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Local Wells
Last Friday we spent some time at the West Virginia Department of environmental Protection, Oil and Gas Division office in Kanawha City, just south of the river from Charleston, the capitol. Earlier, I’d gotten information about local wells from the DEP’s website which has a wealth of material available for download or view online.
Every well in the country -- oil or gas, coal methane or storage, has an API number which is made up of three components. The existing well we complained about has the number 47-039-02026. The first two digits represent the state (47 is West Virginia). The next group of three digits represents the county (039 is Kanawha county, 079 is Putnam county next door). The final group of digits is the number peculiar to that well.
On the DEP website, I’d found wells operated by the company within a mile of 39-02026 (you can do it here entering that number).
At Oil and Gas they printed out information from their in-house database on three wells in Putnam county and three in Kanawha county (39-02026 is one). The information included when drilled and by whom, producing formation(s), data on fracturing, and a well log showing depth of various formations.
The oldest well is 79-00290, drilled in 1944 and still producing. It’s about 2,000 feet deep, to the Big Lime formation. 39-02026 is the next oldest, drilled in 1964/5 during the winter. It’s deeper and the producing formation is the Oriskany at about 5,100 feet. When they drilled the well they went through an old coal mine about 400 feet below the surface.
The last four wells were drilled in 1996, 2001/2, 2005 and 2006. I think the pattern shown by the six wells is fairly representative. Gas “exploration” (that’s a cute word, bringing to mind Victorians in pith helmets stumbling about in equatorial Africa) isn’t new to West Virginia, but the last decade has seen a tremendous increase in the number of wells drilled.
The 1996 is a storage well at 2,200 feet, and the other three are producing wells at 5,700, 5,000 and 4,500 feet. In West Virginia a well is classified as deep not by how deep it is, but how far into the Onadonga formation it goes. More than twenty feet and then it is considered a deep well. Two of these last three wells meet that criterion, though only one is called a deep well. The most important gas formation is the Marcellus Shale, which covers most of West Virginia and parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, and it occurs just before the Onadonga. Deep wells can’t be closer than 1,000 feet to each other, the only well spacing requirement that I know of for this state. That seems close, but in California wells can be spaced an acre apart -- pretty much on top of each other. Well spacing is an important issue the industry doesn’t want us thinking about.
There are two kinds of gas wells, conventional or nonconventional. A conventional well is drilled into a gas-filled dome or cavern. A nonconventional well is drilled into a gas-bearing sand or shale (like the Marcellus). In order to get gas from such a tight formation the well is fractured, creating veins that gas can flow through. All the local wells and to the best of my knowledge all West Virginia gas wells are nonconventional.
Fracturing is a complex process that I won’t try to describe in detail. For our well a nitrogen foam fracture process will be used where a chemical reaction will be created underground that will exert an extraordinary amount of pressure. Besides the chemicals used, there will be large amounts of water and sand used. Well 39-05703, drilled in 2006, used 90,000 pounds of sand in one fracture -- poured under high pressure down the well casing into the voids created by the fracture. The sand enters the fracture’s veins to keep them open while at the same time letting the gas flow through.
Two things to remember. The oil and gas industry and the chemicals they use are exempt from EPA oversight, in spite of the fact that some of the chemicals are extremely toxic. Also remember that the well is drilled not only through barren rock but also through water, usually at several locations, and, because of this, there is always the danger of contamination of a local or a regional water supply. Fracturing makes contamination a lot more likely.
After a gas well was drilled and fractured on the ridge across from us, the head of the hollow was filled with a sulfur smell and neighbors (who are renters and probably beyond the 1,000 foot limit the state shows concern for) found their well water was undrinkable.
Here are some links on the Earthworks website:
Information about Marcellus Shale
Information about the chemicals used by the oil and gas industry and drinking water
Firsthand accounts of what can happen when things go bad with a well fracture and other matters related to oil and gas.
Here is the DEP website and the Division of Oil and Gas
Database about oil and gas company violations
Downloadable file (which can be read in Excel) of new permits in last 60 days
Maps showing well locations and other information
Every well in the country -- oil or gas, coal methane or storage, has an API number which is made up of three components. The existing well we complained about has the number 47-039-02026. The first two digits represent the state (47 is West Virginia). The next group of three digits represents the county (039 is Kanawha county, 079 is Putnam county next door). The final group of digits is the number peculiar to that well.
On the DEP website, I’d found wells operated by the company within a mile of 39-02026 (you can do it here entering that number).
At Oil and Gas they printed out information from their in-house database on three wells in Putnam county and three in Kanawha county (39-02026 is one). The information included when drilled and by whom, producing formation(s), data on fracturing, and a well log showing depth of various formations.
The oldest well is 79-00290, drilled in 1944 and still producing. It’s about 2,000 feet deep, to the Big Lime formation. 39-02026 is the next oldest, drilled in 1964/5 during the winter. It’s deeper and the producing formation is the Oriskany at about 5,100 feet. When they drilled the well they went through an old coal mine about 400 feet below the surface.
The last four wells were drilled in 1996, 2001/2, 2005 and 2006. I think the pattern shown by the six wells is fairly representative. Gas “exploration” (that’s a cute word, bringing to mind Victorians in pith helmets stumbling about in equatorial Africa) isn’t new to West Virginia, but the last decade has seen a tremendous increase in the number of wells drilled.
The 1996 is a storage well at 2,200 feet, and the other three are producing wells at 5,700, 5,000 and 4,500 feet. In West Virginia a well is classified as deep not by how deep it is, but how far into the Onadonga formation it goes. More than twenty feet and then it is considered a deep well. Two of these last three wells meet that criterion, though only one is called a deep well. The most important gas formation is the Marcellus Shale, which covers most of West Virginia and parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, and it occurs just before the Onadonga. Deep wells can’t be closer than 1,000 feet to each other, the only well spacing requirement that I know of for this state. That seems close, but in California wells can be spaced an acre apart -- pretty much on top of each other. Well spacing is an important issue the industry doesn’t want us thinking about.
There are two kinds of gas wells, conventional or nonconventional. A conventional well is drilled into a gas-filled dome or cavern. A nonconventional well is drilled into a gas-bearing sand or shale (like the Marcellus). In order to get gas from such a tight formation the well is fractured, creating veins that gas can flow through. All the local wells and to the best of my knowledge all West Virginia gas wells are nonconventional.
Fracturing is a complex process that I won’t try to describe in detail. For our well a nitrogen foam fracture process will be used where a chemical reaction will be created underground that will exert an extraordinary amount of pressure. Besides the chemicals used, there will be large amounts of water and sand used. Well 39-05703, drilled in 2006, used 90,000 pounds of sand in one fracture -- poured under high pressure down the well casing into the voids created by the fracture. The sand enters the fracture’s veins to keep them open while at the same time letting the gas flow through.
Two things to remember. The oil and gas industry and the chemicals they use are exempt from EPA oversight, in spite of the fact that some of the chemicals are extremely toxic. Also remember that the well is drilled not only through barren rock but also through water, usually at several locations, and, because of this, there is always the danger of contamination of a local or a regional water supply. Fracturing makes contamination a lot more likely.
After a gas well was drilled and fractured on the ridge across from us, the head of the hollow was filled with a sulfur smell and neighbors (who are renters and probably beyond the 1,000 foot limit the state shows concern for) found their well water was undrinkable.
Here are some links on the Earthworks website:
Information about Marcellus Shale
Information about the chemicals used by the oil and gas industry and drinking water
Firsthand accounts of what can happen when things go bad with a well fracture and other matters related to oil and gas.
Here is the DEP website and the Division of Oil and Gas
Database about oil and gas company violations
Downloadable file (which can be read in Excel) of new permits in last 60 days
Maps showing well locations and other information
I think it is possible, with care and caution, to drill and complete a well environmentally. The fact that it isn't done so, here or elsewhere, is a sad testimony to the industry's power and shortsightedness. Putting one's foot down doesn't stop change, it just means one might get run over when it happens.
Thanks!
George