Reading a Well Flare

  This is Hilcorp's Mahoning Buckner well in Lawrence county, Pa, Sunday night. They first day they started flaring, Friday, it was pretty weak. It got a little stronger Saturday, and by Sunday night it seemed fairly strong. The next day, Monday, the flame was out and the flare stack was disassembled. Seems kind of quick. Does this give any indication about the strength of this well?

  The only other well I've seen flared, Shell's Little Beaver Patterson, seemed to go on much longer.

 

                                                                                                              Thanks Much  -  Z

   

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Permalink Reply by Dan Warner on February 21, 2015 at 2:37am

@Joseph-Ohio

“I have to say however it really amplifies and illustrates (to me anyway) the lack of co-operation / communication between counterparts within the industry and government.”

To the contrary, if one looks logically at the situation, it rather highlights the fading, already paper-thin line between government and industry.  It seems nearly every day, that laws are passed which favor corporate interests over the good of the collective.

However, I don’t think that the situation in Texas applies itself to the Appalachian shale boom, since the gas is the main objective, though I do see a parallel here in WV:

 

Articles  §22C-9-3&4 of HB 2688, aka ‘the forced pooling bill’ expand the WV  Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, our version of the Texas Railroad Commission , in both membership and in power. 

However, the powers that should be extended to members of the commission, in order to regulate the industry and limit waste, are, instead, expressly denied them:

 

 

§22C-9-3. Application of article; exclusions.

 (c) The provisions of this article shall not be construed to grant to the commissioner or the commission authority or power to:

            (1) Limit production or output, or prorate production of any oil or gas well...

 

 

§22C-9-4. Oil and gas conservation commissioner and commission; commission membership; qualifications of members; terms of members; vacancies on commission; meetings; compensation and expenses; appointment and qualifications of commissioner; general powers and duties.

 (f) Without limiting the commission’s general authority, the commission shall have has specific authority to:

            (1) Regulate the spacing of deep wells other than horizontal wells;

 

            

Given that the membership will be largely an assembly of industry insiders, this legislation will further serve to unleash the developers to re-create the days of Spindletop, when the drinking water needed to quench the thirst of the roughnecks was worth more than the oil that they were producing.

Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on February 21, 2015 at 6:13am
Looking logically at the situation it becomes apparent (to me anyway) that vast amounts of natural gas resources are being wasted instead of being marketed (and they say it's on the account of a lack of infrastructure and cheaper to throw it away than build out the necessary pipelines).

That's not domestic economy / co-operation.

There's an 8" take-away line on the Trumbull well as one member reports but production (sounds likely to be wet gas) instead is being wasted / burnt off. What do you call that ? Co-operation ? I think not.

Only IMHO.
Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on February 21, 2015 at 6:58am
I think we should strike a profound difference between co-operation pertaining to our domestic economy and private citizens and co-operation between the industry and government (domestic and internationally).

The domestic economy and private citizens are being taken for a long walk in the woods / thrown under the so called NWO's bus if you ask me.

Only IMHO.
Permalink Reply by Dan Warner on February 21, 2015 at 1:21pm

We're on the same page there.

To the globalists, there is no domestic economy. 

Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on February 21, 2015 at 3:11pm
Good to know that Dan.
Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on February 21, 2015 at 10:12am
See; wells but no take-away capacity = waste = stupid = lack of co-ordination / co-operation to rebuild our domestic economy because it's cheaper to throw away = punish the landowner lessors.

All of that reeks to me.

Only IMHO.
Permalink Reply by Dan Warner on February 21, 2015 at 1:22pm

All of which supports the need for industry regulation, from the standpoint of local interests.

However, based on discussions here, most owners and politicians seem to still be riding the 'Drill, baby, drill' train, and hoping for bad weather.

With new wells coming on-line every day, and no end, or even a real slow-down in sight, it seems to me that supply will be over-running demand for years to come.  The road to an operating cracker is a long one, with no real progress to speak of.

New pipelines are also being filled as soon as they are ready (or before, as we learned in Brooke Co.).  

The world can only use so much energy.  Critical mass is a reality, and I, for one, don't see a reason to think that prices are going to rise significantly.  I think most owners realize this at some level, and just want their slice of the pie before its gone; it's just that no one seems to want to admit it. 

With the industry also unwilling to excercise restraint due to a responsibility to short-sighted investors who only looked at supply, and the Arab oil shenanigans, I fear that a bigger correction than we are seeing now may be in our future.

While it's easy to dream big, and some new shaleionares have been created, the best days may well be behind us.  Like it or not, the rest of us may have to learn to be satisfied with just a nice little supplemental income.

Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on February 21, 2015 at 9:15pm
Thanks for expressing your analysis / perspectives, Jesse.

Beyond that, I can say I understand them.

However, instead of burning off and wasting the resource while not paying royalty on sold production wouldn't it be more prudent to just close the valves and wait for better prices (if that's the reason behind the seemingly perpetual flaring) ?

It also now comes to mind that may be exactly what BP is doing by their plugging back the Morrison and Jewett wells and pulling out from developing more wells inTrumbull County (for instance) ?

Do you think there's any logic in that idea ?

Peace / Out bakatcha (back at ya') Jesse.


J-O
Permalink Reply by Dan Warner on February 21, 2015 at 1:20pm

The gas is only a by-product in Texas.  

(Who needs gas in a desert?)

We shouldn't expect an industry that defines 'waste' as what is left in the ground, and 'conservation' as squeezing everything down there out of it, to be concerned with anything but the bottom line. 

As to the 'wet gas' issue, I am unclear as to whether we are talking about water, or NGL's. It seems to me that it must be water, which, as I understand it, has to be burned off, as it is a dealbreaker for pipelines and processing plants.  If it were NGL's, it seems that it could be separated at the wellhead and trucked away, as they are doing in my neighborhood.

Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on February 21, 2015 at 3:02pm
Dan,

The wet gas mentioned in my reply is natural gas with condensibles / NGLs.

The posters from Trumbull indicated the perpetual flares they observe have little or no smoke but any smoke observed at all as being black in color and the flare flame as a darker orange in color.

The observers also cite no production at the wellhead as occurring only flaring.

I would also like to express here that I think that the Texas desert natural gas that you write about (or natural gas from anywhere else in our country) that can't be used local to the wells, can be used as fuel somewhere else and shouldn't simply be burnt off / thrown away - and if the industry can't or refuses to process it and market it, that regulations should be written into law (and enforced) to make it illegal to 'burn off' or throw away into the open air.

Just my opinion on the wasteful practices being discussed.
Permalink Reply by Nancy Mosley on February 21, 2015 at 3:13pm

Agree!

Permalink Reply by Nancy LeNau on February 21, 2015 at 3:59pm

Also Agree !

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