Flaring: One Pesky Problem

 Updates

April 24, 2016: See North Dakota natural gas production / milestone: http://themilliondollarway.blogspot.com/2016/04/directors-cut-is-out-february-2016-data.html. 

Original Post

Disclaimer: my long notes, often done quickly, are not always proofread the first time they are posted. There may be typographical errors, and there may be factual errors, but hopefully folks can understand the point I'm trying to make. Except for the data at the bottom of the post, this is all opinion. 

Motley Fool is reporting a solution to the flaring problem as espoused by certain Bakken operators: mega-pads with a single natural gas pipeline going to the mega-pad.

I am going out on a limb here, beyond my comfort zone, because I could be way, way wrong, but I was told that unlike crude oil which can go directly into a local line and then into a region/national line, natural gas cannot be shipped via regional/national pipeline until it has been processed.

Again, I am being told that natural gas must first be gathered and processed by a processing plant before it can be placed in the "national natural gas pipeline system."

Natural gas can only (for all intents and purposes) be flared or removed from the well by pipeline; trucks are not used in the Bakken to transport natural gas from the well head.

If that is accurate, and again, I could be way, way wrong, but if that is accurate, one can easily tell from the NDIC "ticket stubs" whether wells are flaring and, to some extent, why they are flaring.

1. The first thing to do is look to see if any natural gas is being produced, sold, and/or flared. If natural gas is being produced/sold and absolutely none, zero, nada, zilch, is being flared, one can safely assume the well is hooked up to a pipeline.

2. Even if a well is hooked up to a natural gas pipeline, natural gas might still be flared. If a ticket stub shows that some natural gas is being sold, and some being flared, then one can safely assume that the well is hooked up to a natural gas line, but for some reason, not all of the natural gas was sold; some was flared.

3. If that's the case, some was sold, and some was flared, there is no way to know why. There are two main reasons: a) the processing plant was down for maintenance; b) the processing plant had reached capacity. I think there are ways to sort that out using just the ticket stubs, but it would be difficult, time-consuming, and still, just an educated guess.

So, with all that in mind, I picked, entirely random a starting point to pick ten Bakken wells. I picked #19001 to be the starting point. I could have picked #18000 or #17957 or #19745 or #25687, but I chose to pick #19001. Go with it.

I then took the first ten wells that were productive (#19003 was dry). The data is below. I only took enough data to determine whether the well was hooked up to a natural gas pipeline. Again, I am way beyond my expertise here and it's possible this whole post is inaccurate, but let's continue.

If I am correct, all ten (10) of the wells below are hooked up to a natural gas pipeline, and to a processing plant.

All ten (10) wells are by operators well established in the Bakken, so they understand the flaring issue.

All ten (10) wells are in the heart of the Bakken; no one can say these wells are in the remote sections of the North Dakota Bakken. In fact, some of the fields are downright saturated with Bakken wells: Sanish, Indian Hill, Van Hook, and especially Stockyard Creek east of Williston.

So, plenty of time, densely situated, and all hooked up to a natural gas pipeline, and yet eight of them still flare gas. Either the processing plants were down for maintenance (which is possible in some cases) or the processing plants were at capacity.

But simply placing more natural gas pipelines to mega-pads, as the article linked above suggests, seems not to be as simple as it sounds. We need to see some more natural gas processing plants being built. Don tells me (while writing this note), that it is fairly "easy" to expand existing natural gas processing plants, and if the mega-pad solution works, we should see new processing plants being built. So, we'll see. But just more pipeline is not the answer. (And maybe, to defend Motley Fool who are much smarter than I, they are implying that "natural gas pipeline" means the entire natural gas gathering and processing system.)

Again, I'm way out on a limb here; I could be way wrong, but this is how I learn about the Bakken. It is based on what readers have told me.

Two problems I have with the Motley Fool article. First this from the article:

The most effective way to do this would be, of course, to install natural gas pipelines to each pad, but, again, the amount of gas coming from a well or two makes it a very uneconomical decision. If you could install a gathering pipe for several wells, then you have a chance at making it happen.

The fields where these wells are located are saturated with wells; it's already equivalent to pad drilling and we still don't see an adequate number of natural gas processing plants, or better said, I suppose, an adequate capacity.

And the second point is simply a pet peeve. Motley Fool:

In fact, gas flaring is so prevalent in the region that it can be seen from space. 

In fact, one can see a lit cigarette from space. "Gas flaring is so prevalent in the [Bakken] that it can be seen from space." That quote is perpetuating a myth that the photo taken of the Bakken from space streamed around the world was, in fact, about 90% lighting from rigs and man-made structures associated with wells, farms, and communities; and, maybe 10% was actually flared gas. But all that "light" from the Bakken at night is hardly due to flaring natural gas. Just a pet peeve.

Anyway, here's the data. Ten (10) wells that have been around long enough to have had natural gas pipelines in place; in dense enough areas to warrant natural gas processing plants, and more than enough time to make it happen, and yet, of these ten wells, eight wells still flare, and in some cases, significantly so.

By the way, a takeaway from this little exercise: the operators have done their part in all ten of these wells: they have hooked up their wells to a natural gas pipeline. It is the "system" that has let them down, inadequate natural gas processing plants/capacity.

Again, this is my 2 cents worth, coming from someone with no formal education, training, or experience in the oil and gas industry, so I could be way wrong, but I'll throw it out there for consideration.

Hess, by the way, has a very, very strong natural gas history and it is not surprising that one of the two wells noted below that is not flaring, is a Hess well. The other one is a Slawson well, on the reservation, and in a fairly active area.

******************************

19001, 618, Zenergy, Stepanek 8-5H, Indian Hill, t12/10; cum 151K 9/13:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	9-2013	16	695	449	814	673	90	511
BAKKEN	8-2013	30	2093	2246	2350	2029	312	1582

 19002, 2,130, Statoil, Smith Farm 23-14 1-H, Cow Creek, t10/10; cum 199K 9/13:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	9-2013	30	2912	2730	3093	2270	2221	49
BAKKEN	8-2013	31	3309	3105	3420	2684	2681	3

19003, DRY.

19004, 1,440, EOG, Mandaree 12-07H, Squaw Creek: 

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	9-2013	30	1493	1576	755	1820	1508	163
BAKKEN	8-2013	31	1521	1427	598	1676	882	640

19005, 1,289, Whiting, Satterthwaite 43-1H, Sanish, t2/11; cum 127K 9/13:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	9-2013	30	2132	2095	1008	2445	2445	0
BAKKEN	8-2013	31	2476	2399	1350	3124	3020	104

19006, 823, KOG, 20711 Kreidle 3229 1H, Stockyard Creek, t7/11; cum 195K 9/13:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	9-2013	30	3813	3811	4274	4242	0	4152
BAKKEN	8-2013	31	4331	4327	3660	4201	14	4098

19007, 372, Hess, EN-Will Trust B-157-94-2635H-3, Big Butte, t12/10; cum 69K 9/13:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	9-2013	5	192	209	230	655	655	0
BAKKEN	8-2013	31	1254	1250	937	3007	3007	0

 19008, 2,804, Statoil, Brakken 30-31 1H, Catwalk, t12/10; cum 164K 9/13:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	9-2013	30	2757	2161	3001	2639	0	2639
BAKKEN	8-2013	30	2626	3454	3532	1797	0	1797
BAKKEN	7-2013	31	1976	1694	2648	1026	0	1026
BAKKEN	6-2013	17	1237	625	1487	573	9	564
BAKKEN	5-2013	31	1929	2366	2712	1684	6	1678
BAKKEN	4-2013	30	2622	2533	1975	3449	48	3401
BAKKEN	3-2013	31	2672	2923	1948	3216	0	3216
BAKKEN	2-2013	28	2808	2652	1854	3302	19	3283
BAKKEN	1-2013	29	2949	2963	1544	2523	482	2041

 19009, 651, CLR, Bonneville 3-23H, Rattlesnake Point, t12/10; cum 199K 9/13:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	9-2013	30	3347	3421	1450	3547	3547	0
BAKKEN	8-2013	31	3718	3640	1533	3976	3976	0
BAKKEN	7-2013	31	4113	4145	1775	3591	3536	55
BAKKEN	6-2013	21	2271	2472	1092	2103	2067	36
BAKKEN	5-2013	31	3935	4014	1719	4024	3909	115

 19010, 847, Slawson, Armada Federal 1-14-13H, Van Hook, t10/10; cum 245K 9/13:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	9-2013	30	3178	2745	1848	2072	1922	0
BAKKEN	8-2013	10	590	630	1061	69	19	0
BAKKEN	7-2013	25	3039	3398	1101	1660	1410	0

19011, 725, CLR, Bridger 3-13H, Rattlesnake Point, t12/10; cum 206K 9/13:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	9-2013	30	3544	3281	862	3810	3810	0
BAKKEN	8-2013	31	3826	3898	923	4401	4401	0
BAKKEN	7-2013	31	3683	3700	918	3564	3534	30
BAKKEN	6-2013	30	3878	3984	947	4282	4160	122
BAKKEN	5-2013	31	4247	4408	983	4395	4275	120
BAKKEN	4-2013	30	4354	4221	1053	4208	4208	0