Flowback

The decline in U.S. unconventional natural gas drilling this year may create an unintended consequence: reducing the amount of flowback water that operators reuse at well sites.

The decrease in drilling expected in the Marcellus Shale this year could have an unexpected consequence: reducing the amount of flowback water that operators reuse at well sites.

Purestream Technology has contracted with Whiting Oil and Gas Corp. to deploy its Avara System, which can process up to 2,000 bbls of flowback water daily, for a water treatment project in Mountrail County, ND, to support Whiting’s operations in the Williston Basin. The clean finished water will be returned for continued use in hydraulic fracturing. The Avara system was developed in partnership with Utah State University’s Energy and Space Dynamics Labs.

El Paso Corp. and Spectra Energy Corp. said their Marcellus Ethane Pipeline System (MEPS) (see Shale Daily, Oct. 26, 2010) is holding a 30-day binding open season for shippers that desire ethane transportation service from West Virginia and Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale supply areas to destination interconnect points with third-party ethane pipelines or storage facilities in the Gulf Coast area. The MEPS project is being designed to transport up to 90,000 b/d and has an anticipated in-service date of 4Q 2014. The open season will close at 5 p.m. EDT on July 27. For more information visit www.elpaso.com/midstream.

Trans Energy Inc. has begun drilling the Lucey #1H well, its seventh horizontal Marcellus Shale well in Marshall County, WV, the company said. The drilling of the Keaton #1H well, which was begun by the independent exploration and production company in November (see Shale Daily, Nov. 23, 2010), has been completed. St. Marys, WV-based Trans Energy said it completed the 11-stage hydraulic fracture (frack) of Stout #2H in Marshall County last week and this week will begin the process of drilling out the frack plugs; fracking is scheduled in March for Keaton #1H and in February for Groves #1H, the company said. Trans Energy is moving to a development phase from an exploration phase as it develops its acreage position in northern West Virginia.