Posted on 10/28/2014 5:19:29 AM PDT by thackney
A month after implementing new rules regarding the flaring of natural gas, the state of North Dakota was near compliance with the new limits as oil and gas production companies in the Bakken work to reduce flaring, according to the United States Department of Energy (DOE).
In August, 28 percent of North Dakota’s natural gas was flared, the state reported. That was near North Dakota’s flare-rate goal of 26 percent in 4Q 2014, despite an increase in oil production in the Bakken in August, according to the website Bakken.com.
Following criticism from royalty holders regarding extensive flaring that made North Dakota shine as brightly in satellite photos as large metropolitan areas, the North Dakota Industrial Commission – the state’s regulatory agency for oil and gas – approved new flaring goals July 1. The commission’s goal for 4Q 2014 is 26 percent; this drops to 23 percent in 1Q 2015 and 15 percent in 1Q 2016.
Companies not in compliance with the new flaring limits would face restrictions on daily oil production. Oil production is restricted to 200 barrels of oil per day (bopd) if gas capture is between 60 and 76 percent Oct. 1 or later, according to the Department of Mineral Resources. If gas capture is less than 60 percent on a well after Oct. 1, oil production on the well is limited to a maximum of 100 bopd.
Because flaring contributes to air pollution, drilling companies may not flare if the North Dakota Department of Health determines that it violates air pollution control rules, The Bakken magazine said.
Flaring in the Bakken and Three Forks formations was common because of the lack of infrastructure to transport and store the natural gas that is found during drilling operations. That means that drillers have had to come up with gas capture plans that included where the natural gas was going to be processed in order to comply with the new regulations, according to The Bakken. However, natural gas processing plants are under construction in North Dakota and should enable production companies to more easily comply with the regulations.
More gas gains
Zavanna planning ND processing plant as October flaring apps dwindle
http://www.petroleumnewsbakken.com/pntruncate/991662034.shtml
Meeting gas capture targets is taking center stage for many oil and gas operators in North Dakota, and one small operator in the Williston Basin chose to tap into a venture to tackle the flaring challenge.
As part of its strategy, Denver-based Bakken operator Zavanna LLC has developed a joint venture with Flatirons Field Services to build a 45 million cubic feet per day gas processing plant seven miles northeast of Williston.
North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness said the plant is a good example of how companies are working to reduce flaring.
“Hopefully they will be able to connect other operators up there,” Ness said. “Every one of those (gas plants) is obviously a big help.”
Flatirons Field Services, a midstream company also based in Denver, was formed in 2012 by founders of the former Western Gas Resources which serviced North Dakota when vertical wells were being drilled in the state.
“With all the different activity going on now, there’s an even greater need for midstream infrastructure and they’re looking to get back into that,” Flatiron’s Nick Noppinger told Petroleum News Bakken.
This is Flatiron’s first project in the Bakken and the company expects the plant to be operational by December. Capacity could expand beyond 45 million cubic feet per day based on Zavanna’s processing needs.
As Petroleum News Bakken reported in the Oct. 19 edition, Zavanna is an anchor customer for ARM Midstream’s planned Williston Basin crude oil gathering system. In August, Zavanna ranked 24th among the top 50 Bakken oil producers in North Dakota for operated, non-confidential wells with an average output of 6,410 barrels per day according to the latest data available from the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.
Focusing on solutions
Ness said oil and gas companies are racing to get their wells connected and add compression while others are looking into remote capture units.
“They’re doing a lot with their gas capture plans and strategies of how to drill and complete these wells,” he said. “We haven’t had anybody call in a crazy panic, so most of them are putting together their strategy and plan and it remains to be seen what October (data) will look like.”
The North Dakota Industrial Commission, NDIC, determined it would no longer allow exemptions to gas flaring from Bakken and Three Forks wells beyond Oct. 1 in an effort to ensure that operators met the statewide 74 percent gas capture target on that date. As such, flaring applications to the commission that will be heard on Oct. 29 and 30 are minimal and down substantially from the number of applications filed prior to the new policy.
Denver-based Luff Exploration is asking the commission to authorize the flaring of produced gas from its State Miller horizontal well which targets the Red River formation in the State Line field of Bowman County. The well is not currently connected to a gas gathering system and the company has deemed connection to be uneconomically feasible now and in the future. In the latest data available from the state’s Department of Mineral Resources, the well produced just over 1,100 barrels of oil in August and flared 414,000 cubic feet of natural gas. Because the well does not target the Bakken or Three Forks, it is not subject to new production restriction field rules set by the NDIC to minimize flaring.
Continued cases
Continued on the hearing docket from an original scheduled hearing on April 23, 2014, the commission wants to determine the volume and value of the gas flared by Gadeco LLC in violation of North Dakota Century Code on its 25-36H Golden well in the Epping field of Williams County. In March, the commission had denied Gadeco’s application for an exemption from paying taxes and royalties on flared gas from that well. Gadeco had filed for a continuance of the case in May and again in June to give the company time to review additional information that had been submitted to NDIC by private parties.
Statoil is also expected to appear before the commission in a case continued from September’s hearing regarding reconsideration from the commission to authorize flaring on its Williston well in Catwalk field of Williams County. Statoil contends that connecting the isolated Bakken well to gathering infrastructure is infeasible and there is not a market for the gas at the site. In August, the well averaged about 41 barrels of oil per day. According to the new field rules implemented by NDIC, infill wells proven never to be economic to connect to a gas facility - many that produce less than 100 barrels of oil per day - are not subject to production restrictions.
There is nothing wrong with flaring.
It produces carbon dioxide and water vapor.
Carbon dioxide and water vapor is moist plant food.
We like plants. They produce oxygen.
We like plants. They feed us.
We should flare more.
I would rather see the gas burnt in heaters and in other consumption.
Mineral owners should not have their minerals thrown away without compensation.
This is nothing more than the gummit trying to stop the production of oil. The Bakkan find has hurt their attack on the economy.
Pray America is waking
See: GTL, Synfuels.com
I don't think that is the goal of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources who put the rule in place.
If you read post #2, you will see more business coming to the state with more gas going into production instead of flares.
Why the hell would they flare NG since it gets 40 below in North Dakota?
There is no shortage of cheap natural gas in the country. Nothing holding that technology back but economics.
Up until now, it has been a lack of gathering system piping to bring the natural gas from the wells to processing plants and transmission pipelines.
“Under the radar” - Barry Obama
Not federal regulations.
The state is trying to get this gas captured and into production instead of thrown away.
They can compress it for later use without having to liquify it, for either plant or housing heating or vehicle use.
In fact, you can buy used CNG vehicles, probably new ones too. Also CNG conversion kits.
It needs to be processed first.
Raw natural gas is rarely “pure” enough for the quality required. While it will burn, you really don’t want to send higher BTU NGLs and the like through it.
Post #2 is an example of that. But there are lots of them existing.
That and the people who are against storage facilities and pipelines.
Why does it have to be piped. Why not run generators with NG and send the electricity to the grid? Am I wrong in thinking that the is a lot more electric infrastructure to tie into than NG pipelines?
Because “raw” natural gas contains too much stuff besides methane. It needs to be processed at a gas plant.
Also, these are relatively small gas producers spread out miles apart. If they were large gas producers, the economics would already justify the gathering system pipelines.
While 1/3 more in maintenance, they double the energy conversion to useful electricity.
GTL doesn’t need to be everywhere to get started. We have plenty of places, like around Houston Texas, where it could get started if it was economic without subsidy.
It is done by Shell and Sasol for example, but only in places where the natural gas supply is so much greater than the demand, that it drives the local gas price very low.
For example, Shell has a huge GTL facility in Qatar. From Qatar, it competes with exported LNG, where it can be cost effective. Shell looked at bring a plant to the US recently, but the economics are not there, at least not for us.
A modern, combined cycle Natural Gas power plant is ~60% efficient. It would be very tough to be double that.
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