Page 48
construction with drilling, but many producers are not willing to wait.
“We don’t control what they choose to do,” said Dave Scharf, Oneok’s Natural Gas Processing and Gathering president. “There is a very steep production increase, and we are sprinting to try to keep up … the economics favor them going ahead and producing. The value of the gas is a small piece of the pie.”
Even if economic factors get in the way of oil companies eliminating flaring completely with pipelines or other collection options, a new product can at least reduce the harmful emissions. Steffes Corporation in Dickinson has developed a variable orifice burner, or essentially, an engineered flare. As gas comes out of the pipe, this device automatically adjusts the outlet area to produce a flare that burns cleaner with less radiant heat.
“We have all seen smoky, lazy flames coming out of open flare pipes when the gas flow rate is low. The smoke can sometimes be eliminated by choking the pipe down and increasing the exit
velocity. The problem is when the gas flow rate is high again, the pipe may be choked down too much,” said Steffes’ product development manager Todd Mayer. “It is not reasonable to constantly be changing the pipe exit area manually depending on the flow rate of the well.”
Mayer said their device solves that problem, and several pilot projects currently running in McKenzie, Stark and Dunn counties have proven successful. The product aims to eliminate harmful emissions by 98 percent.
The state’s industry leaders continue to encourage more companies to develop new techniques to capture the natural gas. The Oil and Gas Research program awards up to $4 million each biennium to worthy projects. Recently, they approved funding for the Energy and Environmental Research Center in Grand Forks to research a project that uses natural gas to power drilling operations.
Director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority Justin Kringstad is pleased with the response from the industry in the midst of the challenges presented with
Courtesy of Blaise Energy Everything Blaise Energy needs to convert flare gas to electricity is self-contained in an 8-foot by 40-foot shipping container, which can be picked up and transported to the next site when a gathering pipeline arrives.
ATTENTION TTENTION
DEVELOPERS, PROPERTY OWNERS, COMPANY REPS! The Homark Company can supply you with the housing that you need.
Whether it’s manufactured or modular, we stand ready to provide you with the custom product you need. Our products are built in the north country for the north country and are built to survive even the harshest environments.
W e have been building homes in
Red Lake Falls, M N for more than 50 years. W e are not the cheapest, just simply the best.
1-800-382-1154 •
www.homark.com
C ontact us today and let us know how we can assist you. W e have sales reps ready to take your call.
January 2012 • BAKKEN BREAKOUT
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68