You appear to be confusing well head and drill head. You switch back and forth as if they were the same thing.
This is a well head.
This is a drill head.
They are not interchangeable. Neither uses cameras.
Posted on 04/17/2014 8:44:54 AM PDT by Hostage
This report is exclusive to freerepublic.com and is intended only to pass observed on-the-ground information to readers. It is not carried on any major news outlet and it won't be in our opinion. You can file this report as conspiracy if needed but it is more suitably filed as accumulation of unexplained Fed action for future analysis. I do ask relevant and pertinent questions throughout the question that Freepers can help answer.
One question for which I have affirmative answers is can the federal government move in on oil and gas drillers and takeover at any time declaring any oil discovery to be part of the strategic reserve?
The report comes from one of my business partners doing business on behalf of our company in the North Dakota Bakken region where he was astounded to find on Tuesday of this week outside Stanley ND that a six-pad well, the largest in the entire Bakken region, had hit an 'OCEAN' of oil causing all six wellheads to gush out of control.
The six well heads were quickly taken care of by the drilling company but on the same day it is reported that federal officials swooped in and shut the wells down declaring the oil discovery as under federal control and made part of the strategic petroleum reserve. I am told the drilling companies and investors behind them will be compensated but we have no details. We are told no one will hear about this.
If all the above is true, then I lean towards believing the blackout on news is true because my experience in doing business there in the recent past has led to hearing many accounts of national security protections regarding location of oil including details of logistics, pipeline and rail facilities. In other words information is not widely disseminated for either reasons of national security or commercial competitiveness.
There are business 'bullies' in the region who think nothing of cutting out, double crossing and tripping up business entrepreneurs in the region, of misrepresenting their intentions. of breaching contracts and agreements, of circumventing and breaching non-disclosure by handing private information to third parties that act against other businesses. It's a classic 'wildkat' environment with different parties heating up to cheat and fight each other.
I have not heard of the federal government acting as a 'bully' in the region but there is a report of federal gunships on the road witnessed by my partner on I-94 between Dickinson and Bismarck. I would not be surprised to learn of our federal government backing 'selected drilling businesses' in the region. That would sound like conspiracy nonsense to me had the federal gunships' not been witnessed driving on the road by my partner. More on this below.
The report is that drillers had drilled 22,000 feet deep (yes, many miles beneath the surface) and hit an 'OCEAN' of oil as it was described. The proven reserves of oil in the Bakken shale formation are already at least ten times that of Saudi Arabia. If the report of hitting an 'ocean of oil' is true, then this would make the Bakken bigger than anything the world has ever known.
Next it is reported that on the same day of the strike that federal agents swooped in to shut the wells down and take over the drilling site. How could they have known so quickly? Is there a requirement to report to the county, state or federal governments immediately upon striking oil? I admit I could find out about this on my own but I am involved in so many business deals spanning the globe that I haven't had time to get answers.
I have met drillers on-site in the Bakken but I don't call them with pestering questions because they are usually a terse no-nonsense bunch. And asking them for information can get some nasty glances as if I were asking a pro poker player what cards he holds in his hand. Not only that but some will lie through their teeth to steer an outsider in the wrong direction. So it's serious business out there with a bit of pirate spirit and honor of thieves in the mix.
I could call state offices in North Dakota to get answers but I can just as easily search for online rules and procedures but that's time consuming for me. So I thought to throw these questions out to Freepers who may know answers from their experience and in any event can add this report to their pile of anecdotes regarding federal militarization of agencies inside the borders of the USA.
After leaving Stanley my business partner headed for I-94 towards Bismarck and called me to report he was behind a very long convoy of federal vehicles with multiple 'gunship' vehicles leading and tailing the convoy.
Trust me on one thing. you can see a long distance ahead on roads in North Dakota. Do a Google street view on I-94 going towards Bismarck and you can confirm that the view ahead is for miles and the roads are very straight, there are almost no trees and the land is flat.
I asked him what was in the middle of the convoy, could he see it? He said there were 'cars with officials' bracketed by multiple gunships on each end. His voice tome was one of shock and awe. I asked how he could see this on a straight road and he said when the road would be in a long curve he could see the whole convoy. I asked him how long the convoy was and he said AT LEAST a half mile and most likely longer.
I asked him could he identify the agency. He said it looked like it was the US Army but it wasn't because there was no Army star on any of the vehicles and the troops manning the gunships wore different uniforms.
I will get more of a brief from him when he returns to Seattle this weekend.
Now here's my analysis. Some may think it conspiracy, I call it points of speculation surrounding facts. Connect the dots as you will.
1. Enormously large oil strikes can throw oil markets into turmoil causing severe price volatility. Although oil futures are controlled by JP Morgan and others through a maze of derivatives. The influence of large oil strikes can penetrate the price control mechanisms and damage all the interests of derivatives behind them.
2. I believe the price of oil is to a great extent 'rigged'. Take that for what it's worth.
3. Oil as a commodity is 'controlled' to a certain price level to balance inflation with economics. If the price is too high, inflation can be difficult to manage. If the price is too low, shale drillers using hydraulic fracturing technology 'fracking' can go out of business.
4. Environmentalists especially militant ones, the same ones who control Obama, want to shut down as much drilling as they can. They have already pretty much locked drillers 'frackers' out of California. I believe environmental extremists would like to see a good portion of us die actually. Wiping out human traces as a solution to problems underlies I believe a good portion of the foundation of their philosophy.
5. A manager of one of the USA's largest oil logistics companies remarked last week direct to my ears that environmentalists told Obama they will 'crucify' him if he issues a presidential permit for Keystone to go forward. Another top logistics manager of a company with offices in Wyoming, Montana and Colorado made the BIZARRE statement to me in a hostile tone over the phone that NORTH DAKOTA CRUDE STAYS IN NORTH DAKOTA! In my experience I am getting close to federal influence when people start acting belligerently without good reason.
6. In 2008 Obama said what is needed is a civilian army as large as our military armed forces. We are witnessing the militarization of a plethora of federal agencies. We are witnessing the federal purchase of enormous quantities of ammunition including by such GSEs as the US Postal Service which seems bizarre.
7. We are witnessing a never-ending attempt to disarm Americans outside of federal and state control.
8. We are witnessing budding range wars and skimishes between federal officials and citizens.
9. And now there is a witness to the shutdown of perhaps the largest oil strike ever on record together with a witness a day later of a long federal militarized convoy on an interstate just outside an area where the enormously large oil strike was reported.
More demonstration of oilfield terms without understanding of them.
For those that do not already know, wildcatting is drilling in an area that has not been drilled before. The fields are unknown beyond seismic survey. There has been no flow testing from wells.
But it sounds good to the uninformed.
Shhh. Nobody tell any of the commies in office. Thanks.
Since you don't just head from Stanley towards Bismarck (especially on I-94), what highway was this convoy spotted on? Heading in what direction? What color were the vehicles? This is not only a geographically awkward account, but it is a mite skimpy on details.
Nice.
Anyone I know in the oil industry here won't "lie through their teeth", but would instead tell you they cannot disclose that information. Period. You ass, you have just called the representatives of an entire industry "liars", "pirates", and "thieves".
I really don't think Free Republic needs to be listed as a primary source of your slander, especially since you are insulting people who work in one of the most Conservative (and frequently non-union) industries out there.
I would expect the different drill heads were taken in different directions out many miles from each other and many miles deep. When all well heads gushed (if truely reported), this would give credence to an ‘ocean of oil’.
Plus, the six wells reached 22,000 ft depth.
Understand what you're claiming here. First, six wellheads on one pad is an unusually large pad. But feasible. Six rigs working on one pad at the same time is, more than likely, something that has never happened. Fact is, here in the Barnett, I don't believe I've ever seen two rigs on the same multi-well pad at the same time.
Second, they're drilling over two miles below the producing horizons, into the basement rock -- unlikely to contain any reservoirs of oil.
Third, since all six were said to be drilling horizontally away from their surface location, the wellheads are not sitting on "an OCEAN of oil" -- instead, they are sitting on "an ISLAND". In the precise center of a perfectly DRY island, so to speak -- located in the midst of your "OCEAN of oil".
In which case, how (and why) did the geologists manage to locate the drilling pad where they did?
A very curious operation your associate discovered...
Color me even more skeptical—pad wellheads are usually 30 ft. apart. You can’t fit six drilling rigs on a pad, and the chance of all six (if you could) getting to the same depth at the same time a re slightly less than the odds of winning the Powerball Lottery. (This is BS)
ROTFLMAO! I would expect your mommy doesn't know you are on the computer again. How many drilling rigs on that pad? Simultaneously? All hitting the same depth or formation at the same time? Miles apart without regard for geologic structure? Without regard for lateral reservoir variation?
If there was a triple facepalm, this crock would merit one. Sheesh!
Fictional, delusional, and full of falsehood. How's that? Mistaken would be just a mite too generous at this point.
I wrote that my business partner headed for I-94 from Stanley and went on I-94 in the direction of Bismarck. What's wrong with that?
Second, armed convoys are not unusual from Minot AFB, considering there are missile silos in the Stanley area. I have seen those myself, but they have nothing to do with the oil industry.
Good nugget of information. Thank you. But I asked him if it was a military convoy because I have seen them too and he said no it was not a military convoy. He also said helicopters were circling around above and they were not military helicopters. I will quiz him more when he gets back home.
Only one well on the pad is being drilled at any given time, at most two (extremely rare), so hitting something that would cause six wellbores separated by better than 1250 ft. laterally to "Gush out of control" simultaneously would indeed be a feat, and defy well documented reservoir characteristics in the Bakken.
I never said there was one more than one well on a pad. I said it was reported to be a 6 pad well setup, the largest in the entire region. But this was not observed by my business partner but came from a respected person who is well known in the region since 1993. But I admit all messages not directly heard can be garbled and I commented to that fact in a previous post.
If there was a six well blowout, I can guarantee the following: The Feds would not be the ones to shut the wells in. It would be news all over the region, whether in the papers or just on the grapevine. Bad news travels fast in the patch.
No one ever said that federal agents physically shut the wells. It is reported they took control or jurisdiction of the wells and I asked the question are they allowed to do that? It was reported the drillers had not expected any gushing and that it was out of control for awhile but they managed to get it under control, Then it was reported that federal agents came in and took over. All this information is spotty. It is the convoy observation that is more clear.
Okay, pal, this is not just another bullshit hit piece on the oil industry, but now you are trying to crap on my home turf.
You need to change your tone and attitude. We only need civil discussion here. You contributed some useful information but I am recommending for the future you erase the uncivil comments. They have no place here.
You understand that well heads have cameras attached?
What are you claiming a 6 pad well setup to be, other than backwards language?
You also said in post 36:
Bakken/Three forks wells are generally cased with intermediate casing to the target zone, generally 9500 to 10000 ft. down. By that time, the wellbores are separated by over 1000 ft. laterally, and usually about 1200 ft. The sort of six well 'gusher' described would require simultaneous failure of multiple casing strings and over a mile of formation. Now to add a little fun, on a single 1280 acre lease, the general pattern is to drill 4 parallel wellbores. Six wells on a pad, usually at least two are in the other (Bakken or Three Forks) formation. The exception, though would be to drill an adjacent 1280 acre lease from the pad, which would require even greater wellbore separation.
It may have been misunderstood or I miswrote but the report was that it was a six-pad setup, I imagine close in together but not sure.
All of the drilling reports were not directly observed so all of it can be garbled. The person my business partner talked to about the drilling and gushing and what not is a well-known respected person in the region and has been there since 1993. I learned this because I asked who this person was. I have his name and know he runs or owns a radio broadcasting service in the region.
I think the only thing safe to say is that something big appears to have happened in the Bakken the other day (a few days ago) and a large non-military but militarized convoy was witnessed yesterday on I-94 going towards Bismarck. Could be related but maybe not.
The questions I asked are can federal agents take control of a well or lands where active drilling is ongoing? Some posters have responded with useful comments. Others seem intent on creating a ruckus.
I miswrote. The words I received was that it was a ‘six pad well’ meaning a six pad configuration of some sort.
Ok?
Yes, people in my business have been out to drilling service businesses and have seen drill heads with a lot of technology of sorts built into them. I imagine one could find photos of them on the internet. It was described to me like advanced surgical equipment and very impressive.
A pad is the site where the drill rig and other equipment set up.
Sometimes there is multiple wells per pad. There is no way to be multiple pads per well.
What’s a gunship?
Since Stanley is on US 2, and Bismarck is roughly 120 miles South on I-94 which runs east to west also, I am naturally curious how this person allegedly saw an armed convoy on I-94 with "gunships" when the only north to south connecting highway leads directly into Bismarck from Minot.
Getting to the part of I-94 from Dickinson to Bismarck from Stanley would require making a large and inconvenient loop west, down US 85, and over from Belfield, adding hours to the drive.
Once past Ross, there are no more missile silos to service, so color of the vehicles becomes important. I am assuming, of course, it was daylight, simply because the Air Force is really testy about anyone trying to get into their column (as would anyone doing visibly armed security on a column moving down a road anywhere, from Minot to Kandahar)--of for that matter to even share the road with it--so anyone observing the vehicles in the middle of the column would have to be seeing them from in front of or behind the column, or be headed the opposite direction.
One more little question, How does this observer know the column was government vehicles? What markings were present to lead them to that conclusion?
You appear to be confusing well head and drill head. You switch back and forth as if they were the same thing.
This is a well head.
This is a drill head.
They are not interchangeable. Neither uses cameras.
Plus just north of North Dakota is Saskatchewan and Manitoba Canada. It would be problematic for a US armed force to go up there if some drillers hit that ocean of oil. Those provincial jurisdictions would sure as hell want the tax revenues in spades.
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