Five companies face restrictions after flaring too much gas

Bismarck Tribune ^ | 4/2/2015 | Lauren Donovan

[thackney]

he State Oil and Gas Division has taken action against five oil companies that are flaring more gas than is allowed under the state’s new gas flaring order and policies.

Starting this month, the companies were ordered to choke down production to 100 barrels per day on certain wells or face potential daily penalties.

Division spokeswoman Alison Ritter said this is the highest number of companies and the most wells to be placed under restriction since a flaring order went into effect, calling for companies to capture 77 percent of produced gas by start of January this year.

The companies are Emerald Oil with 10 wells restricted, OXY with nine wells restricted, QEP with six wells restricted, Abraxas Petroleum with three wells restricted, and Enerplus with two wells restricted.

Ritter said the restriction orders are effective for a month and will be continued or dropped depending upon the company’s following month production reports.

The division also restricted production for some companies in January, February and March, though Emerald Oil is the only company to face restrictions in every month this year. Enerplus was restricted for two wells in February and Whiting Petroleum for three wells the same month.

An enforcement policy adopted by the State Industrial Commission says the 100-barrel restriction applies to companies that are not capturing at least 60 percent of the gas from the well.

Ritter said penalties would kick in only if the companies don’t restrict wells as ordered.

[thackney]

ND Oil ping

[relictele]

With economic expansion comes expansion of the regulatory state and their minions with slide rules.

[Erik Latranyi]

Liberals hate to see gas wells being flared. They cite pollution as their motivation.

But, we know it is because liberals oppose hydrocarbon energy produced by private companies. If there was a state run oil company (like Petrobras or Pemex) liberals would love oil and gas.

[Arm_Bears]

Liberals killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, again.

[thackney]

North Dakota Industrial Commission, Department of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas Division is run by Liberals?

[central_va]

Why can’t that gas be recovered and used?

[thackney]

That is why the North Dakota Industrial Commission, Department of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas Division has put this restriction into place. There is a limited amount of time the gas from an oil well can be flared before it is required to be tied into a gathering system.

In many of the ND wells, the amount of gas produced wasn’t economic to pay for the pipelines and compressors required to gather it together for Natural Gas Production.

It was a factor of low gas production, little/no gas infrastructure and widely spaced wells.

[OttawaFreeper]

Agreed. Certainly they did not have a problem with the Soviet Union turning their environment into one giant toilet, far worse than anything ever done here in North America or ever would be. In fact, ones like John Kenneth Galbraith thought the Soviets were better and more efficient at using resources than the West was.

[logi_cal869]

Gee...

How ironic

EPA Methane Rule Would Set Costly Bar for Oil and Gas Industry, Despite Current Reduction Efforts

According to EPA data from its greenhouse gas reporting program (GHGRP), nearly all U.S. oil and gas-producing basins show decreased methane emissions except for the Williston Basin (Bakken shale region) (Figure 2).

Again, GEE...how ironic the OP article is about the same region.

Note the 'BLM - Spring 2015 Proposed Rule' above, among the rest.

Aims to reduce wasteful venting, flaring, and leaks of natural gas from new and existing oil and gas wells on public lands.

[Arm_Bears]

How else to explain bureaucrats that are attempting to cripple the state’s economic growth engine?

[knarf]

OK ... what's the purpose for flaring and why is it under such scrutiny ?

I always thought it was a combination of pressure relief and a testing of what products were in that well

[FreedomPoster]

Gas is flared from a producing oil well when it is not economic to compress and pipe the gas to get it to a market. Wide open spaces plus low natural gas prices plus little existing pipeline infrastructure make getting gas to market in ND an expensive proposition.

[tbpiper]

Is there any way to run a generator off of that stuff and sell the electricity back to the grid?

[thackney]

Some have argued it creates additional economic growth with the Natural Gas production and associated Natural Gas plants and pipelines.

[thackney]

The flowing oil well contains Natural Gas. It has to go somewhere or the well is shut down.

[Arm_Bears]

Make-work projects tend to not cover their own costs.

[thackney]

It is difficult to do so from raw gas at the well. Most of the individual wells don’t produce enough gas; otherwise they would have piped it in already to a gas gathering system.

In a typical location, that gas would first go to a Nat Gas Processing plant to remove: water, NGLs, CO, CO2, H2S, etc before the Gas is “pipeline quality” for uses in power plants, residential, etc.

[thackney]

Agreed. I believe the O&G division is trying to use the oil producers to help fund building out the Natural Gas Systems for future production and economic input into the state.

When oil was $100, back when this rules was put in place for future implementation, it was not such a concern.

[thackney]

https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/or24665.pdf

THE COMMISSION FINDS:

(1) This cause originally came on for hearing at 9:00 a.m. on the 22nd day of April, 2014.

(2) North Dakota Industrial Commission (Commission) Order No. 24392, signed May 14, 2014 continued the decision in this matter for an additional ninety days.

(3) This hearing was called on a motion of the Commission to consider amending the current Bakken, Bakken/Three Forks, and/or Three Forks Pool field rules to restrict oil production and/or impose such provisions as deemed appropriate to reduce the amount of flared gas.