$30 barrel oil?

[nzwasp]

So i'm down in North Dakota this week working on a Gas Plant, and Ive noticed that all of their wells have flares, and some of these flares are huge - you can see them from 20 miles away. They also seem to have between 5 and 15 tanks next to the wells which makes me think that they dont have a pipeline network between the wells. I presume the flares are venting off natural gas that is also in the same hole as the oil, but how come alberta wells dont have flares? and how do you tell if these are just normal light crude wells or fracking wells?

This is an example of one of them:
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/201...a-s800-c85.jpg

Edit: Also I had to drive here from Regina, SK and around Estevan were a shit tonne of wells (like the alberta ones) more wells than Ive seen until perhaps north dakota where there are also tonnes.
The town ive been staying in Williston, ND reminds me alot of Fort McMurray and I thought that the oil bust had not really affected the US oil workers but it is clear that its affected everyone here as well. For example all of the work camps are empty here.

[killramos]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

So i'm down in North Dakota this week working on a Gas Plant, and Ive noticed that all of their wells have flares, and some of these flares are huge - you can see them from 20 miles away. They also seem to have between 5 and 15 tanks next to the wells which makes me think that they dont have a pipeline network between the wells. I presume the flares are venting off natural gas that is also in the same hole as the oil, but how come alberta wells dont have flares? and how do you tell if these are just normal light crude wells or fracking wells?

This is an example of one of them:
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/201...a-s800-c85.jpg

Edit: Also I had to drive here from Regina, SK and around Estevan were a shit tonne of wells (like the alberta ones) more wells than Ive seen until perhaps north dakota where there are also tonnes.
The town ive been staying in Williston, ND reminds me alot of Fort McMurray and I thought that the oil bust had not really affected the US oil workers but it is clear that its affected everyone here as well. For example all of the work camps are empty here.

Because contrary to popular opinion in Canada we have environmental regulations and standards.

As to “normal” crude wells or wells that have been fractured, almost no wells in Canada outside of oil sands aren’t completed using fracturing.

[SKR]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

and how do you tell if these are just normal light crude wells or fracking wells?

They're all fracked, unless something has changed in ND since I was there in 2010. Fracking is what made the Bakken and Three Forks worth drilling.

[schurchill39]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

So i'm down in North Dakota this week working on a Gas Plant, and Ive noticed that all of their wells have flares, and some of these flares are huge - you can see them from 20 miles away. They also seem to have between 5 and 15 tanks next to the wells which makes me think that they dont have a pipeline network between the wells. I presume the flares are venting off natural gas that is also in the same hole as the oil, but how come alberta wells dont have flares? and how do you tell if these are just normal light crude wells or fracking wells?

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Because contrary to popular opinion in Canada we have environmental regulations and standards.

As to “normal” crude wells or wells that have been fractured, almost no wells in Canada outside of oil sands aren’t completed using fracturing.

Like Killramos said we have very strict environmental standards in Canada. You can usually only get a permit to flare in the case of a new well for the immediate flowback following a frac so you can bring all the water to surface and get it tied into (hooked up) to the facility. Usually these permits are granted for 72 hours only. Other cases for flaring would be in the case of an emergency such as a malfunction with your surface equipment but those are also short lived.

Essentially natural gas is viewed as a worthless by-product of oil or condensate which are the real money makers. Its cheaper to just burn it off than it would be to tie it into any sort of pipeline however that's not allowed in Canada so regardless of the price of gas you need to collect it.

In regards to the tanks you see in ND, they are all over sask as well. Go north of Swift Current by Elrose and every well has a pump jack and tanks on the location. Same with a pile of them up by Kindersley (Viking formation). There are many reasons for this. It could be that there isn't a pipeline or it could be that the well doesn't produce enough to justify the cost of bringing one to location and instead its cheaper for a tank truck to just do a run around that area and take it to a central collection area.

It comes down to ND being the wild west, and Sask being a more heavily regulated Wild West. Alberta and BC are a regulators wet dream.

EDIT: Also I think its worth mentioning that "fracking wells" is like saying "driving cars". Fracking is an action not a description - a well is fracked, a car is driven. I only mention this because I know you are rubbing elbows with O&G locals so figured I would help out.

[killramos]

It’s worth noting that Manitoba is largely an exception to this, its the Wild West over there and tieing in solution gas is very uncommon unless something has changed in the last couple years.

[blitz]

Anyone else consistently bothered by the "k" in "fracking"? There's no k in fracture.

[killramos]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Anyone else consistently bothered by the "k" in "fracking"? There's no k in fracture.

Yup, hence my religious avoidance of the word haha. It looks stupid with just the c as well.

[Buster]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Anyone else consistently bothered by the "k" in "fracking"? There's no k in fracture.

why would people be bothered about the spelling of a word that is in the dictionary?

[SKR]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Anyone else consistently bothered by the "k" in "fracking"? There's no k in fracture.

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

There was a couple out picnic'ing when suddenly the cops appeared out of nowhere. The man started panic'ing because there was a warrant out for his arrest for drug traffic'ing.

You add a "k" when adding "ing" to words that end in "c". Fracking is right. It doesn't mean you're a hippie, it just means you know words good.

The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 1 characters.

[killramos]

Except frac isn’t a word, unlike all the rest of your examples lol

[rage2]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

So i'm down in North Dakota this week working on a Gas Plant, and Ive noticed that all of their wells have flares, and some of these flares are huge - you can see them from 20 miles away. They also seem to have between 5 and 15 tanks next to the wells which makes me think that they dont have a pipeline network between the wells. I presume the flares are venting off natural gas that is also in the same hole as the oil, but how come alberta wells dont have flares? and how do you tell if these are just normal light crude wells or fracking wells?

Is that what flares are for? I always thought that was just a way to show off this shits making me money.

Every time I fly over Iraq all I see are flares at 35000ft. Place is lit.

[ExtraSlow]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

...how do you tell if these are just normal light crude wells or fracking wells?

Just to follow up on this little bit, for anyone not in the industry. There are very few new natural gas or light oil wells drilled anywhere in north america that do not undergo hydraulic fracturing. Anywhere in north america outside the Alberta oilsands that has significant oil and gas drilling this year, is drilling wells that require hydraulic fracturing to produce.

[pheoxs]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Is that what flares are for? I always thought that was just a way to show off this shits making me money.

Every time I fly over Iraq all I see are flares at 35000ft. Place is lit.

The gas is worth so little it often isn't worth the cost of trucking/pipelining it out so it's just burnt off. But Alberta is really strict about it so companies are forced to actually do something with the gas.

Kinda ironic if you think about it, had we actually been 'fuck the environment' like the rest of the world thinks we are, there would be way less natural gas going to market which means the prices would be higher and we'd be raking in way more cash (royalties are better on gas when its high than oil when its high)

[vengie]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Anyone else consistently bothered by the "k" in "fracking"? There's no k in fracture.

Frac'ing

*eye twitch*

[killramos]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Is that what flares are for? I always thought that was just a way to show off this shits making me money.

I mean, that’s what we do in Alberta, until the board says “that’s nice boys now tie her in”.

In Iraq they sometimes burn the oil too lol

[Darkane]

Bunch of Battlestar Galactica fans in here. Christ.

[The Cosworth]

fraq?

[Darkane]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

fraq?

Phrak

[killramos]

Fuck

[Maxt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

So i'm down in North Dakota this week working on a Gas Plant, and Ive noticed that all of their wells have flares, and some of these flares are huge - you can see them from 20 miles away. They also seem to have between 5 and 15 tanks next to the wells which makes me think that they dont have a pipeline network between the wells. I presume the flares are venting off natural gas that is also in the same hole as the oil, but how come alberta wells dont have flares? and how do you tell if these are just normal light crude wells or fracking wells?

This is an example of one of them:
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/201...a-s800-c85.jpg

Edit: Also I had to drive here from Regina, SK and around Estevan were a shit tonne of wells (like the alberta ones) more wells than Ive seen until perhaps north dakota where there are also tonnes.
The town ive been staying in Williston, ND reminds me alot of Fort McMurray and I thought that the oil bust had not really affected the US oil workers but it is clear that its affected everyone here as well. For example all of the work camps are empty here.

Blowing the gas off sounds like Turner Valley 2.0.