Category: Energy

Mississippian Lime – another name to watch

This discussion sounds like it’s about Williston, North Dakota:

Oil rigs are springing up in farmers’ fields. “No vacancy” signs hang in the windows of local motels, and a steady stream of trucks barrel through Main Streets. Along the state’s southern border, the once-quiet farm towns are quickly transforming into boomtowns.

Hundreds of workers seeking high-paying jobs are flocking to places like Harper County, which had resorted to paying people to live there because of its declining population. Businesses are coming back from the dead and a housing shortage has caused rents to triple.

That is actually a description of what’s going on in south central Kansas, according to CNNMoney’s article Oil boom strikes Kansas.

Continue reading “Mississippian Lime – another name to watch”

More background on guar gum

The Wall Street Journal has more info on guar gum in their article Obscure Indian Bean a Boon for Farmers. Mentioned earlier here.

Demand has increased which causes the price to rise:

Mostly grown in the heart of India’s desert lands, the price of the vegetable has jumped from about 40 rupees ($0.7) a kilogram at the time of the September-October harvest to around 300 rupees ($5.4) per kilogram today.

Continue reading “More background on guar gum”

How long to hit a million barrels a day in North Dakota oil production?

I’ll make a wild guess when production of oil in North Dakota will hit one million barrels a day.  I’ll put my estimate on the table.

Before September 30, 2013.

I’ve not seen any projections on Bakken production that were not extremely understated in light of what happened since the estimates were made.

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Good problems – drilling in Bakken and Eagle Ford running way ahead of completion crews

Both the Bakken and Eagle Ford fields have a large backlog of wells that had been drilled but are waiting for completion.

Since I do the majority of my work sitting at a computer, I think this is a great problem to have. Not so much for those making a living from oil production.

Continue reading “Good problems – drilling in Bakken and Eagle Ford running way ahead of completion crews”

What critical information do the anti-fracking illustrations leave out?

Check out the previous illustrations of fracking I’ve mentioned here and here.

Then go search for illustrations that are critical of fracking. Ask yourself what critical information is missing.

I was going to link to specific examples, but there are so many it is hard to choose. Also, pointing out flagrant omissions and clever distortions from people’s videos tends to get them irritated.  I’m not interested in a flame war.

There seem to be two common problems.

Continue reading “What critical information do the anti-fracking illustrations leave out?”

Fracking in U.S. eases poverty in India

Reuters reports Shale energy triggers bean rush in India. 

Gum from a bean called guar is a key ingredient in hydraulic fracturing. It makes the mixture of sand and water that is injected into a well more fluid and easier flowing. Here is a more detailed explanation from Reuters:

Guar gum is used to increase the viscosity of proppants, materials which are forced into shale fractures to enlarge them so that the oil and gas can be extracted. It also helps reduce friction, which in turn decreases the energy consumed.

How much do you need to frack a well? The Reuters article says nine metric tons per well.

Demand for guar gum has exploded. Prices have increased by a factor of about 10 in the last year.

Continue reading “Fracking in U.S. eases poverty in India”

Amount of proven reserves varies depending on available technology and prices. Peak Oil #4

Here is the Wikipedia definition of proven reserves, which is the same definition I’ve read elsewhere:

Proved reserves are those quantities of petroleum which, by analysis of geological and engineering data, can be estimated with a high degree of confidence to be commercially recoverable from a given date forward, from known reservoirs and under current economic conditions.

Here’s a short definition, from Hard Facts – An Energy Primer  provided by the Institute for Energy Research.

They are the estimated reserves that are easily accessible and recoverable with today’s technology and today’s oil prices.

I’ve been using Daniel Yergin’s Wall Street Journal article There Will Be Oil as the jumping off point to explain that the concept of ‘peak oil’ is invalid. See previous posts here, here, and here.

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Expected lifetime production data for a Bakken well

Lots of news sites are reporting on some data released by the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.

Here’s the key data:

Typical well in Bakken and Three Forks fields will produce about 540,000 barrels of oil during a 29 year lifespan.

Cost to drill is typically $7.9M

During that run a typical well will generate: Continue reading “Expected lifetime production data for a Bakken well”

More illustrations of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Previous posts show superb illustrations of fracking here and here.   I browsed the ‘net and found a few more illustrations that are good:

Here is an illustration of the fracking process. Notice that the ground water is usually 100’ to 500’ below the surface. The horizontal run is usually 1 or 1.5 miles down. There’s  thousands of feet of hard granite that isolates the ground water at 500’. Notice the mile of rock in the illustration between the fracking level and ground water.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qm7e553S7fg#t=277s]

Continue reading “More illustrations of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.”

Explanation of horizontal drilling from Anadarko Petroleum

Great video of presentation by Mr. Danny Brown of Anadarko Petroleum. Good explanation of the process of drilling a horizontal well used by Anadarko.

Good visuals. Superb explanation of drilling for a newcomer to energy, like me.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=P7Z0Ri9_AWw#t=145s]

Update: link fixed – somehow the link went weird.

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Solutions to peak oil – dial back our population and standard of living to pre-1949. Peak oil #3

Is quoting someone and explaining his position an ad hominem attack? That means attacking someone personally instead of criticizing their ideas.

I don’t think so.

Check out the solution to our energy problems according to the founder of the ‘peak oil’ concept, Dr. M. King Hubbert, PhD.  Also, I’m not sure if Dr. Hubbert’s solutions are technically in the fascist or communist camp. You decide.

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Productivity of Bakken wells is accelerating – production rates per well in Bakken and elsewhere in North Dakota

Previous post provided daily production and number of wells in the Bakken area and North Dakota overall.

The accountant in me wanted to see the per well data with that same breakout. What did I find?

Productivity of wells outside Bakken is declining. In the Bakken area productivity is much higher and increasing.

Here is the average barrels per day per well. The averages are for NOrth Dakota in total, Bakken only, and then all others outside Bakken:

  • ND / Bakken / other / date
  • 33.4 / 39.6  /  32.8 / early 2007
  • 47.5 / 117.3  / 26.8 / early 2009
  • 84.0 / 142.2 / 22.6 / November 2011

Continue reading “Productivity of Bakken wells is accelerating – production rates per well in Bakken and elsewhere in North Dakota”