Getting Up To Code
Aaron Jordan, Black Water Environmental, gives an update from the field and how companies are taking this time to clean and get up to code in some areas.
“I actually have a crew in south of Gillette, Wyoming, and they are bouncing from five different salt water disposal plants doing exactly that. So we are vaccing them, cleaning them and if needed we are removing the coating and replacing it,” Jordan said.
Abandoned Wells Are An International Issue
Terry Etam, End of the Fossil Fuel Insanity, BOE Report and Public Energy Number One, dives into the abandoned well issue in America and Canada.
Etam explains how Canada approaches the issue of “orphan” and “abandoned” wells and cites a recent Reuters article for the American juxtaposition.
“Who do you hang the liability on when all the previous owners are long gone? Is it the present owner? One can make the argument they bought the property so they should be held liable and just didn’t do their homework. There are some that believe, in part, that it is the community or the state’s responsibility,” Etam said.
Uncompleted Wells Reach 3-Year High
The number of drilled but uncompleted oil and gas wells is approaching a three-year high as low crude oil prices continue to drag down production.
There were 5,729 drilled but uncompleted wells in the United States at the end of May, a level not seen since December 2017, according to Norwegian energy research firm Rystad Energy.
The backlog, which will likely increase in June, is equivalent to about two years of fracking at the current pace.
When it comes to the regional trends for the inventory of drilled wells awaiting frac services, we see a particularly strong build-up in the Permian Basin where almost 500 wells were added over the past three months. All other major liquids basins combined saw a build-up of about 270 wells in the same period
“Usually there is a typical DUC build-up during winter months and a gradual drawdown during the spring and summer months. Contrary to the norm, in the last three months this metric jumped to 15 to 25 months of frac activity. However, in the second half of 2020 we might see a modest rebound in fracking without extra drilling,“ says Rystad Head of Shale Research Artem Abramov.
The Crude Life Podcast can be heard every Monday through Thursday with a Week in Review on Friday.
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