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THE FREE PRESS Thursday, July 15, 2010
What is BP doing in the valley? By Rebecca Edwards Free Press Staff
B
P is currently conducting exploration testing for its coal bed methane ‘Mist Mountain’ project at Fir Creek, east of Sparwood near the Corbin Road turnoff.
Free Press editor Rebecca Edwards and intern reporter Mike Bull took a media tour of the site last week guided by Mist Mountain Project Manager Kent Umscheid, who explained the site and ongoing work. All information comes from BP’s tour of the site.
Overall BP Mist Mountain Project • Covers 300 square km and includes nine trillion cubic feet of coal bed gas. • Currently at test stage to see if geology supports commercial extraction. • Project manager Kendal Umscheid: “Modelling says it could support around 100 surface pads supported by up to 600 subsurface wells made through directional drilling. The rigs used for commercial drilling would be the same as the exploration drill rig. “If the whole area matched our economic expectations, there would probably be enough gas in this area to power the Lower Mainland of B.C. for around 30 years. “A commercial extraction project could have a lifespan of 50 years.”
“Drilling will help us understand the north east portion of the land base but we will have to drill more of these to understand what the situation is in the sub surface. “Fir Creek is the only drilling authorization we have at present – there are no plans to seek authorization for any other drilling in 2010 although there are tentative thoughts of another drill site in 2011 – it’s too early to say where yet. “If we decide not to continue with the project, the hole would be filled with cement and plugged off, the casing cut down to four metres below the sub surface and signs erected to notify people of what was there.”
Fir Creek drilling site • Fir Creek drilling site is located at the Corbin Road turn off from Highway 3, opposite Sparwood’s Elkview Mine. • It is a former Tembec log landing, 100 x 100 metres in size. The drill rig is 32 metres high and has various buildings attached to it. There are a further five portable buildings set up as offices and accommodation. • Mist Mountain Project Manager Kendal Umscheid says it was chosen as a test site after being recently logged. “It was always an area of interest for us geologic-
ally but until recently it wasn’t accessible by road so we scratched it off the list. Then Teck and Tembec logged it which meant we were able to get in.” • No waste will be left on site – water is to be pumped away; sewage collected by truck; waste cuttings from the drill site are being taken away. • There have been no sign of bears at the pad, although there have been sightings on the access road, which had work carried out on it to strengthen the surface so heavy machinery could travel along it.
STARTING AT $
376,000
BP’s 32-metre high test drilling rig at Fir Creek, near Sparwood.
Tests
Drilling crew Mist Mountain project manager Kendal Umscheid with one of the drill bits used at Fir Creek. Photo by M. Bull
• There are 33 crew members from Precision drilling company – 10 on site at any time working in 12 hour shifts, including a medic. • The crew comes with the rig. Project Manager Kendal Umscheid said they were selected because BP wanted a team that could deal with the environmental and com-
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munity sensitivities of the project. • Media were asked not to use photographs that showed the crew’s faces clearly. Cameras are also not allowed within 25 metres of the drill due to potential ignition through electronic pulses.
• The rig at Fir Creek has already completed a 220 mm / 8.66 inch diameter hole, 1148 metres / 3766 feet deep. The drilling was completed at 15 metres / 49 feet per hour. • Project Manager Kendal Umscheid said that after drilling is complete the next step is to conduct geophysical logs to tell the type of rock at each layer based on how much radiation it is emitting; a sonic scanner sends out waves to look at rock properties, a caliper log has legs like a spider that measure the shape of the hole. • When the hole has been logged, metal casing will be pushed down to the bottom and then cement is filled in around it to fix it in. The next tests will take up to 60 days and include: • Perforating the casing by firing shots at it at certain points to create a hole in the casing and allow them to test any water in the coal seam at that point, any gas and the quality of it.