From above “That’s just the way it is.” And it’s that way far more severely for horizontals.
On the graph, horizontals die vertically. Well known reality carefully NOT talked about by those who have to hype the drilling of the next well.
As for nat gas, the word is 40% of nat gas produced in the Bakken is flared. They are drilling so frantically and desperately fast to overcome that down escalator that they dare not pause to lay capture infrastructure.
And here is a delightful photo to prove it. See if you can find the huge city on a map making that huge swath of (gas flare) light in western NoDak on a map, or south of Austin where the Eagleford is flaring.
http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/32af7f4336fedb22220f6a7067009098.jpg
That’s what desperate, frantic drilling looks like, folks, and it’s not going to get any better. Ever.
If your trying to make a point ya lost me. Please explain in more detail.
Sir there was a time when the entire West Texas skyline was covered in flares, running major pipelines take time.
My suspicions lie with there is likely very little gas produced from the typical Bakken well compared to the oil. That gives little chance for profit on a natural gas payoff for the investment in all the gathering lines.
They are getting some extensions in the permitting, but that is not going to last forever. They are going to be forced to start recovering that gas.
PN Bakken: ND’s gas woes
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2965819/posts
Week of December 02, 2012
Finding a solution to North Dakota’s ballooning gas-flaring problem will require a “very difficult balancing act” that could take until the end of the decade to work out.
“We have to balance the ability to build gathering systems against the waste that takes place with flaring,” Lynn Helms, director of the state’s Department of Mineral Resources, said in a Nov. 20 Webcast.
“So we’re looking at toward the end of this decade before we really get this flaring dynamic under control.”
Gas production continues to increase at a faster rate than the more desirable crude oil, setting yet another production record in September at 793,546 thousand cubic feet, mcf, per day. Average oil output for the month was 728,494 barrels per day, also a record.
I don't have to hype the next well, but I tell every royalty onwer I know to bank the first three royalty checks, and at least half of the next five, then see what they get because of the decline curves. I explain to them that the production falls off rapidly from IP, and usually ends up at the 150-200 BOPD mark after a couple of years. If they look at the first check and load up for Beverly Hills (Jed Clampett joke), they're liable to come back on a Greyhound when they can't make the payments. Most are older folks who are reasonably careful with their money anyway, and they fare pretty well--they just treat the money like a bumper crop, and don't count on a steady stream of it to continue.
