When Is Natural Gas Good?

Good morning!

Nicholas goes to China

Recently, I interviewed my brother on his return from a productive trip to China, where fracking is growing fast.

Not only is fracking becoming a huge business, but China expects to spend a trillion dollars on air and water cleanup…

So we needed to be there, but we needed the right relationships.

Our Chief Commercial Officer Jean-Louis Kindler worked long and hard to set them up, and Nicholas went to China!

You can watch the interview here. We’re very pleased with our progress there.

Nicholas Eckelberry at China’s Harbin Institute of Technology with OriginOil’s test unit.

(To hear more of my comments, tune into last week’s Big Biz Show.)

Now, when is natural gas good?

Did you know that natural gas is helping us make the transition to solar and wind power?

Here’s how.

Wind and solar are intermittent power sources.

The sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow.

When that happens, operators start up their regular power plants. They have to do this on a dime.

Coal and nuclear plants don’t start up quickly. But power plants that burn natural gas do.

And so, natural gas is helping states and countries make the transition to renewable energy.

You can hear Alex Guillén, reporter for Politico Pro, make this point on one of my favorite radio shows, Radio Times. (Listen to yesterday’s show, fast forward to the 40’22” mark.)

And T. Boone Pickens will tell you other good things about natural gas on his Pickens Plan site.

Are there issues?

Yes, of course.

As I stated at the American Renewable Energy Day (see video), the oil and gas industry needs to “get out ahead” of issues such as water consumption.

It isn’t that fracking takes much more water than other uses overall. It’s just the “last user” in some very water-stressed communities.

And then there’s those thousand truck trips per frack job.

What’s cool is that the industry can save big money by reusing water. And win hearts in the process…

For example, did you know that drillers can provide irrigation water to farmers in parched states? Chevron’s doing it right now in California.

Our technology is key to making water cleanup pay. That’s huge.

Meanwhile, if you’re in a hot, dry place like us in Southern California, stay cool and save water!

And have a great rest of your week.

Riggs and Team

Riggs Eckelberry
President & CEO
OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL)