I have a question ,, back on the next ridge over they drilled a gas well,, and well things have been very quiet over there for almost a year now,, a week of so back they started bringing in bog old compressors and equipment again,, then last night, they were burning off the well burned all night and then tey shut it off this morning, and tonight it burning again,, why are they burning off the gas? Is that something thats done to clean out the lines before they start pumping gas into the pipe line? And no I dont have any gas rights so I dont get a penny,, just wondering why they burn them off?
smart guys
- Thread starter skeets
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Answer is prolly in economics, somewhere... Because it is profitable to do things a certain way... Maybe this explains it, but I'd let them pipe the gas to my tank, for free...
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/ene...ares-light-prairie-unused-natural-gas-n186946
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/ene...ares-light-prairie-unused-natural-gas-n186946
85Hokie
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what cha got there is a pressure release valve kicking in, called a flare stack. Helps protect all that fancy equipment!
(oldest son worked in the oil field for a small while - Saudi's created a little surplus - so he got laid off - but gas is 1:40 here)
lots of fun stuff to be had here !
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_flare
(oldest son worked in the oil field for a small while - Saudi's created a little surplus - so he got laid off - but gas is 1:40 here
)lots of fun stuff to be had here !
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_flare
Daren Todd
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Skeets, that torch was probably going all day long as well. On natural gas wells, they use the torch when they test it after completion. They hook a flow meter to it, and burn off the gas flow.
Sometimes they use them when doing repairs on site as well. They gotta burn the gas off after isolating what they need to work on. Sometimes it takes a few days to burn off the gas. The local propane company down the road had one of there trucks spring a leak in a valve. They hooked up a torch to it, and it burned for over 24 hours.
With the compressors being there, I'm wondering if they are having to run a pig up the pipeline to clean or inspect it.
Sometimes they use them when doing repairs on site as well. They gotta burn the gas off after isolating what they need to work on. Sometimes it takes a few days to burn off the gas. The local propane company down the road had one of there trucks spring a leak in a valve. They hooked up a torch to it, and it burned for over 24 hours.
With the compressors being there, I'm wondering if they are having to run a pig up the pipeline to clean or inspect it.
Daren, don't know what you're talking about. Nobody mentioned anything about Rosie O'Donnell!
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Daren Todd
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Daren, don't what you're talking about. Nobody mentioned anything about Rosie O'Donnell!
They would have to do some serious jumping up and down and stuffing for that one 
North Idaho Wolfman
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Sounds like they came in and refracted the well to get better flow.
It's very common for them to burn off the gases that they don't want, like methane.
It's very common for them to burn off the gases that they don't want, like methane.
Several possible reasons as mentioned previous. Usually a gas well will have lift valves in the completion string. Did they bring in a truck mounted rig? If so they are getting ready to work over the well, meaning they will have to pull all completion tools out of primary casing and burn the gas in between the lift valves to work on it. If they brought in a big compressor (truck or skip mounted) that is all about compressing the gas so it will flow down the pipeline. I don't think the payback for a frac job exists at today's prices. With no rig on location my guess would be pipeline work. Ed B
The mention of 'compressors' causes me to think what you saw were truck-mounted high-pressure high-volume pumps used in hydraulic fracturing.
After drilling the well it probably sat waiting on completion. This--waiting-- happens for a lot of different reasons.
They probably completed the well, or if it had already been completed, recompleted it.
The [re]completion process may have involved hydraulic fracturing (those 'compressors observed).
If hydraulically fractured (refer to FracFocus.Org) using 98+% fresh water all that water (fracturing fluid) had to be recovered in order to bring the well on stream for gas sales.
I suspect the flare you saw was the gas being burned as the well was turned to atmosphere with minimal backpressure in order to maximize recovery of the water-based fracturing fluid.
The flare was almost certainly burning continuously and you could only see it in the dark. Modern flares burn with almost 100% efficiency so there would be virtually no smoke (in this gas well situation burning approximately pure methane).
When some calculated percentage of fluid is recovered and the well starts producing 'pipeline quality' gas then the well will be turned to sales through a meter.
If the well's pressure is too low or the local pipeline system pressure is too high, then you may expect compression equipment to be brought in and set on site to increase the gas pressure enough to enter the sales pipeline.
After drilling the well it probably sat waiting on completion. This--waiting-- happens for a lot of different reasons.
They probably completed the well, or if it had already been completed, recompleted it.
The [re]completion process may have involved hydraulic fracturing (those 'compressors observed).
If hydraulically fractured (refer to FracFocus.Org) using 98+% fresh water all that water (fracturing fluid) had to be recovered in order to bring the well on stream for gas sales.
I suspect the flare you saw was the gas being burned as the well was turned to atmosphere with minimal backpressure in order to maximize recovery of the water-based fracturing fluid.
The flare was almost certainly burning continuously and you could only see it in the dark. Modern flares burn with almost 100% efficiency so there would be virtually no smoke (in this gas well situation burning approximately pure methane).
When some calculated percentage of fluid is recovered and the well starts producing 'pipeline quality' gas then the well will be turned to sales through a meter.
If the well's pressure is too low or the local pipeline system pressure is too high, then you may expect compression equipment to be brought in and set on site to increase the gas pressure enough to enter the sales pipeline.