Patterson well

I looked in the sky and it is orange. Oh yes I have seen this before only its a lot bigger, what I drove down the road to see was the utica well being flared off on the patterson well. It had to be four or five times the size of the marcellus well flare which was in of itself a pretty good one. This well has a marcellus and a utica on it as a"test well". Looks like they passed the test. It is amazing and really hot from afar. It was raining and so as the flame was taller than the flare pipe, the groud was steaming all arond.

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Permalink Reply by Brian on November 29, 2011 at 12:27pm

In your picture No. 2, are you talking to the gray tanks with the blue framework around them? Kinda near the well heads?

 

Those would be sand separators.  They drop the sand out before the flow stream reaches the multiphase separators.  The sand settles to the bottom of those "tanks" (vessels), and the gas, water, condensate, oil etc will then leave from the top part of it, still in a multiphase system, and go to the horizontal separator, seen towards the back, near the red tanks. This one then separates water, oil, and gas, each to their designated containers or flare.

2s72s0k9mm8gdPermalink Reply by 2s72s0k9mm8gd on November 29, 2011 at 12:58pm

Brian: those horizontal separators look to be the size of home heating propane tanks.

Is this a small scale setup for testing purposes or maybe a sign they may not be dealing with much liquids? Do you know the rate at which gas can be de-liquified by this size horiz. separator? Are these units just used until a Heater Treater can be set up?

Sorry to bother you with so many questions but this really has my curiosity going a million miles an hour!

Thanks for your help in clearing some of the fog.....It is greatly appreciated.

Glenn

Permalink Reply by Brian on November 29, 2011 at 1:48pm

I would say they are using these for the initial clean-up of the wells. When the sand concentration and the water rates are rather high, higher than there on-site production equipment could handle.

 

With those smaller sized separators, i would say that they are not dealing with large volumes of liquid, unless they are running them to their max capacities.  Do you know who is doing the flowback on those wells?

 

Here is a link to give a little better description of how those seperators work.  That is a unit that will deal with water, oil, and gas (3 phase)  there are also ones that are just 2 phase.

 

 

http://www.surfaceequip.com/products/separators/three-phase-separators

 

2s72s0k9mm8gdPermalink Reply by 2s72s0k9mm8gd on November 29, 2011 at 2:13pm

Thanks Brian! I don't know who is doing the flowback.

Started a new discussion to try and bring out information like your's.

We really appreciate your being so helpful!

Please continue to contribute whatever you can......it really helps those of us not in the know.

Permalink Reply by Brian on November 29, 2011 at 2:21pm

It is sometimes pretty hard to get the specifics on rates (gas), what is being produced (condensate, oil, etc) because the companies do not want other companies to know.  I guess if the people around that area can watch the trucks etc that are entering the site, that will tell you alot of what is being produced.  If Ergon trucks are frequenting the site, then there is a good chance oil or condensate is being produced.  Other than that, trucks will be hauling the produced water off of location, unless they have large water impoundments to store it, or large tank batteries.

2s72s0k9mm8gdPermalink Reply by 2s72s0k9mm8gd on November 30, 2011 at 11:48am

Swung by on my way home from work today and no flare.

There are 2 large gray vertical tanks that are not in these photos. They are maybe 10+ ft. in diameter and perhaps 20+ ft. tall. They are out of the view in all these photos (further to the left) and much larger than the sand separators identified by Brian Best. Bet you they are for oil or NGL's. Definitely looks like vent pipes coming out tops...pipe protrudes with elbow on end probably to keep out rain....?

Permalink Reply by Brian on November 30, 2011 at 3:24pm

Do the tanks you speak of have pipes running to them from any of the horizontal separators that can been seen in the above mention pictures?  If they do, then i would definitely say there are some kind of oil or NGL's being produced.

2s72s0k9mm8gdPermalink Reply by 2s72s0k9mm8gd on November 30, 2011 at 4:03pm

I couldn't see that good. They sit back maybe 75+ yds. from the road. Would the lines possibly be buried? I will have to get a better look tomorrow. Thanks Brian.

Permalink Reply by mike on December 1, 2011 at 8:50am

I just got back from the well. What are they doing now with that rig? The pics were with my phone so not very clear, but it is about a hundred feet tall with a bunch of cables holding it up so that it is leaning slight to the southeast. it is on a truck.

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2s72s0k9mm8gdPermalink Reply by 2s72s0k9mm8gd on December 1, 2011 at 10:05am

Mike: I don't know.....? Wasn't there yesterday around 4:30 when I drove by. Glad you got those big gray tanks in your first pic! Sure hope there isn't trouble with the well.....I don't think the Utica burned nearly as long as the Marcellus did.......Hope for the best!

Permalink Reply by Brian on December 1, 2011 at 10:40am
It appears they are snubbing production tubing into the well. The device bolted to the wellhead is the snubbing unit. It allows them to run the tubing in the well while there is pressure on the well. The tubing string will have a disk at the bottom end of the tubing string to prevent pressure from coming up the tubing while they run it in. when they are done running it in, they will pressure up from surface to rupture that disk and allow gas to flow up the tubing and thru the well head. They will probably flare again once they are done with the snubbing.
2s72s0k9mm8gdPermalink Reply by 2s72s0k9mm8gd on December 1, 2011 at 11:04am

Thanks Brian. I did hear a while ago Shell was hoping to get these wells turned in line by around New Years. Great to know there's probably no problems. There is a pipeline handy to the site. Did you see the gray tanks in one of Mike's latest pics? They tower over the office trailor in front of them. Someone else said they may be for water  or  oil....is this accurate?

So what is the purpose of flaring...flow testing or purging loose sand and frac fluids from the well? Or does it serve both purposes?

Thanks again Brian.

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