Welcome to the first ever edition of the Michigan Oil & Gas Monthly by RMP. We will be publishing this monthly magazine / newsletter to keep you up to date on activity in the Michigan oil patch. We will be taking a look at Michigan hydrocarbon production and fresh water management. This magazine, like everything else published at RMP, is free and will always be free. The format will be an article like this one you’re reading with an accompanying video (like the one above) that showcases the same information.
Each month in this report we will be recapping basic activity & statistics from the prior month. We have already published this post and this post to bring you up to speed on the basics of Michigan petroleum geology and Michigan hydrocarbon production. As stated in the aforementioned posts, activity in Michigan is at its lowest level in recorded history since records started being kept in 1927. So, there is not a ton of new activity to report in Michigan as most of the reservoirs we are aware of in the state are conventionally depleted and most new reservoirs found are modest producers as compared to other oil & gas plays in America. The activity that is going on in Kalkaska, however, is different than anything that’s ever been done in Michigan. So, even though permit numbers and activity Continue reading Michigan Oil & Gas Monthly – January 2015→
Understanding petroleum production in Michigan can be difficult if you’re new to it. It can also be confusing even after you’ve studied it. My 9 year old son just started the 2014-15 basketball season. The kids just had their first two practices last week and the coach warned the first few practices would be pretty boring. Coach said the first few practices would be dedicated to the fundamentals of dribbling, passing, and shooting exercises. Sometimes kids just want to play games. But, they’re never going to achieve success unless time is set aside at the beginning for learning the fundamentals. My point with that anecdote is the first steps toward understanding petroleum production in Michigan are much the same. The key elements of petroleum production to know first are: history, units of measure, production resource units, and pricing. Respectmyplanet has access to the same production data that everyone else does. What’s different is that we use exclusive software written for communicating this data in a way that’s interactive with our map. We intend in this article to give you a primer course on production basics so in future articles we can Continue reading Michigan Petroleum Production 101→
The recent mid-term election in America has brought the Keystone XL pipeline to the forefront of American politics again. Washington DC has enthusiasm and momentum to push through legislation that will approve the final phase of the Keystone Pipeline System: the Keystone XL. But how did America get involved between the National Energy Board’s ambition to get bitumen to China and other foreign markets? The answer is simple: Alberta is landlocked and a pipeline across America is one route to economically get the bitumen to China or other foreign markets.
China needs energy. China faces many challenges to get enough energy to keep their economy moving and producing for over 1.3 billion people. China has made some remarkable moves toward making clean energy recently when they endeavored to start building more IGCC plants for electricity production from syngas. IGCC technology with Continue reading The Keystone XL Pipeline→
Let’s examine the high level 101 basics of hydrocarbons, stratigraphy, and lithology nomenclature in the Michigan Basin. In Michigan, like everywhere else, we have different layers of rock beneath our feet. Trapped inside the rocks beneath our feet are hydrocarbons like oil, gas, and coal. Most of the energy produced in our history and in the world today comes from these subsurface hydrocarbons.
Hydrocarbon recovery is dictated by the geologic formation and subsurface structures where it has accumulated. Petroleum geologists look for areas where they think hydrocarbons might be trapped in a reservoir. The rock in the reservoir must have enough permeability and pressure to get those hydrocarbons to the surface through a well bore whence they can be sold for a profit. In Michigan, oil has been produced since the late 1800’s and gas has been produced commercially since the early 1900’s. Michigan had significant oil activity in the 1930’s and 40’s and then a lull through the 50’s. Activity again picked up in the late 1960’s in the Niagaran reef by the big boys like Amoco, Shell Western, and ExxonMobil because of production capacity discovered while drilling Antrim wells. Amoco, Shell, and ExxonMobil were successful in the Niagaran reef trend in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula and activity intensified heavily in the 1980’s. As the economy stagnated and oil prices Continue reading Michigan Petroleum Geology 101→
This is Duke. Duke is the official mascot of respectmyplanet.org. If you checked his legal name on veterinary records, it would say Huckleberry, but everyone that knows him just calls him Duke.
Duke visiting the location staked for the State Tuscarora 1-34HD1 well pad in the Gaylord State Forest Area. The MDEQ received an application for a permit to drill a well into the Utica-Collingwood from here in 2011. The true vertical depth of this well would have been 4,522 feet but it was never drilled.
Duke has visited a ton of places in Michigan. He’s been to the Gaylord State Forest Area to see Robert’s Lake just west of the Pigeon River. He’s been to Grand Rapids, Hillsdale, Farmington, Alpena, Kalamazoo, Kalkaska, and everywhere in between. Duke has been Continue reading Meet Duke, RMP’s Official Mascot→
Have you noticed respectmyplanet.org? We’ve been mapping data related to Michigan’s natural resources and environmental protection.
Welcome to respectmyplanet.org’s first article in a long time published from the WordPress software application. We’re glad to again be putting stories together that will help people understand more about oil & gas exploration in Michigan. We have been reviewing Michigan oil & gas data for 4 years now. We would like to share what we have learned from the past up through the present. We would also like to write about what future oil & gas exploration might look like in Michigan as our public owned hydrocarbon resources become increasingly more difficult for private companies to recover for profits.
RMP is 501(c)3 non-profit organization registered in Michigan. We are committed to protecting fresh water resources by advocating for: sustainable energy production, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, remediating environmental pollution & rethinking waste management.
