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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Another Natural Gas Formation Found in North Dakota

Link here. [Update: that link is broken; apparently Forbes took it down. The good news is this: one can access the same article here.]

Another natural gas formation has been found in North Dakota. For newbies, the Bakken is all about oil, and there is not much interest in natural gas in North Dakota. That isn't likely to change soon.

However, this formation is said to exist under almost all of North Dakota, in 52 or the 53 state counties. It is a very, very shallow formation: only 200 feet under the surface. (No, I don't know which county got left out.) [See note at end of posting: we now see which county was left out.]
This is a shallow gas formation. Shallow gas formations are defined as less than 5,000 feet deep. This new formation in North Dakota is less than 200 feet in many places.
Flashback: natural gas production in US in decline.

Here's the article, published this month, January, 2011 (a PDF file -- at the link, click on the article, " Field Screening For Shallow Gas Completed Across ND."

And the article includes a map so we know which county got left out: Sioux County, along the South Dakota border. This county lies entirely within the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Something tells me the natural gas formation can be found there, also, if searched for hard enough. Like with one well.

10 comments:

  1. Remember about 15 years ago when the state wanted to do a test drill near Amidon? Methane gas over the thickest coal in the state. Then all of a sudden the enviro's showed up and it was shut down. This is no suprise but the extent is. Why would the state bring this out now?

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  2. Talk about "bank for one's buck." This was a five-year study and cost only $65,000. Hmmm.

    Anyway, five years takes us back to 2004 - 2006: I don't know what was going on then to start the study, except as the folks say, they wanted an explanation of why their well water was starting on fire. Smile.

    My hunch is that the study was done, for whatever reason, and had things been quiet in the oil patch this study would not have generated a lot of excitement. But with the excitement of the Bakken, the emotion surrounding hydraulic fracking, and with the cost of energy increasing significantly, it got more of a headline.

    I don't know if there's anything more than that. But it is interesting. Remember the recent story that said no new oil/gas fields in continental US? I will have to find it/post it.

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  3. When a person reads Mr. Helms statements on NDIC he always refers to the fact that shallow gas is not economical at this time. Always the optimist.

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  4. He probably can't lose for winning, as they say. Some say he is "the" North Dakota cheerleader for the oil industry, but yes, every time he is quoted, that's what he says about ND shallow gas: it's not economical. Maybe he's buying up natural gas mineral rights as fast as he can, and trying to keep the price down. This is just a joke; don't quote me on this! Ha.

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  5. I worked with Mr. Helms many years ago. He was always the optimistic one. You nailed it he is the cheerleader. Get a drink of water and take a break (laughing).

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  6. There is a town in Alberta Canada, Medicine Hat, that decided to drill shallow gas wells to support the town. It has been very successful, no property tax, residents only pay a small fee ( about 10.00 a month) to heat their homes. Business owners do the same. They also have gas to sell that helps fund the city budget. I think the pop.is about 50 to 75000 and growing. Just a thought about about gas not being economical.

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  7. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

    Your point is well taken: everything is relative, and in this case, natural gas is a great bargain. Good for Medicine Hat.

    And thanks for stopping by.

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  8. the State of ND proposed to drill several coal bed methane wells in slope county in 2007. they had public meeting in Amidon, the thing that stopped the test wells, were 1. ranchers and cattle men were afaraid of loosing the water wells, and 2. they was NO infastructure to /transport the Methane gas after it was collected to any major pipeline for sales..
    refer to this article posted by the ND DMR..

    https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/newsletter/NLjan2011/Field%20Screening%20for%20Shallow%20Gas.pdf

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  9. Take Medicine Hat's example one step further and convert your vehicle's to CNG. With some competent State and local leadership, perhaps they could start the North Dakota Sovereign Wealth Fund.

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  10. At least the fleet of state government vehicles; that would be a start.

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