50,000-ton frac sand facility opens in Wisconsin
Source Energy Services – a Calgary, Alberta-based company – has opened a frac sand production, storage and railcar loading facility in Weyerhaeuser, Wis., company officials announced on May 30.
The facility can store over 50,000 tons of sand and has the ability to load more than 100 railcars in a 24-hour time frame. The facility will receive sand from Source’s mine and sand processing facility located nearby in the Town of Sumner. Together, the plants are designed to produce and ship over 2 million tons of the highest quality northern white frac sand annually.
The trains will utilize Canadian National’s rail network, allowing sand to be shipped across America or to the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. The first train of over 90 railcars departed Weyerhaeuser for the oilfields of Western Canada after the opening ceremony on May 30.
Study finds Bakken crude similar to other light crudes
A study commissioned by the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC) revealed that Bakken crude oil is similar to other North American light, sweet grades and does not pose a greater rail transportation risk than other transportation fuels.
The study, which was conducted by Turner, Mason & Co., a Dallas consulting engineering firm, showed that Bakken crude is consistent throughout the basin with only minor geographic variability in gravity.
This study reached similar conclusions to one commissioned by the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and is also consistent with test results from nearly 250 crude oil samples that American Petroleum Institute (API) members have shared with the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The study for NDPC shows that Bakken crude has an average API gravity of 41 degrees, similar to other light crudes; an average vapor pressure of 11.5 to 11.8 psi, which is 61 percent below the vapor pressure threshold limit for liquids; a flashpoint of less than 73 degrees, which is within normal range; an average initial boiling point near 99.6 degrees, which is within normal range; and an average sulfur weight of 0.14, which indicates it has low corrosivity.
The findings confirm that Bakken crude has been and continues to be properly classified under current regulations as a Hazard Class 3 Flammable Liquid, Packing Group I or II.
Citadel Energy announces acquisition of freshwater wells
Citadel Energy Services LLC announced May 8 that it has acquired five commercial freshwater wells in McKenzie County, N.D.
All five of the freshwater wells are located in one of the busiest oil drilling counties in the Bakken and will add to the company’s existing water supply available to oil and gas companies in the region.
The company, headquartered in Los Angeles, has seven saltwater disposal facilities under development, with the first set to become operational this month outside Watford City, N.D.
Citadel Energy provides a range of fluid management services to America’s oil and gas producers including the safe, controlled disposal of flowback and produced water, while also providing freshwater sources in certain high activity drilling areas.
Buckhorn Energy purchases NORM disposal facility
Buckhorn Energy Services LLC has acquired a unique landfill operation near Lindsay, Mont., capable of disposing of solid oilfield waste from the Williston Basin.
Terms of the deal between Buckhorn and Oaks Disposal Services LLC were not disclosed in a press release from Buckhorn.
The landfill opened in 2013 and is permitted to dispose of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), filter socks and other solid oilfield waste. The facility is the only one of its kind permitted to dispose of NORM.
Ross Oakland, owner and developer of Oaks Disposal Services LLC, will work with the Buckhorn team, according to the company.
Permian Basin leads country in horizontal drilling
New numbers show the Permian Basin continues to lead the country’s boom in horizontal drilling.
According to data by Baker Hughes, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says the number of horizontal oil rigs in the Permian Basin’s West Texas and southeastern New Mexico fields rose by 63 rigs in the first five months of the year, representing 50 percent of the total increase in the U.S.
Of those rigs, 80 percent were in the West Texas counties of Reeves, Ward, Martin and Midland, as well as New Mexico’s Eddy County.
During the first quarter of 2014, the increase in horizontal rigs in the Permian Basin was more than four times the combined increase in South Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale and the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana.
North Dakota cracking down on flaring
North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple told a large crowd at an oil industry conference in May that North Dakota would no longer allow flaring of natural gas from oil wells in the Bakken region for longer than a year.
Dalrymple said North Dakota law allows flaring for one year after production at an oil well begins. After that period, the company must either seek an exemption to continue flaring or install equipment to capture the gas. In the past, North Dakota has routinely granted exemptions to the flaring limit.
The state will require oil companies to present a gas capturing plan for each new well drilled in North Dakota, setting out how they will gather or use natural gas one year after production.
