Update On Electric Fracking -- Bizjournals -- August 22, 2019

Updates

August 26, 2019: a minor update over at Rigzone. Doesn't say much except in the Permian more talk of e-fracking to save money.

Original Post 

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... a pioneer among Marcellus Shale wells in the use of a new, more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly way to frac gas.

Canonsburg-based CNX has signed a three-year contract to use Evolution Well Services’ all-electric frac fleet, which is used in the hydraulic fracturing process and includes a natural gas-fired engine to run the machinery and a turbine that pumps sand and water to bring gas up out of the ground.

CNX is the first producer in the Appalachian basin to use an all-electric frac fleet, and the Richhill well is one of the first to use the new equipment.

Traditionally, hydraulic fracturing is a complicated, energy and labor-intensive process, one that requires engines that have lots of horsepower, a multitude of pipes and constant attention by workers to make sure it’s going right.

But walk around Richhill 13, or any of CNX’s other all-electric frac operations, and you’ll notice how quiet it is. That’s because instead of using diesel fuel and diesel engines to run the equipment, Evolution uses natural gas produced on site to fuel the jet engine-like turbines that power the fracking operation. Natural gas not only is plentifully available at the site, but it also removes from the roads the constant flow of diesel trucks to keep the 24/7 operation running.

Remember: electricity demand will surge in the Bakken over the next 20 years. 

Active Rigs In North Dakota Hit New "Recent" Low: 55 -- July 12, 2019

Wells coming off confidential list today -- Friday, July 12, 2019: 15 for the month; 15 for the quarter;

• 34351, 1,969, CLR, Morris 6-23H, Oakdale, t4/19; cum 63K 5/19;
• 31807, SI/NC, EOG, Riverview 23-3031H, Clarks Creek, no production data,

Active rigs:

$60.21	7/12/2019	07/12/2018	07/12/2017	07/12/2016	07/12/2015
Active Rigs	55	67	58	28	73

RBN Energy: are E-fracks a fix for a Permian gas constraints and giveaway prices?

Persistent natural gas takeaway constraints out of the associated gas-rich Permian have pushed Waha Hub prices to between $1 and $9/MMBtu below the Henry Hub benchmark for most of 2019. Concerns about gas flaring have flared. Tanker trucks transporting diesel fuel to drilling and completion operations in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico are clogging the region’s roads. And diesel’s not cheap, especially if you’re using thousands of gallons of it a day. With Permian wells producing far more natural gas than takeaway pipelines can handle, and with gas essentially free for the taking, is this the year when electric fracs — hydraulic fracturing powered by very locally sourced gas — gain a foothold in the U.S.’s hottest shale play? Today, we look at the economic and other forces at play in the e-frac debate.

Last week, Waha basis averaged $2.25/MMBtu and the Henry Hub daily prices averaged $2.24/MMBtu — in other words, folks selling gas at the Waha Hub had to pay someone a penny per MMBtu to take the gas off their hands. This seemingly crazy situation has become all too common in the Permian in recent months. The issue is pipeline takeaway capacity — there’s simply not enough of it. And with Permian gas production now rising past the 10-Bcf/d mark, the only near-to-mid-term hopes are (1) that new pipeline capacity and gas demand will become available in Mexico (allowing more gas to flow south across the border); (2) that the next big gas pipeline from the Permian to the Texas Coast (Kinder Morgan’s Gulf Coast Express, or GCX) starts up a few weeks earlier than its promised October 2019 online date; or (3) that regulators continue to allow more gas flaring.

While the Permian produces extraordinary volumes of hydrocarbons — all that natural gas, plus more than 4 MMb/d of crude oil and lots of NGLs — it consumes a lot of energy too, mostly in the form of diesel fuel to power the trucks, drilling rigs, hydraulic fracturing pumps, compressors and other equipment needed to keep the oil patch humming. Refineries within or near the Permian meet a portion of the region’s diesel needs, but rising demand for the fuel has been spurring the development of new infrastructure — and the repurposing of existing assets — to bring additional fuel into the Permian from refineries along the Gulf Coast.