Betting on profits
‘Fracing’ technology a key to local gas explorationBy DAVID THOMPSON dthompson@sungazette.com
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Dallas-based Chief Oil and Gas LLC recently completed a gas well in Watson Township, north of Avis. For the last two weeks, the company has been working around the clock drilling a second well in Mifflin Township, just west of Salladasburg, off Route 973. Once completed, the well will extend 1 1/2-miles into the ground.
The company, which until now has drilled exclusively in north Texas, is willing to invest in the wells because it believes gas exists in Lycoming County, Chief Oil and Gas LLC operations manager Mike Hallford said Monday while conducting a tour of the Mifflin Township gas drilling rig.
“We believe there is (gas),” Hallford said.
“Knowing it’s there is only half the battle,” said Kristi Gittins, company head of corporate communications. “Figuring out how to get it out is the other half.”
Without a new technology known as “fracing” — gas drilling terminology for “fracturing” — the gas could not be extracted, Gittins said.
Fracing is a method in which a pressurized mixture of water and sand are pumped into the ground to create fissures in the rock that allow the gas to flow to the well.
According to Hallford, fracing “hydraulically ‘rubble-izes’ the rock and releases the gas.”
The company’s strategy for fracing will be determined by analyzing core samples of shale located underneath the ground, Hallford said.
On Monday, cylindrical samples of shale were removed from the well bore and cut into sections to be sent to Utah for geological analysis.
Samples are bored out with a coring tool, then removed from the ground in long aluminum canisters marked to show the depth from which they were taken.
Workers then use power saws to cut the tubes into sections so they can be transported and analyzed.
The analysis will give the company an idea of the fracing techniques to use to release the gas, Gittins said.
Taking a core sample is not a normal part of of the drilling process, Hallford said.
The process is an expensive but necessary procedure, especially when the company enters a new area, he said. About 360 feet of rock will be analyzed, he said.
“We want to see exactly what the (shale) feels, looks, acts and talks like,” Gittins said.
Drilling is performed by a 1,000 horsepower drilling rig that can lift and rotate up to 250 tons of steel pipe, Roberts said. The drilling pipe is lengthened by adding 60-foot sections of pipe, which are screwed onto the main drilling pipe by workmen standing on a platform 30 or 40 feet above the ground.
Clamps hold the main pipe in place while each new section is added.
According to drilling supervisor David Roberts, it takes about two weeks to drill a well. Because of the coring process, it will take several days longer to complete the well, he said.
“We’ve been here 14 days and will probably be here another four a five days,” Roberts said. “Coring is a slow process, so it takes longer than in normally would.”
“Every once in a while they’ll core to gather information,” Roberts said. “This is a new area they’re drilling in.”
The techniques used in Texas to remove gas from shale will be used in Lycoming County, Gittins said.
“It’s yet to be seen if that (technique) will work here,” she said. “We’re a ways from proving that (the well) is a successful venture.”
Earle D. Robbins, director of the Penn State Cooperative Extension in Tioga County, said he expects “many more” gas wells to be drilled in northcentral Pennsylvania.
There has been a drastic increase in the amount landowners are being paid for leasing their land for gas exploration, Robbins said.
“Five or six years ago, it was $2 to $3 an acre for a five-year lease,” he said. “Now we are seeing (gas leases) for $250 to $300 an acre.”
Robbins said it is interesting that companies that have otherwise shown no interest in the eastern part of the United States are now focusing on this part of the state.
The company doing much of the drilling in Tioga County has drilled in two other places only — the state of Wyoming and China, Robbins said.
Chief Oil and Gas LLC has worked exclusively in gas fields in north Texas, Gittins said.
“Two years ago, there was no interest at all in (gas drilling),” Robbins said. “Now, we are seeing all kinds of activity.”
So far, three gas wells are being drilled in the county, Lycoming County cooperative extension educator Thomas Murphy said.
Four wells have been permitted by the state Department of Environmental Protection, he said.
“Speaking with company representatives, they’ve indicated they want to complete drilling by the end of the year,” he said.
