Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Question Regarding WAWS, Heating Water -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

NOTE: I have a number of posts already written and ready to post but I am waiting for responses to the post below regarding WAWS. I will leave this post up until later this evening. After 7:00 p.m. EST I will post the posts I have already posted.

For investors in energy: everything I've seen over the last couple of days is good news for those holding shares in the oil and gas industry, particularly in the Bakken. The story right now is the "surge" in the price of natural gas. It's up another ten cents today. Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. This has nothing to do with buy, sell, or hold recommendations. It is simply idle chatter that one might hear at the Economart in Williston.

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At this link, an overview of WAWS, a reader has asked several questions that I cannot answer. Perhaps others can.

There are rumors that WAWS will be adding several (four?) water depots north of the river. True? Locations?

Does anyone know the background of the company operating the WAWS water depot on Second Street West, Williston, ND. Is it Armstrong Hot Water Depots? Will this company assume operating responsibility for the entire WAWS system?

Will all WAWS depots in the future provide heated water?

Is the Bakken/industry moving toward heated water?

Should independents provide heated water?

Is this to allow fracking year-round? See comments below: all water is heated for fracking, to about 80 degrees.

2 comments:

  1. I can answer one of the questions "Is this to allow fracking year-round?"

    All frac water is heated, even in the summer months. The well water is normally 40-50 degrees F and the temperature needs to be between 70-80 degrees F, ideally.

    The temperature needs to be in this range to for the gel/guar to properly hydrate. Hydration is the process of the guar molecule “uncoiling” to become more linear. This allows for the fluid to build viscosity and for the fluid to crosslink, which is how the fluid carries the sand.

    If the water is cold the gel will not hydrate completely or take a lot longer to hydrate all of which can be detrimental to a frac job. This is a very simple explanation of the hydration process and I don’t want to bore anyone with a ton of chemistry.

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