Why Frackers Are Returning to Abandoned Oil Patches in Droves..For consumers, high oil prices are a headache; for drillers, they are an opportunity.

https://ourgoldguy.com ^ | Wed Feb 23, 2022 | by Jon Miltimore

[Jim Robinson]

Drill, baby, drill.

[Persevero]

Frackers to the rescue!

[gov_bean_ counter]

My old man (God rest his soul) had a saying:

All life is economics.

[Red Badger]

Enviro-Nazis will think of a way to stop them, legal or not..............

[SecondAmendment]

But the Feral government™ has been aggressively spending a gazillion dollars of our tax dollars to cap (i.e. destroy) "abandoned" wells for the sole purpose of making their reuse uneconomical.

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[SaxxonWoods]

Yes, it’s happening and I hope they refrack a couple of the gas wells I hold the mineral rights on. My monthly checks are up 400% already. They refracked one a few years back and it helped quite a bit.

Many “so-so” wells are profitable at this price level. I estimate US production will be up by about 1 million barrels a day by early next year.

That still leaves us about 2.5mm per day short of Trumpian supremacy days but it will help.

[SaxxonWoods]

Nah, they will be fine.

[1Old Pro]

Make hay when the sun shines. Fracking will once again prosper especially given the price spikes in natural gas.

[Red Badger]

I hope you are right, but never underestimate the cleverness of evil..............

[catnipman]

full WSJ article this was stolen from:

https://archive.is/Zb1pT

[SaxxonWoods]

They are too busy saving the world and nagging people on the street where they have audiences to go mess around the fields.

[Red Badger]

That’s why they have lots of lawyers.................

[CedarDave]

Being in the middle of the Permian Basin oil patch, I’m a proponent of fracking. But those that do it have to be aware of two downsides: The water source used for fracking and disposal of fracking water.

In New Mexico, fresh water used for agriculture and ranching is being used as frack water. But that water is not replaceable and there is increasing resistance to its use.

Disposal of wastewater is also a problem as deep well injection of traditional salt water plus frack water is increasingly being looked at as a likely source of the increasing frequency of small earthquakes in Oklahoma and west Texas.

Reuse of frack water following treatment is becoming more prevalent and any company starting fracking in traditional O&G areas needs to be prepared to address these issues.

BTW, fracking itself has not been shown to cause damage to near-surface fresh water supplies as in the west, especially, shale oil formations are thousands of feet below fresh water and multiple sets of cemented casing are used for its protection.

[crusty old prospector]

With high prices, you can still make money in the old depleted, vertical plays.

[crusty old prospector]

True dat. They need a big flooding rain in the Pecos River drainage to fill up Red Bluff Lake. I am not sure if they are allowed to pull water from it for fracing.

[CedarDave]

I don’t know what the restrictions on using surface water for fracking are in Texas, if any. In New Mexico all surface water is appropriated and during drought years junior user’s rights can be paused so as to make required interstate water transfers to Texas.

As far as groundwater goes, those with water rights for agriculture can transfer those for use with drilling and groundwater basins are closed for new permits. I know that along the NM-TX border, water haulers get water from Texas to use in drilling in New Mexico.

[Eska]

Here in Alaska, when Palin was Gov; oil hit $140/barrel. Palin squirreled away 18 billion on top of 60 billion in Permanent fund. Nx Repub governor didn't touch it. Soon as dems controlled senate and house they bled that 18 billion dry in 4-5 years.

Dems, everything they touch; they destroy.

[crusty old prospector]

I don't know about the Permian Basin as there aren't any stock tanks of any consequence but out in East Texas, the people who are making serious coin are those with lakes on their property. They sell the water and run long lines to the locations for the frac jobs. The next time it rains, the lakes fill back up for the next job. Many of these people don't have any mineral rights so it is their way of cashing in.

I have asked several engineers why they just can't frac with salt water and they say something about the surfactants not reacting properly in brine. Some chemist needs to figure it out.