Can Bakken Producers Finally Put A Lid On Gas Flaring? -- RBN Energy -- March 14, 2019

Seven wells come off the confidential list today -- Thursday, March, 14, 2019: 54 wells for the month; 274 wells for the quarter

• 34752, 276, Lime Rock Resources, Schneider 12-34-27H-143-96L, Fayette, t11/18; cum 19K 1/19;
• 34741, 3,384, WPX, Young Bird 34-27HA, Spotted Horn, t1/19; cum 46K 1/19;
• 34642, 1,874, CLR, Anderson 9X-4H, Willow Creek, t11/18; cum 139K 1/19;
• 34250, 55, BR, Raider 3A UTFH, Twin Valley, t1/19; cum --;
• 31819, 542, Slawson, Atlantis Federa 4-34-35MLH, Big Bend, t1/19; cum --;
• 30365, 2,528, CLR, Brandvik 5-25H1, Corral Creek, t1/19; 17K over 8 days, extrapolates to 72K/30-day month;
• 23941, SI/NC, XTO, FBIR Ironwoman 21X-10A, Heart Butte, no production data,

Active rigs:

$58.56	3/14/2019	03/14/2018	03/14/2017	03/14/2016	03/14/2015
Active Rigs	65	58	46	31	112

 RBN Energy: Can Bakken producers finally put a lid on gas flaring?

Producers in the Bakken and the rest of North Dakota flared record volumes of natural gas in the fourth quarter of 2018 — an average of more than 520 MMcf/d, or about 20% of total production — far exceeding the state’s current 12% flaring target. What happened? For one, crude oil production in the play took off; for another, the gas-to-oil ratio at the lease continued to increase. And while some new gas processing capacity came online last year to reduce the need for flaring, the pace of the additions was too slow to keep up with the Bakken’s rising gas output. The good news is that 2019 will bring more incremental processing capacity to North Dakota than any year to date. Today, we discuss recent setbacks on the flaring-control front and the prospects for things getting better later this year.

Bringing gas flaring under control in the Bakken in the Shale Era has been akin to breaking in a wild horse: Just when you start to think you’ve accomplished the task at hand, the bronco’s bucking again and you’re holding on for dear life. 

Producers in western North Dakota have been struggling for the better part of this decade to process and pipe out an increasing share of the gas they produce — and to reduce the share of gas they need to flare off. Back in 2011 and again in 2014, as much as 37% of the state’s produced gas was being burned off due to a lack of processing and pipeline takeaway capacity. That spurred the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) to require producers to file a “gas capture plan” (GCP) with their drilling permits and to put in place flaring limits. The new rules limit flaring to one year after a well’s first production, by which time producers will have to either connect the well to a gas gathering pipeline, cap it, or link it to an electrical generator or a compression or liquefaction system that consumes at least 75% of the gas onsite. Regulators also set targets for reducing the share of produced gas that is burned off statewide: flaring no more than 26% of total gas production by November 2014, 23% by January 2015, 20% by April 2016, 15% by November 2016, 12% by November 2018 and 9% by November 2020.