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Magazine

Uploaded by

casiopeavaimo
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Deadly gas

The explosion of a tanker carrying pressurized gas that ripped through a truck depot
near Hala Naka on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Monday killed at least 18 and injured
over 50. Initial fears that it was an act of terrorism were quickly dispelled and it was
revealed as yet another fatal failure of health and safety procedures. Accidents in the
workplace are a daily occurrence, we have never grown a safety culture and such
legislation as there is, is rarely applied. Hazardous materials are handled carelessly and
with little thought for the life or safety of others in the proximity. There was even
confusion about what the substance was that exploded, with the bomb disposal squad
wrongly identifying it as Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) whereas it was carbon dioxide,
CO2. Fingers were quickly pointed, and the accident is said to be caused by the
negligence of the firm transporting the gas. This may or may not be so and we are
unlikely ever to hear the truth of the matter. The mess will be cleared up, the dead
buried and all will be quickly forgotten – until the next time.

Hazardous materials should never be loaded in the middle of busy markets or urban
areas. Gases in particular should be loaded at specially designated and equipped
depots that have staff that are properly trained in safe handling procedures. Town and
city administrations have a responsibility to regulate the handling of hazardous materials
but in practice rarely do, leaving it to traders and hauliers to make their own ad-hoc
arrangements. With this incident as with just about every other the site was quickly
crowded with onlookers who got in the way of fire and rescue services. Television
reports in the immediate aftermath showed that the police and paramilitary personnel
made little effort to clear people from the area – exposing them to the risk of a second
explosion. The entire incident was an object lesson in how not to manage.

Copyrights TheNews 30.6.2010

Estimate Places Natural Gas Reserves 35%


Higher By JAD MOUAWAD
Published: June 17, 2009
Thanks to new drilling technologies that are unlocking given the scale of the nation’s energy use and the costs
substantial amounts of natural gas from shale rocks, the involved in switching from fossil fuels.
nation’s estimated gas reserves have surged by 35 percent,
according to a study due for release on Thursday.
Shale gas currently provides a small fraction of the nation’s
total gas production. But many experts believe the rising
The report by the Potential Gas Committee, the authority on supply of natural gas means it can substitute for other fossil
gas supplies, shows the United States holds far larger fuels. With the output of conventional gas forecast to decline,
reserves than previously thought. The jump is the largest the Energy Department expects that shale production will
increase in the 44-year history of reports from the rise substantially to meet higher demand, as will imports.
committee.
Natural gas accounts for about a quarter of the nation’s total
The finding raises the possibility that natural gas could energy use, and 22 percent of electrical production. Coal
emerge as a critical transition fuel that could help to battle accounts for about half of the nation’s power generation,
global. For a given amount of heat energy, burning gas while oil dominates transportation fuels. While gas generates
produces about half as much carbon dioxide, the main cause less carbon dioxide than oil or coal, it still accounted for
of global warming, as burning coal. about 20 percent of domestic energy-related emissions in
2006.
Estimated natural gas reserves rose to 2,074 trillion cubic
feet in 2008, from 1,532 trillion cubic feet in 2006, when the The Energy Department estimates that demand for natural
last report was issued. This includes the proven reserves gas will rise by 13 percent by 2030. In the power sector,
compiled by the Energy Department of 237 trillion cubic feet, utilities have been switching to natural gas from coal, but
as well as the sum of the nation’s probable, possible and further increases in the use of gas will most likely depend on
speculative reserves. whether Congress puts a price on carbon dioxide emissions,
as it is considering. That would favor cleaner fuels like gas.
The new estimates show “an exceptionally strong and
optimistic gas supply picture for the nation,” according to a “It’s nice to have aspirations about renewable energy and
summary of the report, which is issued every two years by a efficiency, but we need to recognize these are long-term
group of academics and industry experts that is supported goals and that we need something to get us there in the
by the Colorado School of Mines. meantime,” said Guy F. Caruso, a former administrator of
the Energy Information Administration. “Natural gas has a
role to play as a bridge because of the long lead time and
Much of that jump comes from estimated gas in shale rocks,
scalability issues of renewable fuels.”
which drilling companies have only recently learned how to
tap. They have developed a technique called hydraulic
fracturing, in which water is injected at high pressure into That the nation’s gas reserves were bigger than expected
wells to shatter rocks deep underground, helping to release does not mean they will necessarily be developed, Mr.
trapped gas. Caruso warned. “There are some things to be cautious
about,” he said, “and obviously one of them is cost, and the
other is regulatory risk.”
The method, perfected in recent years in places like Texas
and Pennsylvania, has set off a boom in new drilling, but is
coming under increasing regulatory and environmental In recent years, industry executives and analysts have been
scrutiny. Shale gas accounts for 616 trillion cubic feet of surprised by the discovery and successful development of
reserves, or a third of the total, according to the report. new supplies of shale gas, like the Barnett Shale in the area
around Fort Worth.
“New and advanced exploration, well drilling and completion
technologies are allowing us increasingly better access to But higher drilling costs and the extensive use of water to
domestic gas resources — especially ‘unconventional’ gas fracture shale rocks have raised concerns about the long-run
— which, not that long ago, were considered impractical or commercial potential of these supplies. Some environmental
uneconomical to pursue,” said John B. Curtis, a geology groups fear that hydraulic fracturing will pollute drinking
professor at the Colorado School of Mines and the report’s water, and Congress is considering tighter regulation of the
principal author. practice.

The huge increase in estimated gas supplies comes just as Mr. Caruso said that gas prices needed to be around $4 to
concerns about energy security and climate change are $6 per thousand cubic feet to justify developing shale beds.
prompting the most profound shift in energy policy since the They have fallen below that level at times in recent months,
oil shocks of the 1970s. though gas settled Wednesday at $4.25.

The Obama administration has sought more stringent fuel For advocates of the gas industry, the report vindicates the
standards for new cars, and Congress is debating potential of natural gas in the economy.
regulations that would progressively limit carbon dioxide
emissions throughout the economy. The administration has
“Natural gas is part of the solution for a low-carbon future,
taken a cautious approach to conventional energy
and not an impediment,” said Chris McGill, the managing
resources, freezing leases to develop oil shale reserves and
director for policy analysis at the American Gas Association,
carefully reviewing future offshore leases for oil and gas.
a trade group. “It has been difficult to get policy makers over
that hump. Many have a vision of gas as a resource we’re
Instead, the administration seeks to increase the share of running out of, and that’s just not true.”
renewable energy, especially wind and solar power. But
experts say that meeting these goals will prove challenging

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