Gas flaring permits surge in Texas

Fuel Fix ^ | April 9, 2012 | Simone Sebastian

[thackney]

The number natural gas flaring permits issued in Texas has more than quadrupled over the past two years, as oil and gas production in the state has boomed, according to the Texas Railroad Commission.

The state commission issued 651 permits last year, compared to 306 in 2010. In 2009, 158 permits were handed out.

Companies flare, or burn off, natural gas produced from their wells if low prices make the fossil fuel uneconomical to sell or if there’s not enough pipeline capacity to get to it market. Flaring also occurs to relieve dangerous pressure levels in wells and for other safety reasons.

The rapid increase in gas flaring is even more pronounced in North Dakota, where more than one-third of the fossil fuel is going up in smoke, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

A group of institutional investors recently released a letter to 21 oil and gas companies decrying the rise of flaring because of the environmental and financial impacts. The group specifically called out Texas and North Dakota for the problem.

“We are concerned that flaring of natural gas wastes a valuable product,” the letter reads. “Even at today’s depressed wellhead price, the 100 million cubic feet of natural gas that were flared each day in North Dakota last year represents approximately $110 million in lost revenue.”

The letter, which was sent to leaders of Anadarko, Apache, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, Chesapeake Energy, Noble Energy and other major producers, pointed to the proliferation of shale oil production as a key driver for flaring’s growth.

Ramona Nye, spokeswoman for the Texas Railroad Commission, says most of the flared gas in Texas comes from oil wells, where it is produced as a byproduct. While natural gas production has slowed because of its low price, oil drilling has boomed in Texas and across the country in recent years.

[thackney]

Many of these oil wells produce into local tanks that do not have any significant pressure rating. As the tanks fill, trucks take the oil into a gathering point to be injected into a bigger pipeline. The oil has to pass a quality check like little/no water content before it is accepted into the bigger pipeline.

TB has sure gained some water.

[Dusty Road]

That's interesting. I've got 3 old wells in the back of the ranch that together might put a half inch a day into a 500 but they hang in there at about 180 MCF per day. I've got a couple of AJAX’s that are to small for the depths we're drilling now but would be perfect for use as generator motors. You have any experience with that type of a set up? Would like to power the Main ranch house (6500 sq-ft) the ranch Foreman's house and the guest house (those total less than 4,000 sq-ft) and it would be real nice if I could power some or all of the remaining 10 wells in the back. All are 228’s and 320’s with a 40 HP average. The new wells on the front of the ranch are all plunger lifts or flowing. Any input would be appreciated.

[Dusty Road]

“The oil has to pass a quality check like little/no water content before it is accepted into the bigger pipeline.”

Winter time kills me down here, I’ll be treating and have heater treaters running at 160 and still get rejects.

[thackney]

Building, maintaining and operating a mini-power plant can take some expense. If you are going to tie-together multiple generators, you need the ability to sync-check prior to connecting.

You need someone to do an electrical plan, looking at the generators output and connected load including voltage drops and motor starting.

If the AJAX motors are too small HP to lift at individual wells, how could they be big enough to power larger motors doing that lift?

You would need to give some more information but I am guessing that you do not have anywhere near enough generating capacity.