That sounds like nonsense to me.
Why would you build underground pipeline to a well site that needs hydraulic fractured ONE TIME, then not again for years or even more than a decade? Are they fractured at any real frequency in the Bakken?
Well said. The fact is the wind and snow made travelimg almost impossible.
My company shut us down.
Frac here then frac there. It takes them longer on the bakken sometimes. I don’t know why.
On the jonah natural gas fields slumber j would set up on one location and run tubing to frac many wells from the same locatiom
Warm fracking water?
The economics of building a pipeline to transport fracking water to a wellsite would limit fracking operations to summer, and the pipelines would have to be surface and temporary or the backlog for completions would be determined by pipeline crews.
A buried line would be more expensive.
It has been done: Brigham built a temporary (agricultural/irrigation pipe --8 inch iirc) surface line to a location from Trenton ND, about 8 miles. The line saved them a fortune in trucking costs for the fracking of three wells, the pit from the first frac used to store the water was used to store water for two offset wells.
However, 8 miles is a pretty short distance to a water source, and this was done while the weather was warm. Multiple wells in that area made it more economical, as they were able to pump water overland from that pit to the other wellsites.
Most wells are farther from water, and building a temporary line more problematical over less friendly terrain. Regulation of storage pits has become more intense as well, even though the water was well water--something not readily available in all areas, especially in that quality and quantity.
As far as a permanent line to a well for fracking, you frac to find out what the well will do, there are no guarantees, and that would be a tremendous up-front expense for an unknown return.
Perhaps piping water to regional locations to reduce transport distances would be a plus, with the infrastructure available for potable water later on.
It may be that Director Helms is considering using the lines in to wellsites for oil/gas pipelines out, but that would likely involve different construction specifications. I think the goal there would be to reduce flaring gas.
Anyway, weather has traditionally messed with oilfield operations here, and the last two winters have been unusually mild. This one is behaving a little more like winter, and for outfits who have been spoiled by a couple of years of 'nice' winter weather, the adjustment may take a season or two.