November Energy Pipeline

covering the energy industry in the rocky mountain region

Colorado Energy Day

Industry leaders join to demystify STEM education, pave path to energy industry careers Regulation Explorer

Crude Production dip

Industry Insights

Fledgling app could help companies work with oil and gas regulations

First half of the year shows oil production decline in Weld County

The digital oilfield finally comes together

NOVEMBER 2017 | vol 4 | issue 11

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Features

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Colorado Energy Day

Regulation Explorer

Industry leaders join to demystify STEM education, pave path to energy industry careers.

Fledgling app could help companies work with myriad state, local oil and gas regulations.

By Matthew Van Deventer

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In Every Issue

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Weld Pipelines

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News Briefs

20

Making Hole

22

Could we someday see waterless fracking using rocket fuel?

Landowners, emergency officials clash with industry on proposed pipeline regulations in Weld

Rigs to Reef program creates crucial marine habitats

By Bruce Wells

By Tyler Silvy

digital oilfield 10 The finally comes together

By Gary Beers

By Dan Larson

15 Pipeline Problems

Colorado says 430 pipelines failed leak test after explosion

By Associated Press

16

On the cover Design by Nichole Mathiason

Crude Production Dip

Metropolitan State University of Denver physics student Phurba Sherpa looks on with potential STEM students at Energy Day Sept. 23 at East High School in Denver as one of their rockets soars down the grassy esplanade.

First half of the year shows oil production decline — though slight — in Weld County

By Sharon Dunn

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For more than a decade, Lock-Tite Anchor has leased it’s Portable Surface Anchors (P.S.A.’s) to oil and gas companies across the United States. Developed as a safe and legal alternative to earth anchors, the P.S.A.’s are an integrated element of assuring overall rig safety and stability while adhering to OSHA regulations and rig manufacturer’s recommendations.

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Many times, these anchors have been used in addition to earth anchors when one or more anchors just won’t fit the pattern the rig needs for the job they are on, or when an earth anchor fails and is waiting for replacement on a job that can’t wait.

P.S.A’.s are also available for other load rated applications such as coil tubing units, snubbing units, B.O.P. stabilization, and emergency decent devices.

For more than a decade, Lock-Tite Anchor has leased it’s Portable Surface Anchors (P.S.A.’s) to oil and gas companies across the United States. Developed as a safe and legal alternative to earth anchors, the P.S.A.’s are an integrated element of assuring overall rig safety and stability while adhering to OSHA regulations and rig manufacturer’s recommendations.

Fast and easy to move, these anchors are four sided with six progressive, retractable teeth, so they can be set at any angle to the rig. Although each anchor is a truckload (48,500 lbs.), they have been very cost effective in areas of heavy development, refineries, completion 507 N. Kinniear Blvd, P.O. Box 330, Edgerton, WY 82635 Scott Griffiths - President (307)262-1412 projects, multi-well pads, heavily congested oil fields, WWW.LOCKTITEANCHOR.COM pipeline right-of-way’s, well We are currently looking for sales rep circulation and other in NE Colorado area. changing underground conditions. P.S.A.’s are giving rigs the freedom to set anchors where they are needed to be for the job they are doing. They are also allowing well operators the ability to have less clutter from permanent anchors and less risk of damaging underground utilities and location liners.

Many times, these anchors have been used in addition to earth anchors when one or more anchors just won’t fit the pattern the rig needs for the job they are on, or when For more than a decade, Lock-Tite fails Anchor has leased it’s Surface Anchors ’s) to oil and gas companies an earth anchor and isPortable waiting for(P.S.A. replacement onacross a the United States. Developed as a safe and legal alternative to earth anchors, the P.S.A.’s are an integrated element of assuring overall rig safety and stability while adhering to OSHA regulations and rig manufacturer’s recommendations. job can’t wait.are four sided with six progressive, retractable teeth, so they can be set at any angle to Fast andthat easy to move, these anchors the rig. Although each anchor is a truck-load (48,500 lbs.), they have been very cost effective in areas of heavy development, refineries, completion projects,also multi-well pads, heavily congested fields, pipeline right-of-way’s, well circulation and other P.S.A’ .s are available foroilother load rated changing underground conditions. P.S.A.’s are giving rigs the freedom to set anchors where they are needed to be for the job they are doing. They are also allowing well operators the ability to have less clutter from permanent anchors and less risk of applications such asliners. coil tubing units, snubbing units, damaging underground utilities and location Many times, these anchors have been used in addition to earth anchors when one or more anchors just won’t fit the pattern theB.O.P. rig needs for the job they are on, or when an earth anchor fails and is waiting for replacementdevices. on a job that can’t wait. stabilization, and emergency decent P.S.A’.s are also available for other load rated applications such as coil tubing units, snubbing units, B.O.P. stabilization, and emergency decent devices.

PUBLISHER Bryce Jacobson BUSINESS MANAGER Doug Binder

Niche Audience & Brand Director Bruce Dennis

EDITOR Randy Bangert

sales MANAGERS Stephanie Mighell Sabrina Poppe

MANAGING EDITOR Sharon Dunn

CREATIVE MANAGER Kyle Knoop

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Gary Beers Matthew Van Deventer Dan Larson Bruce Wells Tyler Silvy

CREATIVE supervisor Amy Mayer LEAD Designer Nichole Mathiason

ENERGY PIPELINE MAGAZINE 501 8th Ave. P.O. Box 1690 Greeley, CO 80632 For all editorial, advertising, subscription and circulation inquiries, call (970) 352-0211.

Send editorial-related comments and story ideas to: editor@energypipeline.com For advertising inquiries, contact: bdennis@energypipeline.com November 2017, Volume 5, Issue 3.

Published by Greeley Publishing Co., publisher of The Greeley Tribune, Windsor Now, the Fence Post, and Tri-State Livestock News.

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Weld Pipelines Landowners, emergency officials clash with industry on proposed pipeline regulations

BY Tyler Silvy • tsilvy@greeleytribune.com

The lack of oversight, communication and general etiquette related to the oil and gas industry came into sharp focus Oct. 18 during the third meeting of oil and gas industry officials, Weld County commissioners and local landowners.

In two previous meetings, which centered on definitions for pipelines and how to bring more of those under the purview of county commissioners, members of the working group hadn’t come to any agreements and had mostly kept conversations surface-level.

On Oct. 18, that changed, with landowners accusing oil and gas industry representatives of continuous intimidation tactics and public safety officials saying the industry must communicate better for the sake of public safety.

Landowner Dennis Hoshiko, who attended both previous meetings, said he’d repeat himself again, even at the risk of sounding like a broken record. His point? It doesn’t matter what kind of material is being transported in what size pipe. Oil and gas operators still have the trump card with eminent domain, and they continue to deal with him and other landowners in a hostile manner.

Up next After three meetings with a large working group, Weld County commissioners are working to establish a smaller working group of just six people. Three landowners and three oil and gas industry officials will work with Weld County Planning Director Tom Parko to bring recommendations back to the larger group.

Hoshiko said he was there representing many farmers who couldn’t be at the meeting because they’re harvesting crops.

“There’s no use by right to come onto my property from miles down the road,” Hoshiko said. “I want to get that point across, because I don’t know that it’s being heard. Participating (in these meetings) is diminishing. Maybe it’s because we’re not going the direction we as landowners want to see.”

Hoshiko said companies continue to trespass on century-old irrigation ditches, routing pipelines underneath with no notice and increasing risks of accidents when landowners work on those ditches.

Industry representatives said the group should talk about the real issues, something Platte Valley Fire Chief Barry Schaefer was happy to do when the conversation switched to pipeline mapping.

There was tacit agreement regarding mapping during the last meeting, although industry officials expressed concern about safety.

“I understand you don’t want the information easy (to get),” Schaefer said. “But when it takes us six hours to find out who the owner of a line is when it’s exploding?”

Schaefer said that happened two years ago on Steve Wells’ ranch, adding that he had to threaten to use the sheriff’s office on six companies because nobody would claim the pipeline.

“We want to work with you, but we need to find a middle ground,” Schaefer said. “We need a way for us as emergency responders to access information rapidly.”

Schaefer wants some sort of map to at least be shared with emergency management people in the county.

Weld County Emergency Management

Director Roy Rudisill agreed, recalling what officials have dubbed the “white truck festival,” when trucks from a variety of companies were called in to deal with an incident because the county couldn’t figure out who’s issue it was.

“We’re evacuating families from the residence, evacuating dairy farms,” Rudisill said.

“Finally, when the gas quits blowing, we get a phone call four days later with, ‘Yeah, that was our line.’ From an emergency management standpoint, we need (maps).”

Weld County requires a use by special review permit only for pipelines of a certain size on county land, and that’s one of the first issues commissioners attempted to address in the first oil and gas working group meetings.

Weld County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer continues to accuse oil and gas companies of flouting those rules by putting in two pipelines of smaller sizes so the companies aren’t forced to come before the Board of Weld County Commissioners for approval.

Industry officials, in past meetings, have said any change that roped in every single pipeline would be untenable, and would create a huge burden of both time and money.

Toward the end of the meeting, Weld County Commissioner Chairwoman recommended breaking into a smaller working group of three landowners and three oil and gas industry representatives. The belief, for Cozad and others, was that a smaller group might get more done.

Hoshiko agreed to attend electronically, or recruit other landowners to take part with Weld County Planning Director Tom Parko.

That smaller group’s recommendations will come back to the larger group at some point in the future, although a day or time hasn’t been set.

November 2017 ENERGY PIPELINE 7

Regulation Explorer Fledgling app could help companies work with myriad state, local oil and gas regulations

BY Matthew VanDeventer • for energy pipeline

Navigating the regulatory landscape of oil and gas is no

easy task. However, an app, Regulation Explorer, may take the edge off that process by mapping oil and gas regulations in an easy-touse, interactive digital interface.

“So basically we’re a mapping platform for regulations. We provide an interactive web map that visually displays various buffer zones and regulatory matters that are relevant, that need to be known specifically for filing permits for these site,” explained Sam Richard, a full-stack software engineer working on the app. The

Above is an example of the app Regulation Explorer, which can help industry folks identify well sites, regulations, zoning issues and much more.

8 ENERGY PIPELINE November 2017

app was a winner at the 2016 Go Code Colorado, an annual app competition held by the Colorado Secretary of State. App winners demonstrate community outreach and the ability to increase public access to usable data.

The competition starts with a challenge weekend when it tours five cities across the state. Two teams from each city move to the final round through which three winners are chosen. The state provides first-round funding to winners by purchasing the team’s intellectual property for $25,000 and then licensing it back to them for the year.

Richard showed up at the challenge weekend looking for a team to work with and found Regulation Explorer. ”It was a great example of the intent of the challenge which is to connect smart, creative people outside of government who want to solve problems with access to public data that could help them in that process,” said Go Code Colorado spokesperson, Andrew Cole.

Regulation Explorer aggregates data from myriad datasets to compile city, county and state regulatory and ecological information pertinent to oil and gas as well existing underground and surrounding infrastructure. For example, if a drilling company looking to start a new site, they could look at Regulation Explorer, pinpoint their desired well site, and understand, for example, what occupied buildings are nearby, flood planes, wildlife habitats, potential zoning issues, directional lines or what permits are necessary to begin operations. Smaller companies are more apt to jumping on technology like this because it allows them to do more without spending more. However, Richard said the larger companies are in the midst of an “information crisis” and are benefiting from it too.

Regulation Explorer technology can reveal spacing between wells and occupied structure for anyone in the field.

They haven’t yet integrated their information with cloud-based systems, which means communications regarding permits and regulations can get complicated between internal teams and external agencies.

A petroleum engineer uses information about a potential well site completely different than say, a company’s regulatory, land acquisition, or geographic information systems (GIS) team. They all speak different languages — but they have the same end goal.

Those departments are also working with city, county, and state regulatory agencies that have their own way of seeing things.

“At the business end, how do you collect all this stuff together? How do you keep track of it and how do you make sure what’s relevant to each team? Like I mentioned, is what’s there and available to each team,” Richard said.

This is where Regulation Explorer is really looking to go. Richard clarifies that while it’s not a workflow product, it can be a modern tool for companies with information that is still very “analogue” or traditionally managed. One of the larger companies Regulation Explorer is working with is looking to streamline their regulatory team with other departments so they can all work with “more modern tooling” and move toward a modern workflow, Richard said.

“These companies are facing a major

workflow problem. Tools like ours will help them overhaul their outdated systems going forward. We aren’t a workflow tool ourselves, but we allow disparate department(s) to share data and view it in meaningful ways for everyone,” Richard wrote in an email. “Obviously, we replace the back and forth with the COGCC, but our mapping tools also allow visually communicating site details to everyone involved — letting regulations be a part of the planning process much earlier.”

Derek Petrie, the regulatory manager for Integrated Petroleum Technologies in Golden, said two main issues right nows are the collision of the oil and gas and real estate booms.

“So these local governments are forced to try and protect one, the surface owners and then the mineral owners,” says Petrie who is unfamiliar with Regulation Explorer.

Municipalities “change the rules rapidly,” Petrie said, especially in towns along the Front Range and around the DJ Basin.

Statewide regulations tend to move much slower. They also vary from city to city and county to county. For example, a company drilling in a county, outside of city limits, may be required to conduct a traffic study and pay road usage fees to the city for its trucks pass through.

Further, a company would have to get two different permits for a drilling site, those being Rule 303 form 2, one for each drill, and 2A, one for the entire site. However,

site placement could go back and forth depending on negotiations with local government, residents and stakeholders.

Richard says he and his team’s initial app, which they developed in three days, focused on concerns around securing the two permits to showcase the usefulness of the programing.

About 50 percent to 60 percent of Petrie’s workload is spent on site preparation. He estimates securing a site can take at least 200 days starting with a 10,000 foot aerial view and involves making changes based off of feedback from state and local municipalities and really anyone in the country who has an issue.

“In the end it’s the process for working with the state, city, and county (so) that everyone finds (the site) acceptable, or acceptable enough,” Petrie said.

Richards said Regulation Explorer is now largely just a map, but they are working on features such as being able to generate reports for clients. About eight companies are working with Regulation Explorer as well as some land title and GIS individuals.

Richard said the recent explosion in Firestone sticks with him because something like Regulation Explorer could create a report detailing all the directional lines. He said the demand for information tools able to provide large-scale analyses is huge, but companies aren’t necessarily rushing to “change their workflows to mesh well with cloud-based software.”

“We’re looking for ways to get involved in managing the interaction between these teams in a larger environment that’s trying to move more toward a cloud based workflow,” Richard said.

Regulation Explorer The Regulation Explorer team consists of Ron Sites, MBA finance and former oil and gas operator, computer engineer Wojciech Magda, and full-stack software engineer, Sam Richard. For more information about the app go to www.regulationexplorer.com.

November 2017 ENERGY PIPELINE 9

Industry Insights The digital oilfield finally comes together

By Dan Larson • for Energy Pipeline

Technology that monitors and controls oilfield equipment is nothing new, and now it is finally fulfilling its promise to fully automate and connect an entire field with operations offices.

At the Rocky Mountain Energy Summit in Denver this summer, three oil and gas technology leaders described how cloud computing, data warehousing and analytics and the applied knowledge of industry experts are transforming oilfield operations.

The change has been a long time coming.

Like many of those with decades of experience in the oil and gas industry, Don Paul recalls a time when companies operated autonomous internal computing networks that were closely controlled by a small group of technical experts.

“It was like a priesthood that spoke a different language,” says Paul, the executive director of the Energy Institute at University of Southern California. He retired from Chevron in 2008 as vice president and chief technology officer after a 33-year career.

“Now, data access and analytics provide insights into all levels of operations,” he says. “It also puts pressure on companies to transform their culture. We already see less emphasis on the traditional professions like geologist and petroleum engineering and more on developing expertise that is a blend of earth sciences with strong skills in data management and analytics.”

As an academic leader, Paul concludes that “the traditional petroleum engineering degree must account for a digital future.”

What most industry people recognize today as the digital oilfield has been around for a decade, according to Binu Mathew, digital strategy leader at GE Oil and Gas. What has changed is the tremendous leap within just the past year in the ability to connect all parts of the operation and then gain insights from the wealth of data available.

“When you look at the flow of oil and gas from the ground to the refinery to the consumer, there needs to be data flowing in parallel at every step of the way,” Mathew observes. “The concept is not new but we can now apply analytic models to that data and get real-time insights. Use these insights to take action and you take a giant step forward.”

That coming together of access to data in real time through use of new, inexpensive sensors combined with the ability to connect from nearly everywhere provides 10 ENERGY PIPELINE November 2017

the fuel that is revolutionizing oil and gas industry, says Brian Pugh, chief operating officer for BP’s new Lower 48 business unit. The company is relocating Lower 48 headquarters to downtown Denver from Houston.

The spark that sets it all in motion is access to the cloud-based computing power needed to plow through massive amounts of data while applying the algorithms that allow the field operator and support staff in the office to make sense of it all, Pugh notes.

“These enabling technologies are coming to fruition in weeks and months, not the years in the future that we used to think,” Pugh observes. “It is a new way of operating that automates the routine tasks we thought were unavoidable. It frees up people to solve tough new problems and lets us work safer and with more regard for the environment.”

Pugh describes a system that connects large, disparate data sets and gives workers the ability to visualize what is happening and to quickly spot trends. He adds that these systems can capture solutions to problems that operators already know how to solve and not only

Dan Larson, is a Colorado journalist and PR pro.

He has three decades experience in the oil and gas industry as a communications specialist. Working industry segments upstream and down, Dan led marketing programs, neighbor discussions, community development and contribution programs, and crisis response efforts. Visit Dan’s website at www.larson-comms.com

A technician reviews a live image of a control box sent by a field operator using BP’s “virtual assistant” technology.

Repair steps can then be returned to the operator, improving efficiency and safety.

Virtual reality comes to the oilfield What happens when you link mobile connectivity, virtual reality glasses and the expertise of the industry’s sharpest field operations?

You get a new way for lease operators to manage routine tasks such as equipment breakdowns that improves efficiency and enhances safety.

At this year’s Rocky Mountain Energy Summit in Denver, Brian Pugh, chief operating officer at BP Lower 48, was asked for an example of how Big Data is changing the way companies manage field operations.

His example showed how companies can combine existing products into something new that enables a solution to a vexing problem.

The company’s “virtual assistant” technology relies on a truck-mounted booster package that creates a Wi-Fi hotspot at a far greater range and turns the operator’s vehicle into a “mobile data center.”

The company worked with a supplier of safety glasses to develop glasses that incorporate virtual reality technology and allow the operator to interact with support staff using real-time images of components and how they can be serviced.

BP’s “virtual assistant” technology uses VR-equipped safety glasses to share what the field operator sees on location with a technician at the operations center.

predict when a problem might occur but give the operator a solution before arriving on location.

Companies recognize they are dealing with systems on existing wells that are 20 years old or older, Pugh says. What has changed is that they can now “drop wireless sensors that used to cost thousands of dollars and now go for tens of dollars on top of existing equipment

“Previously, when an operator ran into something he couldn’t fix on the spot, he had to write up a ticket and turn it in when he got back to the shop,” Pugh says. “Later, someone else went to the site to make the repair and the well might be down for a week.”

“Now, we can walk the operator through the repair because the technician can see the same thing the operator does,” he says.

The virtual assistant system also allows the operator to annotate the part needing repair so when the same issue is encountered at another site, the operator can be shown how to make the repair along with any safety notes that may be needed.

Another advantage of the system, Pugh says, is that it allows the operator to look at a storage tank or separator and see important measurements such as pressure, temperature or flow rate.

“Once an operator tries the virtual assistant, it’s like a light bulb is turned on,” Pugh concludes. “We enable them to work at a much higher level.”

— By Dan Larson

and connect the entire location. We can then use the cloud to warehouse the data and run the analytics. It is fundamentally changing the oil and gas business.”

Routine assignments such as an operator’s daily route for well visits can be optimized, Pugh adds.

Historically, a route was mapped out based on geographic boundaries and often included arbitrary or personal preferences, such as proximity to a good place for lunch, he notes.

“On any given day, 60 percent of the well visits were not necessary and did not add value,” Pugh observes.

“The company brought together engineers, data scientists and operators and asked, ‘Why do you need to go to that well?’ Then we mixed in safety and environmental regulations, production volumes, the skill sets of our operators, even the tools and materials on the truck and road conditions. Our data specialists turn that into a value added, optimized route that tells the operator which wells to go to, in what order and what to expect when they arrive,” he notes.

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Brian Pugh, COO at BP Lower 48, says connectivity and data management are fundamentally changing how the oil and gas business operates.

“By maximizing their time on location, helping the operator solve problems instead of simply repeating the same task, we have seen 40 percent improvements in cash flow, increased production and better HSE performance,” Pugh says.

“For those willing to get on board now, there has never been a more exciting time to be in this industry,” Pugh concludes.

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November 2017 ENERGY PIPELINE 11

Colorado Energy Day Industry leaders join to demystify STEM education, pave path to energy industry careers

BY Matthew VanDeventer • for energy pipeline DK Fontana of Liberty Oilfield Services demonstrates fracturing fluid made with all natural ingredients.

Gregor Owens, electrical captain, and Zane Molins, drive coach and strategy, of the East High School robotics team, East Angelbotics, show off their bot at Energy Day at East High School in Denver. Photos by Matthew VanDeventer.

12 ENERGY PIPELINE November 2017

DENVER — It was a rainy Saturday on Sept. 23, but thousands showed up at East High School Esplanade for Colorado’s inaugural Energy Day festival, an effort to promote STEM education to get kids more into the sciences, technology, energy and math.

Seniors Gregor Owens, electric captain of the East High School Angelbotics robotics team, and Zane Molins, drive coach and strategy, were stationed at the entrance of the festival, driving around the robot that got the team further in robotics competitions than ever before.

An April study by the New American Economy reported many states, including Colorado, are seeing a shortage in skilled STEM workers. According to a news release, Colorado had 15.3 job openings for every unemployed worker in STEM last year. The national ratio was 13 to 1. This first Energy Day was an effort to demystify STEM and spark student interest in the possibilities.

“I think it’s mostly because they don’t see it, they don’t see it happen, they don’t see people actually having fun doing it,” Molins said of the increasing propensity of students to shy away from STEM education. “The more it can be in their face the more they’ll

see it and want to do it.”

Owens and Molins got into STEM almost randomly: They both didn’t have anything else to do after school. They didn’t know a thing about building robots, but they ended up joining the team.

Students and even adults alike see a robot and think it’s the hardest thing to build, wires sticking out, motherboards secured, lights flashing, remote controls operating, a cause example of the STEM fear. “But it’s easier than you think,” Owens said nonchalantly. “People need to know that building robots is not an impossible sci-fi thing. You can do it at home if you want. It’s doable. It’s easy.”

As the pair steered their robot, kids and adults filtered in an out of the East High grounds, where dozens of energy and energy related companies were on hand to talk about their business.

“One of the things that a lot of energy companies are struggling with is getting people interested in energy and getting students to understand the career path that they can have,” explained Lisa Hamil, founder of Energy 360, an organization that seeks to educate people about the energy of consumerism. They partnered with the

Consumer Energy Alliance and Consumer Energy Education Foundation to bring Energy Day from Houston, Texas, where it is held annually, to Denver for the first time.

“So this is all about STEM education and how a STEM education can lead to a career in energy — any form of energy, innovation, technology, sustainability, there’s a lot of different career paths people can go down.

It’s just to educate people about what’s out there,” Hamil said.

Students from Metropolitan State University demonstrated concepts in physics by launching air rockets down the esplanade. Attendees could observe how sand moves when sound is applied, feel the pull of centrifugal force with bicycle wheels, and launching air-soft rockets down the esplanade. Kids could operate remotecontrolled Caterpillar tractors, check out solar panels on display, and see the flow of water through faucets when they pedaled a stationary bike at the Denver Water exhibit.

Major oil and gas players also attended the festival including, Anadarko, which had a tent full of engineers and community outreach employees talking with visitors.

One Anadarko engineer had four, shoulderhigh, clear blue tubes with different sized marbles in each one with water or vegetable oil flowing through them to demonstrate porosity, resembling how oil and gas flow through rock.

On the other side of the tent was an Augmented Reality Sandbox that generated topographic contour lines to show changes in elevation as kids shoved piles of sand around to form peaks and valleys.

“We definitely want to attract kids to STEM careers, because obviously we’re trying to recruit the next generation of oil and gas professionals,” said Elizabeth Smith, a member of Anadarko’s stakeholder relationship team. “It’s really encouraging to see how much excitement there is, especially in the last few years around these STEM careers. So, just building excitement with our kids and letting them know that these jobs are actually pretty cool and science and technology, engineering and math — you can get a really fun, interactive, cool position if your pursue a STEM career.”

A pinnacle message of the day was that there are endless career possibilities in energy and that working in the industry isn’t just about rocks and solar panels, but computer science, data, programming, and even robotics and drones.

Officials from Liberty Oilfield Services

showcased how computer sciences and data analysis is a major part of the oil and gas industry with a program developed specifically for the event. Participants jumped on a platform to measure how

“I think it’s mostly because they don’t see it, they don’t see it happen, they don’t see people actually having fun doing it.”

Zane Molins, member of East High School Angelbotics robotics team high they were in the air based on how long they were off the ground. Immediately after landing, data collected from their time in the air was displayed on a screen right in from of them. Another engineer, who described himself as one of Liberty’s professional problem solvers, demonstrated frac fluid made with all natural ingredients such as Dr. Bronner’s soap.

Leen Weijers, Liberty’s vice president of engineering, oversees the company’s approximately 100 engineers stationed on its 18 frac sites, several of which are quiet

fleets made up of fracking pumps that have been redesigned and encased for sound mitigation. For Weijers, it was rocks that got him involved in energy; seeing a 6 millionyear-old fossil sparked his imagination.

However, that’s not the case for everyone, he said. Others, such as the engineers who developed the height-calculating program for the festival, are more interested in data and displaying it, theory, or the mining side of the business.

“There’s many different ways of getting into it,” added Weijers. While the simulation at the festival isn’t directly used in the field, similar applications are, such as measuring fluid levels in a tank with sonic measurements or understanding the amount of fluids that have been pumped out by calculating the change in fluid levels in the tanks from which they come.

Jim Marchiori, executive director of the University of Colorado at Denver’s Global Energy Management Program, also an Energy Day co-host, deals with students at the master’s level, but said the energy industry survives by way of STEM students in two ways: college graduates or skilled trade-workers (of which he said there are four key trades: electrical, mechanical, instrumentation technicians and process operations).

“There’s a constant shortage of people in those areas,” Marchiori said. “They’re solid, stable-type jobs that actually make the industry run and you can never quite have enough people.”

STEM is crucial for a thriving energy industry, whether it’s oil, solar or wind.

Energy Day attendees could see real-time data about their jump displayed instantly right in front of them at Liberty Oilfield Services’s tent to demonstrate one of the many STEM careers, data processing and display, in the energy industry.

November 2017 ENERGY PIPELINE 13

Kids operate remote controlled Caterpillar trucks around obstacles staged on astro turf at Energy Day Sept. 23 at East High School in Denver.

Marchiori speculated the drop in STEM students was because it’s more challenging than other topics. He alluded to famed tale of students dropping their math class at day’s end.

Regardless, it’s up to the state to encourage STEM funding if it wants to attract technical positions and top candidates to fill them.

“That’s why events like this are important,” Marchiori said. “At the end of the day, [sic] if you want to have a robust energy or even technology or financial industry, you’ve got to have an educated workforce to make that industry run. If you want to attract those jobs and attract those people to Colorado, STEM education is fundamental. So it’s really in the state’s interest to drive efforts [around those] programs.”

The Mead Energy Academy, housed within Mead High School, presents energy as an “arena of opportunity” but they don’t call themselves a STEM program because they think some kids are getting scared away or intimidated by engineering, according to Will Pratt, an energy science teacher with the program.

The academy’s programming includes law, policy and even photography. One student years back wanted to get into photography, so they worked with their Anadarko partners to bring with them a staff photographer on a field trips to work the student one-on-one.

“We think that some kids are getting scared away by the engineering label and so we’re trying to broaden it and flatten that out a little,” Pratt explained at Energy Day. “(We) still serve STEMinterested kids, but (we) also broaden it.”

Energy 360’s Hamil also thinks the conversation around energy can be intimidating because it often gets argumentative when oil and gas come into play. Wind and solar get all the positive attention, even though it’s still largely reliant on the former.

She said she believes people need to talk about all forms of energy equally, because oil and gas is here to stay and wind and solar are on the rise.

“You need to understand the costs and benefits of all forms of energy and I think if we can get people to have a better discussion about all forms of energy and understand it better,” Hamil said, “that will also help people get more interested in having a career in energy.”

More Info » Consumer Energy Education Foundation

The Consumer Energy Education Foundation is a designated charitable organization providing outreach and educational support materials, events, activities, resources, and information about career opportunities in STEM and energy fields and the importance of energy, conservation, and efficiency in our daily lives. Go to http:// consumerenergyfoundation.org/.

» Consumer Energy Alliance

Consumer Energy Alliance is the voice of the energy consumer. The organization provides consumers with sound, unbiased information on U.S. and global energy issues. Its affiliates comprise a range of sectors from the energy industry, academia, small businesses, conservation groups to travel-related industries. Go to https:// consumerenergyalliance.org.

14 ENERGY PIPELINE November 2017

An Anadarko engineer digs through the Augmented Reality Sandbox with a potential STEM student at Energy Day Sept. 23 at East High School in Denver.

Colorado says 430 pipelines failed leak test after explosion

By Dan Elliott • Associated Press

DENVER — Tiny holes or faulty parts could be the reason that about 430 oil or gas pipelines in Colorado failed a leak-detection test after a fatal explosion blamed on gas seeping from a severed line, regulators said Thursday.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said the number of pipelines that failed represents 0.35 percent of the lines tested.

Regulators are checking with energy companies to make sure the problems are fixed, commission spokesman Todd Hartman said.

Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat and former petroleum engineer, said the results show the reason he ordered the inspections. “Given the number of (pipelines) in the state, this is a relatively small figure; however, each failure requires our attention,” he said in a written statement.

State Sen. Matt Jones said the test failures are significant and dangerous.

“This situation would be just as ‘safe’ if the regulators found there are 430 caches of dynamite next to buildings with people in them,” said Jones, a Democrat who represents part of Boulder County. “This is yet another example showing that these oil and gas pipelines have no business being near our children’s schools or our communities’ homes.”

The commission has not said where the pipelines are, but the state

ordered energy companies to test all lines within 1,000 feet of occupied buildings. Companies reported that a total of 120,815 flow lines are within 1,000 feet of occupied buildings, the commission said.

The commission said more than 107,000 pipelines either passed the test or were out of service and have been sealed. The status of another 13,000 pipelines remained unclear, officials said, and they were working with energy companies to get more information.

The pipelines, called flow lines, carry oil, gas or water from wells to storage tanks or other collection equipment. They are usually underground.

The state ordered the tests after an April 17 explosion in Firestone that killed two people, injured one and destroyed a house.

Investigators blamed the explosion on odorless, unrefined natural gas leaking from a severed flow line that was thought to be out of service but was still connected to a well with the valve turned to the on position.

The house was within 200 feet of the gas well, and the line was severed about 10 feet from the house, officials said. Gas seeped into the home’s basement, investigators said.

The Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is rewriting its flow-line regulations because of the Firestone explosion.

November 2017 ENERGY PIPELINE 15

Crude Production Dip First half of the year shows oil production decline — though slight — in Weld County

BY Sharon Dunn • sdunn@greeleytribune.com

Oil production in Weld County in the first half of the year

is down slightly from last year, but industry officials and experts aren’t worried about output just yet.

According to numbers from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, oil production in Weld County dipped 1.5 percent in the first half of the year compared to the same time in 2016. That’s almost shocking in a county that remained relatively unscathed by the oil and gas downturn that encompassed the latter half of 2014 throughout all of 2015.

In fact, Weld’s 2015 oil output was its highest ever in the first half of the year; the full year came out at 109.4 million barrels of oil produced, a solid 34 percent increase over 2014. Full year production last year, however, fell 5 percent last year from 2015, during the industry’s slow climb upward.

Crude prices topped out at $115 a barrel in June 2014, and fell to a low of $30 a barrel in January 2016.

A variety of issues, however, have affected 2017 production: Some

Illustration by Kristy Passard

16 ENERGY PIPELINE November 2017

have theorized that with oil prices continuing to bounce below $50 a barrel, many companies may be holding off on drilling in search of higher prices; many Colorado producers, for example, likely saw a dip in production last spring under a mandatory order to inspect all flow lines from their older, vertical wells in the wake of a home explosion in which a severed gas flow line had leaked.

Still others aren’t worried; 2017 production is just starting to ramp up, said Sarp Ozkan, manager of energy analytics for Drillinginfo, an Austin, Texas, analytics firm with an office in Littleton.

— Sarp Ozkan First, he said, based on his analytics, producers are comfortable at $50 a barrel, which is more sustainable in the long term. Many were betting on $60 oil, but it hasn’t yet materialized.

“We’ve seen now that consistently, whenever we tried to go close to the $55 a barrel range, prices get smacked back down as operators hedge their forward production, and the speculative market has no range to run about that $55,” Ozkan said. “Now, everybody is fine between $45 and $55; $50 is acceptable, and $55 is a boom again. That’s the new normal.”

Rig counts through the year have been rising from some new lows set last year. Ozkan said U.S. rig counts more than doubled from May 2016 to close to 1,000 today. Rig counts in Colorado, however, according to the Baker Hughes Rig Count, have remained stable in the mid 30s since June.

Some companies, such as PDC Energy, plan on adding rigs. PDC reports in its latest presentation that it will return to three rigs in the fourth quarter. PDC’s Wattenberg production in the second quarter was up more than 30 percent from the same time last year, PDC reports.

Through the second quarter, Anadarko ran with six rigs in the DJ Basin, gaining one from the previous year.

Noble has run with two rigs this year, and drilled 29 wells in the second quarter. Long-term goals, according to company presentations were to find a third rig this year, and potential move up to six rigs by 2020.

The point about rising rigs is that they are a lagging indicator. It takes a few months to go from raising a rig to production, Ozkan said.

Rig counts through the year have been rising from some new lows set last year.

“That sort of lag period will also play a role in a sort of declining trajectory that we saw in the beginning” of the year, Ozkan said. “The fruits of those additional rigs will come to bear a little later.”

The Explosion When a house exploded in April in Firestone, killing two men inside and injuring a woman, companies were ordered to inspect flowlines from all of their vertical or legacy wells. That was two months of lost production, but legacy wells also don’t produce much, Ozkan said, and likely do not account for a 1.5 percent production drop.

Still, officials at Anadarko, the largest operator in Weld County, shut in 3,000 wells during the flowline inspection period, which so far has contributed to a drop in sales volumes for the company.

Anadarko Rockies spokeswoman Jennifer Brice reported that company sales volumes for the first half of the year “were slightly below where they were during the first half of the previous year, primarily due to the reduced drilling activity in 2016 in the DJ Basin and also the effects of the shut-in production associated with the (state’s Notice to Operators mandating flowline inspections and repair).

The company plans to bring those wells back on by the end of the year. Brice reports company officials expect an overall year-end increase.

“Our drilling and completions activity has increased through this year, and we expect to show strong growth in our oil volumes as we exit 2017,” Brice wrote in an email response to questions.

ENERGY is your

BUSINESS

The question of DUCs During 2015 and 2016, many companies were drilling wells, but not completing them, holding off for better pricing environments.

DUCs also kept companies within lease timelines to spud wells.

According to the Energy Information Administration, there were 711 drilled but uncompleted wells in August in the Niobrara region, a rise of 16 from July. The region encompasses the northern portion of Colorado and western Wyoming.

Ozkan, however, believes the DUC inventory is largely a passing phase locally. Companies may just be following suit. Whiting Petroleum reported in April, for example, that it was working through 105 DUCs in Weld County.

“We have worked down that DUC inventory, and currently we’re not in a place where we’re trying to build that number up gain,” Ozkan said. “We’re Capex conscious and drill wells (and completing them). I don’t believe there is a holding back pattern in terms of drilling but not completing.”

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Production outlook The smaller companies in the lineup, such as SRC Resources and Extraction Oil and Gas, each are reporting double digit percentage growth through the first half of the year.

That means the countywide production is likely more influenced by the larger drillers, Anadarko, Noble and PDC Energy.

“The bigger guys are going to affect where production goes,” Ozkan said.

He said when he looks at operators’ drilling plans for the year, he sees the potential for year-over-year production growth.

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News Briefs The acquisition consists of approximately 8,300 net acres with current net production of approximately 2,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day, of which approximately 60 percent is crude oil, the release stated. PDC officials estimated the acquisition will add an incremental 240 gross drilling locations, as well as increase the working interests in nearly 60 existing PDC locations, according to the release. Also included are 30 operated drilled uncompleted wells, the release stated.

Closing on both transaction is expected later this year, the release stated.

API: Take the smart approach for electricity grid resiliency, consumers and the U.S. economy PDC Energy pays $210 million for Bayswater acreage in Weld County The third largest oil and gas exploration company operating in Weld County just got a little bigger.

Denver-based PDC Energy in September announced it acquired assets from Denver-based Bayswater Exploration & Production and traded assets with an unnamed company to increase its 95,500-acre stronghold in Weld.

The deal witha Bayswater was for 8,300 acres for $210 million in cash, subject to “post-closing adjustments,” according to a news release. The company also traded 12,100 acres of its northern Weld assets in exchange for 11,700 acres, which does not include wells or facilities, according to company documents. The company it traded with was not named.

Both the acquisition and the acreage trade are located in the core Wattenberg field in Weld and result in two newly consolidated acreage positions known as the Prairie Area, which is in northwestern Weld and the Plains Area, in southcentral Weld, the release stated. PDC anticipates these two new consolidated areas, along with its existing Kersey area, to be the primary focus of its ongoing development efforts, the release stated.

“These strategic business development initiatives offer PDC a great opportunity to not only drill more extended-reach lateral wells but add to our existing inventory of highly economic projects in the Core Wattenberg Field,” President and CEO Bart Brookman said. “As we have experienced first-hand in our Kersey area, there are significant capital and operational efficiencies, reduced surface impacts and incremental value created through consolidated acreage positions.”

18 ENERGY PIPELINE November 2017

WASHINGTON – API in late September urged the Department of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to implement reforms focused on the reliability and resiliency of America’s electricity grid.

“We support efforts to ensure reliability, and we look forward to fully participating in the rulemaking process to come,” said API Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Marty Durbin in the release. “However, as we review the proposal we are concerned the agency has mischaracterized the lessons learned from past weather-related events and appears to suggest that additional regulation is the answer where markets have already proven the ability to greatly benefit consumers and give our electric system the flexibility needed to meet constantly, and often rapidly, changing electricity demands.

“Markets play an important role in determining energy sources because markets reward innovation, spur efficiency, lower prices and work to benefit consumers. Over the last decade, competitive forces in natural gas markets have resulted in the shale gas boom currently providing numerous benefits to the nation, driving down prices for American consumers and further increasing the reliability and resiliency of supply.”

Recently, API highlighted the reliability and resilience of natural gas for power generation as the Department of Energy released its staff report on electricity markets and reliability, according to the release. Total use of natural gas for power generation has experienced a 40 percent increase between 2010 and 2016. Today, natural gas generates 33.8 percent of our nation’s electricity versus 24 percent in 2010. Technological innovation and market forces, without government mandates and subsidies, have allowed natural gas to bring great benefits to consumers – saving households an

estimated $1,337 in energy costs in 2015, the release stated. And the increased use of natural gas for power generation has been a primary driver in reducing carbon emissions in the power sector to near 30-year lows, the release said.

“American consumers, including families and businesses, rely on this affordable and clean-burning fuel to heat their homes, cook food, produce domestic products, and provide electricity,” said Durbin in the release. “We need to be careful that government doesn’t put its thumb on the scale. It’s better to let markets choose, which is what the United States is seeing with the growth of natural gas as the United States’ leading energy source for electricity in 2016.”

API is the only national trade association representing all facets of the oil and natural gas industry, which supports 10.3 million U.S. jobs and nearly 8 percent of the U.S. economy.

Chaparral Energy and Bayou City Energy announce STACK Drilling Joint Venture OKLAHOMA CITY — Chaparral Energy, Inc. and Bayou City Energy have formed a drilling joint venture between their affiliates to fund further development of Chaparral’s 110,000-acre STACK position.

“We are pleased to announce our partnership with Bayou City, whose significant investment experience and success in the STACK is a further testament to the value and potential of

Chaparral’s Garfield and Canadian County assets,” said Chaparral Chief Executive Officer Earl Reynolds, in a news release. “Their flexible E&P investment platform and ability to execute on unique, operator-friendly transaction structures will allow us to accelerate our STACK development plans in both Canadian and Garfield counties, while maintaining our low-cost structure and corporate balance sheet.”

Under the Joint Development Agreement, Bayou will fund 100 percent of the drilling, completion and equipping costs associated with 30 joint venture STACK wells, subject to average well cost caps that vary by well-type across location and targeted formations, resulting in a maximum capital commitment of approximately $100 million for the first tranche. The first tranche of JDA wells, which will be drilled and operated by Chaparral, include 17 wells in Canadian County and 13 wells in Garfield County, with the ability to expand the partnership to drill additional tranches in the future.

In exchange for funding, Bayou will receive wellbore-only interest in each well, totaling an 85 percent working interest until the program reaches a 14 percent internal rate of return, the release stated. Once achieved, ownership interest in all wells will revert such that Chaparral will own a 75 percent working interest and Bayou will retain a 25 percent working interest of Chaparral’s leasehold interest in each well, the release stated.

Chaparral will retain all acreage and reserves outside of the wellbore, with both parties paying lease operating expenses based on relative ownership interests.

Drilling has already commenced on the first joint venture well.

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Making hole

Rigs to Reef program creates crucial marine habitats

BY BRUCE WELLS • for energy pipeline

Hundreds of former oil and gas platforms have been converted to permanent artificial reefs in the Gulf of Mexico.

Offshore petroleum platforms act as artificial reefs, creating ideal marine habitats. Beginning with an Exxon experimental subsea structure in 1979, the “Rigs to Reefs” program has created the largest artificial reef habitat in the world.

Congress passed the National Fishing Enhancement Act in 1984, “because of increased interest and participation in fishing at offshore oil and gas platforms and widespread support for effective artificial reef development by coastal states,” explains to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). This led

20 ENERGY PIPELINE November 2017

to development of a National Artificial Reef Plan the next year.

According to the Energy Information Administration, Gulf of Mexico federal offshore oil production accounted for 17 percent of total U.S. oil production and 5 percent of natural gas production in 2016.

Although active drilling rigs in the Gulf have declined since the drop in oil prices in mid-2014, more than 4,500 petroleum platforms operate daily in offshore waters, the agency reports. Rigs to Reefs helps ensure offshore oil and natural production benefits both the U.S. economy and the marine environment.

A Coastal Marine Institute study found that a single eight-leg offshore structure provides a home for 12,000 to 14,000 fish. BSEE has concluded that “a typical four-pile platform provides almost three acres of living and feeding habitat for thousands of species.”

Rigs to Reefs developed as an official policy in the mid-1980s, but the concept was first explored several years earlier. The industry-government partnership became a Gulf of Mexico success story, notes BSEE, an agency created in 2010 from the now defunct Minerals Management Service.

The National Artificial Reef Plan led to development of government-endorsed artificial reef projects. The first planned conversion took place in 1979 with the re-location of an Exxon experimental subsea structure from offshore Louisiana to an artificial reef site off Apalachicola, Fla. Federal policies soon encouraged reuse of obsolete offshore oil and gas structures, after compliance with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers standards and criteria in the National Artificial Reef Plan. States were invited to plan, construct and manage artificial reefs.

By July 1, 2015, a total of 470 platforms had been converted to permanent artificial reefs in the Gulf. Whether placed as an artificial reef or a working (producing petroleum) structure, they were found to increase the algae and inverte-

Bruce wells, is the founder of American Oil and Gas Historical Society, a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the history of oil and gas. He is a former energy reporter and editor who lives in Washington, D.C.

brates that attract and significantly increase the numbers and species of fish.

Prior to Rigs to Reefs, when an offshore structure became obsolete, it typically was removed from the environment, taking away the habitat it had created and disrupting those organisms residing at the site. To prevent this, the program has allowed companies to choose to donate the reef to a coastal state – using one of three methods: tow-and-place, topple-in-place, or partial removal.

The program benefits petroleum platform owners by eliminating the high cost of transporting the structure for disposal, explains BSEE. States benefit as the platform develops into an area that enhances commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, and the biological community. States also benefit through cost sharing with industry. Typically, a petroleum company donates half of its savings to state coffers.

Studies have found fish densities at platforms to be 20 to 50 times higher than in open water. Platforms also are home to many other forms of sea life; barnacles and mussels dwell on the hard surfaces, and sea turtles are often found close by. Scientists say the result is a complex food chain formed in environments that did not before have the characteristics to support a natural reef community.

Put more simply, today about 75 percent of all recreational fishing trips in Louisiana visit one or more rig sites ... for the excellent fishing. Learn more petroleum history at AOGHS.org.

A

Companies can use tow-and-place, topple-in-place, or partial removal for old rigs.

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jneufeld@remax.net | www.jimn.commercialincolorado.com The open design of offshore platforms attract marine species.

Photos courtesy Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

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Tech Talk

Could we someday see waterless fracking by use of rocket fuel?

BY gary beers • For eneRGY PIPELINE

The dawn of fracking wells to stimulate oil/gas production began in the mid-1880s, when liquid nitroglycerin/ dynamite was placed into a metal cannister, lowered into the well and detonated. This risky approach to fracking a well was replaced in the late 1940s, when hydraulic fracking emerged as the preferred and safer practice (Shooters – A Fracking History, Oil and Gas Natural History, 2017).

During the past 50 years, the widespread use of hydraulic fracking – while highly effective – has highlighted undesirable environmental side effects, such as use of large volumes of freshwater, subsequent generation of flowback water, deployment of heavy equipment at the site, extensive local tanker-truck traffic to move liquids and soilds to and from the site, and suspicion of indirect contributions to causes of nearby earthquakes.

Given these undesirable environmental side effects, there has been strong interest in identifying and evaluation alternate fracking methods that do not use water.

One direction for the development of waterless fracking emphasizes the use of liquefied gases. In the Dec., 26, 2014 issue of The Energy Pipeline, a column addressed this technique (Dry Fracking Could Be A Game Changer). For the layman, a good introduction is an article from Inside Climate News ( New Waterless Fracking Method Avoids Pollution Problems, But Drillers Slow to Embrace It, November 2011). Numerous other reports on this technology are available, especially reports related to GasFrac Energy Services.

Another direction empahsizes a second look at the initial fracking method – explosives. Starting in late 1967, controlled atomic explosions (Gasbuggy Program) were tested for fracking in New Mexico and Colorado. These test programs detonated downhole (about 4,300 feet) nuclear devices that were approximately twice as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb. This approach was discontinued in 1975 due to economic and environmental concerns (Project Gasbuggy Tests Nuclear Fracking, Oil and Gas Natural History, 2017).

UPDATED APPROACH TO EXPLOSIVE FRACKING

In 2017, a start-up Canadian company (RocketFrac Services) launched testing of using a properietary solid, rocket fuel mixture as a propellant fracking mechanism (Startup Aims to Advance Rocket Fuel Technology for Fracturing, Society of Petroluem Engineers, September 2017). The underlying technology was developed during the past 50 years by a leading developer of high-performance propellants for the aerospace industry (Propellant-based Well Stimulation, Orbital ATK, 2017). This technology has been tested by the Sandia National Laboratory and others to frac over 600 wells in the past three

22 ENERGY PIPELINE November 2017

decades, resulting in an average 225 percent increase in hydrocarbon recovery (Waterless Fracturing Technology, RocketFrac Services, 2017).

This green fracking is very attractive and should provide many advantages over hydraulic fracking (Figure 1). Obviously, this waterless approach offers minimal environmental impacts, especially minimal use of water, no injection of fracking chemicals, and no releases of backflow. Detailed information on the costs of utilizing this green technology and effectiveness of fracking has not been released to the public.

SOLID-ROCKET FUEL PROPELLANT FRACKING

The process is simple and does not require imported water or a proppant such as sand (Startup Aims to Advance Rocket Fuel Technology for Fracturing, Society of Petroluem Engineers, September 2017). A long cylinderical tube (PSI-Clone tool, RocketFrac Services) is loaded with a block of the solid, proprietary propellant, deployed down the well using a single coiled tubing unit, and it is ignited. The propellant explosion releases high-pressure gas and creates enough pressure to produce fractures at targeted sites along the well bore. The tool can be strung together to simultaneously treat several zones. Also, the tool is reusable and can be reloaded.

The solid rocket fuel is safe to transport (in a single truck), requires no special handling, and has no potential for spill of costly cleanups. The supporting equipment setup can be quickly and easily assembled on-site, even in the most remote and arid locations.

While this waterless fracking method offers promise, public information on costs and on effectiveness of fracking has not been released.

Another concern is the willingness of oil/gas companies to consider this waterless approach as a possible replacement for the wellestablished water fracking approach and run tests at several wells.

For over 50 years, Gary beers, has worked in numerous fields of environmental science as a consultant, regulator and educator. This career included senior management position with major consulting, nonprofit and public organizations. He has founded several successful firms to capture emerging resource management markets. One of his latest ventures, EnviroScienceINFO, provides content for public media.

DATA CENTER

The oil and gas industry is a large part of Colorado’s economy. Below, find statistics on drilling production, well permits and rig counts.

2017 Drilling permits

Rig Count

by State

County

No. (% of State total)

Weld Garfield

1,547 (62.4%) 381 (15.4%)

Mesa 132 (5.3%) Sept. Avg. Aug. Avg. July Avg. Colorado 34 35 37 36 Louisiana 65 65 66 69 Adams 111 (4.5%) Oklahoma 124 130 131 136 New Mexico 69 67 61 59 La Plata 80 (3.2%) North Dakota 51 51 52 52 Texas 444 453 460 463 Rio Blanco 34 (1.4%) California 14 16 15 11 Alaska 6 5 5 8 State: 2,479 Ohio 29 29 28 27 Pennsylvania 32 33 33 34 Source: Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission as of Sept. 1, 2017.

Wyoming 23 25 26 25 25 US Rig Count State Oct. 13

Source: Baker Hughes Rig Count, Oct. 13.

2016 Gas Production

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and previously bottomed at 404 in May 2016.

Area Oct 13 Sept. Avg. Aug. Avg. July Avg. U.S. 932 940 949 952 Canada 211 210 220 175 — Source: Baker Hughes Rig Count, Oct. 13.

COUNTY *YTD.................................. ‘17 PRODUCTION Weld...................423,338,420 (38.7%) Garfield...............296,994,310 (27.2%) La Plata..............194,113,727 (17.7%) Las Animas..............41,895,033 (3.8%) Rio Blanco...............35,162,773 (3.2%) Mesa.......................26,874,453 (2.5%) State................................... 1,093,247,726

2017 Oil

Production County *YTD

‘17 production

Weld 67,643,018 (90%) Rio Blanco 2,480,240 (3.3%) Garfield 974,042 (1.3%) Cheyenne 731,090 (0.97%) Arapahoe 533,726 (0.71%) Jackson 520,201 (0.69%) Lincoln 519,292 (0.69%) Larimer 461,478 (0.61%) Adams 355,546 (0.47%) State 75,217,905 Source: Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission as of Oct. 18.

Source: Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission as of Oct. 18.

Colorado Active Well Count

Weld...........................................................................23,659 Garfield......................................................................11,389 Yuma............................................................................3,875 LaPlata........................................................................3,333 Las Animas..................................................................2,934

Rio Blanco....................................................................2,888 Adams.............................................................................965 Boulder ..........................................................................310 Larimer...........................................................................276 State..........................................................................54,814

Source: Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission as of Oct. 18.

November 2017 ENERGY PIPELINE 23

The power of potential.

Through technology backed by expert consultation and services, we help our customers realize their production potential.

zedisolutions.com 24 ENERGY PIPELINE November 2017