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One potentially significant side effect of the recession has been a slowdown in oil and natural gas drilling activity.
In recent figures from the American Petroleum Institute, overall drilling activity was down 46 percent between the second quarter of 2009 to the same period last year. Natural gas production was said to suffer the worst decline in at least a decade, with activity falling 43 percent in the past year.
Natural gas prices have remained low in part because of increasingly available supplies brought on by advances in drilling technology and large reserves. However, both oil and gas are indicators of the overall state of the economy, and demand has remained weak amid ongoing concerns about the prospects for a recovery.
Some of the slowdown is to the tougher credit conditions that smaller companies are facing when it comes to financing their debt, as well as new projects.
Meanwhile, oil giant Exxon Mobil (XOM) indicated this week that it won't stake its entire future on fossil fuel production.
According to the company, it plans to invest at least $600 million in a joint venture with Synthetic Genomics to develop a next-generation biofuel using photosynthetic algae. The company indicated that any such fuels developed under the program would be compatible with existing gasoline and diesel engines.
By Bill Laforme
Recession has impact on energy industry
One potentially significant side effect of the recession has been a slowdown in oil and natural gas drilling activity. In recent figures from the American Petroleum Institute, overall drilling activity was down 46 percent between the second quarter of 2009 to the same period last year. Natural gas production was said to suffer the worst decline in at least a decade, with activity falling 43 percent in the past year.
Natural gas prices have remained low in part because of increasingly available supplies brought on by advances in drilling technology and large reserves. However, both oil and gas are indicators of the overall state of the economy, and demand has remained weak amid ongoing concerns about the prospects for a recovery.
Some of the slowdown is to the tougher credit conditions that smaller companies are facing when it comes to financing their debt, as well as new projects.
Meanwhile, oil giant Exxon Mobil (XOM) indicated this week that it won't stake its entire future on fossil fuel production.
According to the company, it plans to invest at least $600 million in a joint venture with Synthetic Genomics to develop a next-generation biofuel using photosynthetic algae. The company indicated that any such fuels developed under the program would be compatible with existing gasoline and diesel engines.
By Bill Laforme
