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Like many of its energy-producing peers, Houston’s Apache Corp. is trying to spur what it hopes will become a sweeping shift in the nation’s transportation fuel from black gold toward shale gas.

In an effort to increase demand for the natural gas it produces by making the fuel more accessible to potential consumers, Apache paid about $1.3 million for a compressed natural gas station near Bush Intercontinental Airport, which began fueling the Houston Airport System‘s fleet of 30 CNG-powered parking shuttles last month.

The one-pump station on Greens Road is being operated and maintained under contract with the city by Clean Energy Fuels. The company, co-founded by Texas billionaire and natural gas champion T. Boone Pickens, builds natural gas fueling stations and advocates for the expansion of natural gas as a vehicle fuel.

The arrangement with the city resulted from a 2009 meeting between Apache CEO G. Steven Farris and Houston’s then-mayor, Bill White, who launched a host of environmental initiatives.

At the time, Apache was converting its fleet to run on clean-burning natural gas, and Farris offered to build the fueling station for the city if it began converting, too.

Late last year, the city retired its diesel-powered shuttles, purchased an all-new CNG-powered fleet and renamed its shuttle service EcoPark – a $2.7 million investment.

Airport System Director Mario Diaz said that using CNG rather than diesel will save about $360,000 a year because at current prices, natural gas costs about a third less than diesel for equivalent energy. It also will reduce emissions and shuttle maintenance costs, he said.

But what’s in it for Apache?

“Our industry became very, very good at finding natural gas,” said Robert Dye, Apache’s senior vice president of global communications. “The question is, ‘How do you deal with that supply?’ ”

Advances in drilling

In the past few years, hydraulic fracturing, horizontal drilling and other technologies have unlocked once-inaccessible gas in dense shale rock, resulting in a natural gas glut and the lowest prices in a decade.

Apache and other producers are trying to turn the tides of supply and demand in their favor by encouraging the infrastructure changes necessary to make more use of the fuel.

Because natural gas is plentiful and emits less greenhouse gas than coal, its use for electricity generation is growing.

Chicken and egg

But using it to fuel the growing transportation market is plagued by a classic chicken-and-egg conundrum, especially with private passengers cars and trucks:

Most vehicles still run on gasoline or diesel. Consumers don’t want natural gas-powered cars if there aren’t plenty of fueling stations, and businesses don’t want to invest in fueling stations without more gas vehicles.

The United State has just over 1,000 CNG stations and only about 50 liquefied natural gas stations, and many of them are for private fleets and aren’t open for general use.

Dye of Apache acknowledged it would take a lot of infrastructure but said he is optimistic about the potential for natural gas to become the “transportation fuel of choice.”

“I think you just have to do it one station at a time, which is what we’re doing,” Dye said.

Apache is focusing primarily on converting fleets of buses or other vehicles that drive many miles a day, but start and finish in the same place so they aren’t dependent on fueling stations in multiple locations.

“The most obvious people who would want to use the CNG would be the fleet managers, so I think that’s the first group that we’ll build out,” he said, noting the next target would be auto manufacturers.

Many have converted

Many major companies that operate large fleets, including AT&T and UPS, have converted a portion of their vehicles to run on natural gas. In May, Houston-based Waste Management announced plans to convert its 18,342-truck fleet from diesel to CNG.

“This is sort of like the beginning of, I think, a three- to four-year really big ramp-up,” said Frank Chapel Jr., Apache’s director of natural gas transportation fuels.

He cited a collaboration between Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores and Chesapeake Energy to build 10 CNG stations in Oklahoma, and Shell Oil Co.‘s recent announcement of plans to supply liquefied natural gas stations at 100 interstate highway fueling stations next year.

Liquefied natural gas provides greater range but is more costly to use.

Apache has converted more than a quarter of its own domestic fleet of about 1,000 vehicles and hopes to reach 80 percent by 2015.

“I think we all really believe that conventional gasoline retailers will start to get involved in this,” Chapel said.

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Back in March 2012, Ram Truck announced it would become the only manufacturer in North America to offer a fully factory-built bi-fuel compressed natural gas-powered (CNG) pickup truck.

There are other North American manufacturers offering bi-fuel CNG pickup trucks, but Ram is alone in building their Ram 2500 HD CNG completely in their own factory. They announced at that time that they expected to be able to deliver their first trucks in July of 2012.

Ram brought one of their just built 2500 CNG pickup trucks to their Proving Ground in Chelsea, Michigan the last week in June and invited me to drive the CNG pickup on their test track. I took the opportunity to drive the Ram 2500 CNG as I have been following the development of CNG as an alternative fuel for commercial and other vehicles in North America and have reported previously on the development of bi-fuel pickup trucks.

As I expected, except for the presence of the fueling system and tanks in the bed, you would not know you are driving a CNG powered truck. It starts, sounds and performs just like you would expect of a gasoline powered Ram 2500. It accelerates just as quickly from dead stop and increases power evenly when needed to change lanes or adjust to driving conditions. All power, braking, ride comfort and control performances are the same as a gasoline powered Ram 2500.

Ram Truck is offering the Ram 2500 HD CNG Crew Cab 4X4 in their ST and SLT trim levels and is the only fully factory built bi-fuel (CNG and gasoline) pickup in the market place.

The Ram HD CNG is powered by the 5.7-liter HEMI® V-8 generating 383 hp @ 5,600 rpm with 400 lb.-ft. ot torque @ 4,000 rpm and features both compressed gas storage tanks and a gasoline fuel tank.

The transmission for the Ram HD CNG is the 66RFE 6-speed automatic that performs smoothly yet solidly with the HEMI engine.

Pricing starts at $47,500, including $995 destination charge. The SLT trim level is slightly higher and the full range of Ram 2500 optional features and equipment are available.

The Ram 2500 CNG system was fully engineered and tested by Chrysler Group and assembled at the company’s Heavy Duty truck plant in Saltillo, Mexico.

The Ram’s 5.7-liter HEMI bi-fuel engine has been modified to run on compressed natural gas as well as gasoline. Redesigned cylinder heads with specifically designed CNG compatible valves and valve-seat materials allow the engine to burn both fuels. It also gets a second, CNG-specific fuel rail and set of injectors. New spark plugs improve combustion and durability, and a new power train control module allows the HEMI to seamlessly operate on either of the two fuel sources.

In use, the system is automatic; eliminating operator switches altogether and utilizes either CNG or gasoline, transitioning from one to the other with little discernible difference in operation or capability.

Although a small amount of gasoline is used during engine startup, the Ram 2500 CNG runs exclusively on compressed natural gas. If the CNG tanks are emptied, the vehicle will automatically switch to gasoline.

In addition to a conventional gasoline fuel gauge, a second CNG-specific gauge sits adjacent to it in the instrument cluster to provide fuel level information for both fuels to the operator.

The CNG tanks provide a gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) of 18.2 gallons. The gasoline fuel tank holds 8 gallons. The Ram 2500 CNG-only range is estimated to be 255 miles, while the backup supply of gasoline extends the range to 367 total miles.

The Ram 2500 Heavy Duty CNG’s two ultra-strong 4.6 cu.-ft. (130-liter) CNG tanks are located in the forward portion of the Ram’s 8-foot pickup bed. Both tanks are mounted to the frame and covered by a painted 50 ksi high-strength steel cover. The CNG filler connection is located next to the gasoline fuel neck, accessed through the Ram’s fuel filler door.

The Ram 2500 Heavy Duty CNG pickup is designed for fleet and commercial customers.

“Commercial customers are extremely important to Ram Truck,” said Fred Diaz, Ram Truck President and CEO Ram Truck Brand and Chrysler de Mexico – Chrysler Group LLC. ”Adding a hard-working, fully capable CNG-powered truck to the Ram lineup makes a lot of sense – both economically and environmentally.”

“Our commercial fleet customers have been asking us to build a CNG powered Ram,” said Peter Grady, Vice President, Network Development and Fleet – Chrysler Group LLC. “These fleets have already developed their own fleet fueling infrastructure for CNG, and are strong proponents of the technology.”

At current prices, which are conservatively $1.25 less than the gallon equivalent of gasoline, CNG promises significant cost savings over the life of the truck. For example, assuming 15 mpg and 30,000 miles of commercial driving per year, the savings on this Ram could be $2,500 to $3,000 per year.

The Ram 2500 CNG retains its heavy-duty capability: competent towing, payload hauling and outstanding acceleration for highway merging and passing. Ram 2500 CNG SLT offers 1,580 lbs. of payload, a 4-ft.-8-in. usable bed length and 7,650 lbs. of towing capability. The ST model is slightly less.

The Ram 2500 is delivered ready-to-tow and standard equipment includes the integrated 4- and 7-pin connectors along with a Class IV hitch receiver. The Ram CNG also comes with a trailer brake controller with customer-programmable electric or electric-over-hydraulic trailer brake options.

Natural gas is found abundantly in North America and is a common fuel source for large vehicle fleets.

CNG comes primarily from underground sources in the U.S. and Canada. It is plentiful and offers lower tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline or diesel fuel. In fact, CNG vehicles emit 20 percent less CO2 than gasoline vehicles – and benefit the environment not only by lowering tailpipe emissions, but also generating fewer greenhouse gasses in fuel production, as well. Also, dedicated NGVs produce, on average, 70 percent less carbon monoxide, 87 percent less non-methane organic gas and 87 percent less NOx than traditional gasoline powered vehicles.

CNG is a mature technology that’s available at a lower cost than other alternative fuels. It’s further supported by positive consumer attitudes regarding green products and favorable governmental regulations and policy initiatives.

Fleet operators have a number of fueling choices. There are approximately 1,500 CNG fueling locations across the U.S., half of which are accessible to the public. CNG producers are working aggressively to bring more on line every day.

In addition, large fleet operations frequently install both quick-fill and slow-fill CNG fueling stations. And the Ram CNG’s bi-fuel capability allows it to operate on gasoline indefinitely, until CNG can be added.

Ram executives expect customers for the new Ram 2500 HD CNG to include communications companies, public utilities, natural gas production firms and government agencies among others.

Ram warranties the Ram 2500 HD CNG with their 5-year/100,000-mile power train limited warranty that covers the HEMI V-8 and transmission, and adds internal engine components specific to CNG: the upgraded valves, the valve seats, fuel injectors and rail and the specially designed spark plugs — all part of the factory installed manufacturing and production processes.

Covering virtually every other aspect of the Ram 2500 CNG is a 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper limited warranty. Specific to the CNG engineering, this also covers all non-engine components, including the tanks, storage compartment and fuel filler equipment.

With Fiat being by far the dominant CNG manufacturer in Europe with a greater than 80 percent share of the market Ram will continue their market leading development of Ram CNG pickup trucks.

Natural Gas Vehicles are not new. There are about 150,000 Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) on U.S. roads and more than 13 million worldwide. The International Association of Natural Gas Vehicles estimates that there will be more than 50 million natural gas vehicles worldwide within the next 10 years, or about 9 percent of the world transportation fleets.

While the United States imports more than 60 percent of the oil it uses, 98 percent of the natural gas used in the U.S. was produced in North America. NGVs can be refueled from existing natural gas lines. This makes local retail refueling stations that utilize such lines possible.

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There continues to be a great deal of national debate about how best to strengthen America’s energy security and provide consumers with more access to affordable energy while also identifying ways to protect our environment.

Across the Appalachia, the Marcellus Shale continues to provide real solutions to all of these pressing challenges. Using more clean-burning American natural gas – which is safely and responsibly developed to ensure our air and water resources are safeguarded – is a reality. The winners? Consumers, our environment and America’s ability to competitively compete in the global marketplace.

Today, in fact, EQT Corporation – a Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) member – announced the launch of a “pilot program to convert Marcellus drilling rigs to” liquefied natural gas, or LNG. This from their release:

EQT Corporation today announced the launch of a pilot program to begin converting drilling rigs to liquefied natural gas (LNG), displacing the diesel used to power equipment at the well site. This program marks the first LNG rig conversion in the Marcellus Shale and will provide a cleaner burning alternative fuel for the region’s drilling operations.

“We want to be a leader in reducing the environmental impacts related to drilling and we are proud to be the first operator in the Marcellus to launch such a program,” states Steve Schlotterbeck, President Exploration and Production for EQT. “Along with safety, protection of the environment is top-of-mind for our employees, contractors, and of course communities. We continually look for opportunities to improve our operations and displacing diesel, by introducing the use of alternatives such as LNG and field gas, is one way of doing so,” Schlotterbeck continued.

In EQT’s release, the company underscores the important fact that “the use of LNG also provides another means of reducing our dependence on foreign oil imports – with sourcing coming from various U.S. shale plays.” Further, “The LNG being used for EQT’s pilot program is produced locally from Marcellus natural gas reserves,” according the release.

And thanks to commonsense efforts by EQT, as well as a host of other MSC members, the region continues to realize the clear benefits of using American natural gas to fuel our growing transportation needs. Under the headline “Searching For Savings, Drivers Turn To Natural Gas,” StateImpactPA reports that “right now the gallon-equivalent of compressed natural gas costs less than  half as much as a gallon of gasoline.”

In the July 4 story, Scott Detrow highlights Governor Corbett’s leadership on this critical issue and the fact that  “nat­ural gas-run vehi­cles release far fewer emis­sions into the air than gaso­line or diesel cars and trucks” and that “they’re also a step, he argues, in the direc­tion of Amer­i­can energy independence.”

This from the story about MSC member company Waste Management’s compressed natural gas (CNG) efforts:

The con­ver­sion is hap­pen­ing in Wash­ing­ton County, where Waste Man­age­ment parks a fleet of more than thirty CNG-fueled garbage trucks. The com­pany is in the midst of a national effort to con­vert all its vehi­cles to nat­ural gas.

By the end of 2012, it will be halfway done with the goal — at least within its Wash­ing­ton County fleet. “In 2011 we got 23 CNG trucks. In 2012 we should get another 18,” dis­trict man­ager Rich Mogan told StateIm­pact Penn­syl­va­nia. “By the end of the year we’ll have 45 to 50.”

In the simplest and truest of terms, safe, responsible natural gas development is Building a Stronger, More Secure America.

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The domestic energy boom of the last five years also has produced a gusher of documentaries and movies about the industry.

Gregory Kallenberg, who made one of the first documentaries on the natural gas boom, has returned with a series of short films, called the Rational Middle Energy Series, which were introduced last week at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival.

The Rational Middle Energy Series is a set of several 10-minute films that discuss the role of energy and the challenges of meeting energy needs, while also addressing  environmental and economic concerns.

“The films are trying to provide balanced information for a public that needs to know about an incredibly important topic,” Kallenberg said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle. “My feeling about our energy future is that it has to be sustainable and affordable and as environmentally friendly as possible. Energy is so entwined in our lives — we need to start discussing how to create an energy future.”

The first three films — “What’s the Rational Middle”?, “Energy 101″ and “What’s At Stake” –  premiered at the Aspen festival and are also available on a public website, www.rationalmiddle.com. Kallenberg expects to launch the next short film on July 11 in Shreveport and then release a new film each week throughout the summer.

The message behind the films, Kallenberg explained, is that the United States stands to gain by trying to depolarize the discussions about energy.

“I think that there is this natural distrust that has always existed between certain elements of the environmental side — that the energy industry will never deliver energy in a fair and responsible way — and the energy industry, which has a natural defensive posture,” Kallenberg said. “Those are the high, shrill voices that are out there, but we are entering this amazing time, where people are sick of it. What the rational middle wants to do is get to place where you understand what the real risks are of an industrial process like hydraulic fracturing.”

Kallenberg said that the inspiration for the series came while he was working on his first energy-related documentary, Haynesville, which explored how the development of the Haynesville shale impacted various people and communities in Louisiana.

“When I started working on Haynesville, I saw that many people were confused and underinformed or misinformed,” Kallenberg said. “One of the things we are trying to do is to back it up and discuss what we consider the real risks. Drilling is an industrial process – it is a disruptive process. There are other things you have to watch for – what you have to be vigilant about is the construction of the well, that the casing is sound, and that some of the chemicals are not spilled on the surface. But if the gas industry does their job right, I am convinced there is a way to make the hydraulic fracturing pretty safe.”

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Whether it’s mental, written on an envelope or meticulously documented in a spreadsheet, a list of pros and cons often plays a role in the purchase of a new car.

What’s the mileage like? How safe is it? How’s it look?

If a shopper was weigh­ing whether or not to buy a natural gas-fueled car, the top item on the “pro” side would with­out a doubt be the cost of fuel: right now the gallon-equivalent of com­pressed natural gas costs less than half as much as a gallon of gasoline.

That is, if you can find a place to fill up. Because the top “con” would be the fact there are only a dozen publicly accessible natural gas-fueling stations in Pennsylvania.  That $1.75-a-gallon price tag doesn’t look so great when you’re stranded on the side of the Turn­pike with an empty fuel tank.

The Cor­bett Administration has made expanding the number of natural gas-fueled vehicles on Pennsylvania roads a priority, and is preparing to spend $20 million on the effort over the next three years. Governor Corbett’s motivations are three-fold: natural gas-run vehicles release far fewer emissions into the air than gasoline or diesel cars and trucks; they’re also a step, he argues, in the direction of American energy independence.

Cor­bett also has an eco­nomic incen­tive. “The more we cre­ate demand for the nat­ural gas, hope­fully we’ll see that cost of dry nat­ural gas go up some, so that [energy com­pa­nies] con­tinue to drill,” he said dur­ing a June press con­fer­ence. The glut of sup­ply cre­ated by a shale gas boom has dri­ven down the cost of nat­ural gas to ten-year lows. Many drillers are respond­ing by slow­ing down extrac­tion operations.

“A Nice Ride, And It’s A Third Of The Price of Gas”

Chris Jones is one of the esti­mated 110,000 peo­ple in the United States who dri­ves a nat­ural gas-fueled vehi­cle. In fact, he’s dri­ven three. His most recent car is a big, white old taxi. Jones doesn’t have any envi­ron­men­tal or polit­i­cal moti­va­tions for dri­ving the Crown Vic­to­ria. “It’s a big, com­fort­able Amer­i­can car,” he said at a Mont­gomery County com­pressed nat­ural gas (CNG) fuel­ing sta­tion oper­ated by PECO. “It’s a nice ride, and it’s a third of the price of gas. It’s great.” (As gaso­line prices have dropped, nat­ural gas has gone from a third of the cost to about half.)

Jones hasn’t had a prob­lem with the lack of fuel­ing options. “ I get about 300 miles out of a tank. A 150-mile range cov­ers about 90 per­cent of where I go,” he said.

That lack of sta­tions is the down­side of a nat­ural gas vehi­cle. There aren’t too many places to fill up - just 11 sta­tions are open to the pub­lic in Penn­syl­va­nia — because not many peo­ple are using nat­ural gas. The 110,000 nat­ural gas cars and trucks on the road account for .0006 per­cent of all Amer­i­can vehicles.

Most of Pennsylvania’s CNG fuel­ing sta­tions are oper­ated by pri­vate com­pa­nies like PECO, which already have the infra­struc­ture in place to fuel the CNG trucks in their fleet. Waste Man­age­ment and super­mar­ket chain Giant Eagle also oper­ate facilities.

EQT’s CNG sta­tion in Pittsburgh’s Strip Dis­trict is the most high-profile fuel­ing stop in the state. It got a lot of cov­er­age when it opened ear­lier this year. But over the course of an hour on a Wednes­day after­noon in June, more cars and trucks pulled into the lot to turn around than to fill up.

Just three vehi­cles refu­eled: a taxi, and two vans owned by an elec­tric com­pany. The traf­fic was indica­tive of the cur­rent nat­ural gas mar­ket, which dom­i­nated by fleet vehi­cles .This is the area where experts expect to see the most growth over the com­ing years.

Swap­ping Diesel For Nat­ural Gas

The con­ver­sion is hap­pen­ing in Wash­ing­ton County, where Waste Man­age­ment parks a fleet of more than thirty CNG-fueled garbage trucks. The com­pany is in the midst of a national effort to con­vert all its vehi­cles to nat­ural gas.

By the end of 2012, it will be halfway done with the goal — at least within its Wash­ing­ton County fleet. “In 2011 we got 23 CNG trucks. In 2012 we should get another 18,” dis­trict man­ager Rich Mogan told StateIm­pact Penn­syl­va­nia. “By the end of the year we’ll have 45 to 50.”

Waste Man­age­ment has been run­ning an all-natural gas fleet in Cal­i­for­nia for a decade, because of the state’s tough vehi­cle emis­sions stan­dards. As national reg­u­la­tions have got­ten stricter, diesel trucks have grown more expen­sive. Waste Man­age­ment decided it made more sense to pur­chase nat­ural gas trucks.

The prob­lem: CNG garbage trucks are still more expen­sive. “Gen­er­ally, a diesel truck costs about $285,000,” said Mogan.  “A CNG is approx­i­mately $330,000.”

The com­pany earns back the cost dif­fer­ence within two years, though, since garbage trucks burn through so much fuel.

It takes longer for pri­vate car own­ers to turn the higher cost into a sav­ings. A CNG-fueled Honda Civic — the only nat­ural gas-only car cur­rently on the mar­ket — costs $6,000 to $8,000 more than its gasoline-fueled coun­ter­part. Wash­ing­ton County Honda gen­eral man­ager Gary Flan­nery, who started car­ry­ing the CNG vehi­cles in June, esti­mated it would take between 60,000 to 80,0000 miles of dri­ving for the sav­ings to kick in.

Flan­nery expects to sell two to three CNG Civics a month. In fact, Honda has only sold 14,000 of the vehi­cles since 1998, when the com­pany began man­u­fac­tur­ing them. It’s moved 4.2 mil­lion stan­dard Civics dur­ing that same timespan.

$20 Mil­lion For Nat­ural Gas Trucks

The poten­tially pro­hib­i­tive upfront cost is the rea­son why the Cor­bett Admin­is­tra­tion is prepar­ing to dole out $20 mil­lion in grants to com­pa­nies, local gov­ern­ments, col­leges and other groups who pur­chase nat­ural gas-fueled trucks over the next three years.

The money comes from Pennsylvania’s new impact fee on nat­ural gas drillers.

Com­pa­nies, gov­ern­ments or schools who are adding more than five nat­ural gas-fueled trucks can apply for grants of up to $25,000-per-vehicle. While cars aren’t part of the pro­gram, an already-existing fund pro­vides a $1,000 rebate for nat­ural gas-fueled car purchases.

Dan Lap­ato, who’s help­ing run the grant pro­gram at the Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion, said con­vert­ing large fleets from diesel to nat­ural gas will improve air qual­ity. “When you get into a suburban/urban area, where you have the traf­fic from busses, from vehi­cles, from cars, the impact on air qual­ity could be huge. …The diesel emissions vs. the nat­ural gas emissions. There’s a vast difference between the tailpipes,” he said.

The depart­ment hasn’t set a spe­cific goal for the num­ber of nat­ural gas vehi­cles it wants to put on the road. Lapato said the effort is designed to raise aware­ness for nat­ural gas-run cars and trucks, along­side beef­ing up the mar­ket. That’s why DEP will host pub­lic infor­ma­tion ses­sions on nat­ural gas-run vehi­cles, begin­ning this fall.

The Department plans to begin accepting grant applications in December.

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Heckmann Corporation (HEK), a long-time favorite of CNBC’s ‘Mad Money’ host Jim Cramer, is an environmental services company. The Company operates through two business segments. Heckmann Water Resources (HWR) is dedicated to the movement, treatment and disposal of water generated by energy companies involved in the discovery and production of oil and natural gas. Heckmann Environmental Service (HES) is a one-stop-shop for collection and recycling services for oily waste products, including used motor oil, oily wastewater, spent antifreeze, used oil filters and parts washers. Heckmann Corporation is building a national footprint across its environmental service offerings. The Company has more than 1,500 employees and operates in 52 locations in the U.S.

For the first quarter of 2012 that ended March 31, HWR’s revenues tripled to $55.0 million, compared with $18.2 million for the same period in the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA2 more than doubled to $10.2 million, compared with $4.1 million for both the first quarter of 2011 and the fourth quarter of 2011. On a pro-forma basis, which included the effect of Heckmann Environmental Services (HES – formerly Thermo Fluids Inc., or TFI), revenues were $82.4 million and adjusted EBITDA was $16.2 million.

The acquisition of TFI Holdings and Thermo Fluids was completed early April and extended Heckmann’s single-source environmental solutions offering for the oil and gas industries beyond water services solutions. Acquiring the largest seller of pre-processed fuel oil from recovered used motor oil [UMO] in the Western United States represented the next phase of Heckmann’s growth.

Heckmann can now provide more comprehensive service offerings among the environmental services spectrum, as HES will augment the company’s proven capabilities in water and wastewater services through diversification of operations, revenue stream, reach, and of course customer base. HES should also accelerate the company’s top-line growth and provide increased free operating cash flow.

On the assumption of three quarters of operations, Heckmann had communicated the expectation that HES will generate revenues between $105 and $115 million for the nine-month period beginning in April 2012. In connection with the acquisition, Heckmann paid $227.5 million in cash from a senior notes offering and $17.5 million in restricted shares of Heckmann common stock.

The company had a strong start to the year, reporting its sixth consecutive quarter of record revenues, as adjusted EBITDA more than doubled Y-o-Y and compared to the last quarter of 2011, and exceeded quarterly guidance.

The board made a point to stress that all of the expansion in the water business was a result of new contracts or customers, primarily in the liquid-rich shale areas, and that the two business segments are currently well positioned for future growth with good momentum. As both segments are seasonally slowest in the first quarter, the company expects second quarter 2012 revenues to increase over first quarter pro-forma results by more than 15%.

It seems Heckmann is on target to achieve the financial and strategic goals set out for 20120. Their water solutions segment has grown over the past 12 months from operations exclusively in the Haynesville Shale area to now include operations in seven additional oil, liquid-rich and natural gas shale areas in seven states and continues to grow significantly.

When considering an investment in Heckmann, it’s important to remember that their water solutions business is less than three years old and that the considerable management and asset intensive infrastructure necessary to produce over $250 million of water-related revenues in 2012 has a significant start-up component to it. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

The results in the first quarter were driven by the securing of long-term service contracts with large customers, servicing higher volumes of produced water in the gas basins, and repositioning some assets from dry gas basins to oil and liquid-rich basins. The company also hired 175 truck drivers and several dozen water transfer and well testing technicians in the first quarter. Heckmann expects organic growth to continue, margins to expand, and to hire more than 100 new drivers in the second quarter to meet demand in their expanding water solutions segment.

On March 30, 2012, Heckmann completed a public offering of 18.2 million shares of common stock at a price of $4.40 per share for net proceeds of $74.4 million, and on April 10th the company also completed a debt offering of $250.0 million in senior unsecured notes next to entering into a new senior secured revolving credit facility of $150.0 million with an accordion feature. The proceeds from these transactions were used to fund the cash portion of the TFI acquisition and to pay off Heckmann’s existing term loan and revolving credit facility. The company has not utilized its new senior credit facility at this time according to fillings.

For the second quarter of 2012, Heckmann currently expects total revenues of approximately $100.0 million. As a result of the acquisition of TFI, Heckmann now expects to achieve pro-forma total revenues of between $400.0 million and $420.0 million for full year 2012, and pro-forma adjusted EBITDA in the region of $95-$105 million.

As of March 31, 2012, Heckmann Corporation’s total assets were $629.3 million, and equity totaled $422.7 million. Heckmann currently has a Forward P/E of 16.3 and a market cap of $444.5 million. This translates into a current P/B of 1.1, with a P/S of 1.8.

The last few years have been difficult for the largest of companies, let alone for start-ups like Heckmann. But despite plenty of headwinds, this company remains full of potential and continues to exhibit plenty of growth. Your entry point is key with every investment you make. Given Heckmann’s current valuation, Jim Cramer would probably ask you: “Where’s the love people?” And he’s certainly not alone.

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U.S. veterans looking for jobs have a new employment opportunity — in Canada, working on that country’s section of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Though the push to start building the Canada-to-Texas oil route has been delayed in the United States amid political and environmental disputes, the Veterans of Foreign Wars is part of a deal that would send veterans and transitional active-duty soldiers across the border to fill as many as 114,000 skilled-labor jobs. The jobs include work on the crude-oil pipeline as well as work on infrastructure and even skyscrapers.

The deal is being negotiated by the Edmonton Economic Development Corp. and VetJobs, a job-placement company in which the VFW has a stake.

VetJobs CEO Ted Daywalt said Tuesday he “jumped at the opportunity” to send workers across the border.

“I want to get the best jobs for veterans. If that means going to Canada, we will,” he said. “And it’s a lot safer than Iraq.”

Daywalt said he was “very upset” about delays on the U.S. section of the 1,700-mile-long pipeline, which nixed corporate commitments he had secured to hire 8,000 veterans. He hopes veterans can now find gainful employment in Canada.

Veterans have an overall unemployment rate that is lower than the national average – 7.8 percent, compared to 8.2 percent, according to the federal government’s May report. However, the rate for those returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is 12.7 percent, which the federal government says is related more to high unemployment among younger Americans.

Daywalt said the rate is even higher among military reservists and National Guardsmen because frequent calls to duty result in difficulty holding down a steady job.

The Edmonton development corporation said the jobs are long term and will allow veterans to work several weeks in Canada, then one week back home, which might help the guardsmen and reservists.

Mike Wo, a director with the Edmonton corporation, said Canada has a labor shortage and that he was fortunate to find VetJobs because many of the skills that veterans learned in the U.S. military matched the needs of his country’s employers.

“It’s a great win-win opportunity,” he said.

The jobs – from pipefitters to ironworkers to cost estimators — will pay at least 30 percent more than comparable ones in the United States, Wo added.

The Obama administration’s hold-up of the U.S. section of the pipeline has divided his own base over the jobs issue. While environmentalists lobbied for federal intervention, unions were clamoring for the extra employment opportunities the massive pipeline promised to bring.

Though some are now looking to Canada for work, the project could eventually get back on track in the states.

In January, President Obama put a hold on the application by TransCanada Corp., saying the State Department needed more time to review the process.

The company has submitted another application to avoid Nebraska’s environmentally sensitive Sandhills region, which prompted the State Department last month to call for a supplemental study that could decrease the likelihood a decision will be reached before the November election.

The president in March approved the southern leg of the project. But Senate Republicans failed to get a provision in the transportation bill passed by Congress last month that attempted to accelerate the entire project.

Still, Richard L. DeNoyer, a national commander for VFW, a 113-year-old nonprofit service organization, called Canada jobs “a fantastic opportunity.”

“I’m proud of our affiliation with VetJobs,” he added.

Despite uncertainty in the U.S. about the pipeline, optimism remains high in Canada.

“I’m confident that the Keystone XL pipeline is going to get built,” said Russ Girling, the CEO of TransCanada, whose U.S. construction permit was denied by the Obama administration. “The U.S. imports some 10 million barrels a day of oil. It only makes sense for them to get as much as they can from their friendly northern neighbor.”

To be sure, Canada has been the leading exporter of oil into this country for many years.

The proposed pipeline would bring in an additional 700,000 barrels a day from Canada’s Hardisty terminal and help at least another 100,000 barrels from oil fields in Montana and western North Dakota reach Gulf Coast refineries.

TransCanada await a decision on the permit, but officials also know there is a strong demand for oil in China and other Asia markets.

“Our job is to build pipelines,” Girling recently told Fox News.

original article

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The first permit for a Tuscaloosa Marine Shale oil well in Avoyelles was issued June 18 by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources.

The well, known as the Dupuy Land Company No. 1 well, was granted a permit for drilling with a total length of 11,900 feet. The permit listed at the DNR website did not have a horizontal depth but the permit can be amended later for horizontal drilling, presumably after the vertical leg of the drilling gives indications of oil vein fractures as it descends.

The well is named after the largest land owner in the unit, Dupuy Land Company, which was begun in the 1930s by the late Marc Dupuy, Sr. and now is in the hands of his descendants.

The geographic unit the well will be drilled in is about 920 acres in a rectangular shape. The north end of the unit is bordered approximately by the Brouillette Highway, at the intersection of Clarence Rymes Road in the Brouillette Community, Section 29 Township 03N Range 05E. northeast of Marksville. The tower of the drilling rig should be visible soon about one mile from the highway. Drilling is expected to begin about July 1.

The well is a test well by EOG of Texas who have leased much acreage in Avoyelles to attempt to recover the known oil reserves which are trapped in shale rock deep below Central Louisiana. Currently EOG is rebuilding the Ryhmes road leading to the well site.

A second well by EOG is in the permitting process for the Hamburg area.

original article