent years “pinching pennies” until they discovered their home sits on top of the Haynesville Shale.

But the description, probably by design to draw in the audience, stretches the real truth because it’s not a secret that Gerald’s company, Dowden Plasturing Co. in Shreveport, is a longtime subcontractor. Still, when it came to the Haynesville Shale, the Dowdens missed on the gigantic upfront bonus payments since their 80 acres off Fly Low Lane in Frierson were already held to production by unrelated wells.

However, it wasn’t long before the Dowdens joined many throughout DeSoto and the region in earning “mailbox money” through royalty payments from producing Haynesville wells in neighboring sections. Then Gerald further cashed in by selling water from a big pond to oil and gas companies.
The extra money has allowed the couple to shore up their retirement, pay off debt, set up nest eggs for their children and grandchildren and engage in their favorite pastime — travel.

“It’s just made life much easier,” Kitten said. But being reality TV stars wasn’t part of the plan. That “fell into our laps.”

Original Article

Louisiana Oil and Gas Association President Don Briggs is chagrined over learning of the administrations decision to deny the Keystone XL pipeline project.

“This announcement comes as a huge disappointment, not only for the state of Louisiana, but for the entire country. This project has the potential to generate more than 20,000 jobs for our national economy in a time where unemployment numbers have reached record levels,” Briggs said. “The Obama administration touts the importance of becoming less dependent on foreign oil, so a decision such as denying the Keystone XL project completely contradicts their stated position.”

U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman, released a statement criticizing the decision.

“After months of delaying a decision on the future of the Keystone XL pipeline, the administration finally revealed its sobering choice to block the energy project,” Alexander said. “This worthy initiative sought to create thousands of well-paying jobs, and it would have provided another source of energy from a friendly and reliable trade partner. Shutting the door on Keystone, unfortunately, shuts the door on these major aspirations for our country. Once again, the president is caught putting politics over our economy and energy security.”

U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, said although the proposal is stalled, TransCanada could continue to work on an alternate route through Nebraska.

“This is infuriating to many of us who have been fighting to create real private sector jobs through the Keystone XL pipeline project,” Vitter said. “Lately the only jobs Washington seems to know how to create are more government jobs in Washington. Even the president’s own ‘jobs council’ recommended the country should reinvigorate the economy through more domestic energy production including expediting pipeline projects. But again, the stubborn environmentalist agenda is being recklessly placed before job creation, economic growth and national security.”

Original Article

Louisiana embraces natural gas production while Northeastern states take tentative approach

Instead of bowing down to green pressure groups that greatly overstate the environmental risks attached to natural gas production, policymakers in the northeast should look toward Louisiana as a model for economic renewal, industry and government officials recommend.

The vast supply of natural gas that exists within shale deposits are now within human reach thanks to innovative drilling techniques that have the potential to create about 35,000 jobs in Louisiana as energy companies mobilize to make use of these resources, according to the American Chemical Council (ACC).

Unfortunately, well-funded environmental organizations have persuaded elected officials in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey to pull back on further development of the Marcellus Shale, Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association (LOGA), laments. The Marcellus Shale cuts across much of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

“These green groups don’t have same kind of influence down here, and this means it’s not quite so easy to scare people about the oil and gas industry and put out misinformation,” Briggs said. “The culture of a state or region matters and you can see where lawmakers can be pressured into pursuing policies that don’t really make sense. Still, there’s great potential for a state like Pennsylvania, which is actually a very old oil province.”

Briggs recommends that policymakers in other states look to Louisiana as a model for energy policies that strike a healthy balance between increased production and environmental protection. He also points out that technological innovations often result in improved safety and cleaner operations.

These new techniques in question that have spurred environmental opposition in some parts of the country include horizontal drilling, which involves turning the drill horizontally after drilling down. This allows for multiple wells to be drilled at one time. The other technique known has hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” uses a mixture of mostly sand and water to create pressure within a well. This process cracks the shale rock and brings natural gas to the surface.

Briggs views hydraulic fracturing as an environmentally responsible method that makes the most of America’s resources. Wells that would have run dry many years ago, or that may not have been drilled at all, are now viable, he said.

Nevertheless, New York and New Jersey have both imposed bans on hydraulic fracturing in an effort to further assess the risks of contamination. Anti-drilling activists have also stepped up efforts in Pa. aimed at shutting down production, according to a report from the Commonwealth Foundation.

“Much attention has been paid to the efforts of gas companies to influence the political debate through campaign contributions and lobbying efforts,” the report says. “But anti-drilling activists—while claiming gas companies use their vast financial resources to weaken regulatory structures and silence poorly funded environmental groups— influence politicians through their own lobbying efforts and by spreading myths about drilling.”

Despite some initial missteps on the part of regulators and industry officials, Robert Bryce, a senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute, does see Pennsylvania moving in a positive direction. Over the past few months, he estimates that the drilling sector is responsible for creating thousands of new jobs for the state. The experience in Pennsylvania proves that the Marcellus Shale can be developed in a responsible and effective way, Bryce suggests

“If you want to talk about comparison, I would compare New York to Pennsylvania,” he said. “New York is moving far too slowly and the debate has been dominated by environmental groups that are using fear mongering to prevent the development of a much needed energy resource.”

The ban New York officials have imposed on new drilling and hydraulic fracturing have cost the state “tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue and tens of thousands of new jobs,” he said. “New York needs the revenue and the employment.”

Bryce also praised Louisiana state officials  for moving in a quick, but also highly responsible manner, to develop the Haynesville Shale. As a result of embracing new technology, “huge quantities of new gas have been introduced into the state’s market.” he observed.

Fracking has become ground zero in the battle between greens and energy producers, says Matt Patterson, senior editor at the Capital Research Center and Warren Brookes Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

“The possibility of exploiting large, new reserves of fossil fuels, thanks to advances in technology like hydro fracking, terrifies the environmental movement,” says Patterson, who edits Green Watch for CRC, “because it undercuts the green argument that we are running out of such fuels, or that they are too expensive to exploit.  So they demonize the industry by exaggerating the dangers, hoping to scare the public and intimidate lawmakers.”

The natural gas obtained through shale “provides the opportunity for what will be a renaissance in chemical manufacturing in the United States, and Louisiana is uniquely positioned to capitalize on that,” ACC President and CEO Cal Dooley has said. “The $5.4 billion investment in expanded ethylene production capacity in Louisiana will generate a total of $10.9 billion in additional chemical industry output, bringing the state’s industry revenues to $56.9 billion and maintaining it as the country’s second-largest chemical-producing state.”

A December 2011 report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) concludes that the robust development of shale deposits could greatly reduce the price of natural gas and spark “a renaissance in U.S. manufacturing.” The report projects that “lower feedstock and energy costs could reduce natural gas expenses by as much $11.6 billion annually through 2025.”  PWC also anticipates that U.S. manufacturing companies could employ roughly one million more workers by 2025 as a result of increased demand for the products used to withdraw the gas.

Of special interest to Louisiana is the Haynesville Shale.

Since its development began at the site in 2008, Haynesville has resulted in the injection of over $22 billion into the local and state economy, according to LOGA.

“When the Haynesville Shale boom came to northwest Louisiana, it made an incredible positive economic impact on an area that already had a strong economy,” Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Angelle, has said. “Responsible exploration of this new prospect, even if it does not reach the same fever pitch, could mean a welcome strengthening of the northeast Louisiana economy and greater opportunities for businesses and jobs.”

Rep. William Cassidy (R-La.) is also keen on the idea of further developing shale deposits.
“Let’s start moving toward a natural gas economy,” he said. “It is a domestic energy supply with proven reserves available in an area of the world where we have the rule of law. Right now, we have a 40 year supply and the only reason we don’t go out and find more gas is because we have such a backlog. This is a clean fuel, which works well for Louisiana and the nation as a whole.”

Louisiana was placed in the top 10 percent of areas identified as the most attractive for exploration investments, according to a Fraser Institute survey of energy industry executives released last year.

Development of the Haynesville Shale figures prominently into this story.

“Louisiana’s long and distinguished history of providing energy is known throughout the world, Angelle said. “We are seeing the energy industry’s confidence in our ability to coordinate responsible management of our natural resources with economic development that benefits us all.”

Original Article

A newly drilled well in northwest Rapides Parish that’s producing hundreds of barrels of oil and liquid natural gas a day could be the first of many in Louisiana’s central parish that uses horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

That is a controversial technique that some environmentalists say pollutes underground water supplies.

The well — named Bentley Lumber 34H #1 and operated by Indigo Minerals — bores thousands of feet down in land owned by third-generation forester Roy O. Martin III and his family, who own hundreds of thousands acres of Louisiana forestland. Most of the Martin land is pristine timber acreage, which supplies the family’s many wood-products businesses.

But about two miles under much of that land, trapped in dense shale rock, rests rich deposits of oil and other fuels that America runs on. A swath of oil-rich land, which cuts across Central Louisiana, through some of Mississippi and includes fields north of Baton Rouge, is called the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale.

Martin, whose family owns half of Indigo Minerals, and other owners of the company that drilled the Bentley well call it Louisiana Eagle Ford, a continuation of the oil- and natural gas-rich Texas Eagle Ford to the southwest.

“We’re excited about (the drilling),” Martin said. “We’re also creating jobs.”

Martin in 2006 formed Indigo Minerals with Yorktown Investors and longtime friend Bill Pritchard, who heads Indigo out of the company’s downtown Houston office. The business marriage wedded the Martin family’s abundant acreage and mineral rights with Yorktown’s money and Indigo management’s expertise.

To buy into Indigo, the Martin Cos. put up the mineral rights on a few hundred thousand acres for half of the oil company, which has since bought natural gas and oil fields in other parts of the state. Bentley Lumber 34 was the first the company has drilled in Rapides Parish.

Martin said about 200,000 acres of Martin family land from Vernon Parish to Rapides Parish is in Indigo’s portfolio of drilling acreage, part of the company’s more than 460,000 acres it has the rights to drill on in Central Louisiana.

Geologists have known about the deposits in the Tuscaloosa Shale for decades, but only in the last few years have drillers figured out how to unleash it through horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, a controversial method of cracking the shale.

The practice — high-pressure injection of millions of gallons of water with chemicals and sand into a well — puts a gold gleam in the eyes of oilmen while environmentalists warn of ecological disasters.

Much of Louisiana drinks from the Chico Aquifer, an underground water table that sits thousands of feet above the oil deposits. Aquifers with other names provide water in other parts of the state, including the northeast where the famous Haynesville Shale play is.

“I truly believe that everything we’re doing is environmentally sound,” said Martin, who runs RoyOMartin Co., which was started by his grandfather. “We’re a forest company. We’re not going to knowingly go out and do something that will pollute the groundwater. This is proven technology.”

He said the Bentley Lumber well cost just over $11 million to drill and complete.

“We really don’t know the limits of the field,” Martin said.

Moving fast

Drillers and the billions of dollars that drive exploration move at the speed of capitalism, fast and lean. Government, which regulates industry, moves not so fast, said Wilma Subra, a New Iberia chemist who consults for the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and sits on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency panels studying the effects of fracking in New York, Montana, Texas and elsewhere.

“That’s the issue,” Subra said, “government’s not keeping up with the shale (developers).”

According to Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources, whose Office of Conservation regulates drilling in the state, there were three permits to drill issued in 2011 in Rapides Parish. In other Central Louisiana parishes, such as LaSalle where there were 118 OKs to drill, permit approval is more robust though drilling remains slow.

Indigo and other companies in the Tuscaloosa Shale are trying to figure out how best to get the fuel to the surface. Geological variances make extraction an art, and every well is in unique. Companies such as Indigo use data from other successful — and unsuccessful — wells as they proceed, taking notes on what works and what does not as they explore new geologic territory.

“As more wells are drilled, exploration companies will learn more about formation and better understand how to most economically develop the play and maximize their production, potentially creating greater interest in investing there and expanding exploration,” DNR Secretary Scott Angelle said in December after Indigo tested the Bentley Lumber well.

Martin said Indigo this year will continue to drill in oil and gas formations here and in North Louisiana, where the company is extracting natural gas and other, rarer fuels such as butane and propane.

Pritchard in Houston recently said the company, like many others, is seeking investment partners for cash to drill the many properties Indigo has.

Other companies have inked deals with foreign companies. Chinese state companies are investing in U.S. shale developments with Chesapeake Energy Corp., which has a heavy presence in the Haynesville Shale, and Devon Energy Corp., an Oklahoma company whose properties include sites in East Feliciana Parish on the east end of the Tuscaloosa Shale, according to Bloomberg News.

French oil giant Total also is making investments in the U.S., and BHP Billiton Ltd., based in Melbourne, Australia, last year bought U.S producer Petrohawk Energy Corp. for $12.1 billion.

The companies are investing partly to gain expertise in how to develop extensive shale formations in their own countries.

Martin said Indigo has not been offered money from foreign companies “that I know of.”

U.S. energy companies have jumped to oil shale plays because their natural gas holdings are fetching low prices. On Wednesday, gas traded at $2.77 a thousand cubic feet, the lowest in years as shale production has produced a glut of natural gas.

Oil, on the other hand, is trading at around $100 a barrel.

EPA

Though states regulate drilling, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking a long — years long — look at hydraulic fracturing. Initial reports of the study are due this year. A comprehensive report is scheduled to be released in 2014.

Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, fears the EPA will grab control of drilling in states.

“If EPA would get control of hydraulic fracturing … and some guy somewhere does something stupid in Wyoming or Montana, you would see exactly what happened in the Gulf of Mexico happen across the country and literally shut down the oil and gas industry,” Briggs said.

The BP deepwater spill in 2010 killed 11 rig workers and released millions of gallons of crude oil. President Barrack Obama and the federal government, which regulates oil and gas activity in federal waters, just about shut down Gulf of Mexico activity by ordering a moratorium on drilling. Almost two years later, oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf are still having a hard time getting permits of all stripes — drilling, pipeline construction, platform maintenance — even in shallow waters.

“Until you have a different culture (in Washington), that’s not going to change, no matter what you do,” Briggs said.

Subra, the New Iberia environmentalist, said that fracking operations in Louisiana have polluted water sources and affected people’s health, and that federal oversight is needed. State regulators, she said, cannot keep up. She said she’s conducted surveys of residents living near drilling operations and found that many got sick after drilling started.

Water

Subra said it takes 3 million to 8 million gallons of water to drill one well using the hydraulic fracturing technique. She also said the wastewater that comes back to the surface is trucked to Texas and deposited in injection wells there.

Louisiana drillers using the fracking method have siphoned water from aquifers to supply their needs. But low water tables due to drought prompted DNR Secretary Angelle in August to issue a recommendation that companies drilling in the Tuscaloosa Shale “choose their water sources wisely” by using surface water from rivers or lakes.

If that’s not possible, Angelle said, then it’s preferable that water from the Red River and Mississippi River alluvial systems be tapped “in lieu of the Chicot, Evangeline, Jasper, Catahoula and Southern Hills aquifer systems.”

“Most of the wells we’re (operating) use surface water,” Martin said, adding that Indigo drew water from a nearby lake when it drilled the well in northwest Rapides.

Economic development

In arguing for less government regulations, oil men like LOGA’s Briggs tout the technology that has freed up minerals trapped in once-impervious shale rock and point to America’s need for and reliance on foreign oil when there is plenty here.

Briggs said free-market principles don’t align with government-backed renewable fuel initiatives, and that the current administration could use the EPA to halt drilling on land.

“The thing that is driving the Obama administration, and really the renewable fuels people — wind, solar, ethanol — is the fact that all this drilling is producing such cheap natural gas and oil that none of the renewables can begin to compete,” Briggs said.

Martin said Indigo’s successes are putting people in Central and North Louisiana to work. He pointed to wells that Indigo has in northern DeSoto and southern Caddo parishes, where gas liquids such as butane and propane are being captured.

“What’s overlooked is the natural gas liquids,” Martin said. “Those chemicals can produce a lot of jobs in Louisiana because our chemical industry uses that and imports that from other areas.

“If we can produce that in Louisiana, then a lot of spinoff jobs can occur,” he said.

Subra, the environmentalist, said more study and oversight are needed.

“We’ve demonstrated these huge health impacts and these huge environmental damages as a result of (drilling), and we’re just trying to get that reduced as much as possible,” Subra said.

Original Article