At most about 1 GPM of full concentrated solution gets added to a flow rate of 45 barrels per minute plus the 3 - 5 pounds of sand the is going into each gallon of water.

Liquid solution is usually kept under 500 PPM biocide on average which BTW given the flow rates and sand volumes means we are pumping around 3 - 5 tons of sand through the systems every minute!

 

It means what I said, 100ppm = 100g per 1000L which is roughly 1000kg as you noted.

Ah, I miscounted the zeros in the datasheet.

 

Is that you standing there? It's big and burning brightly!

 

The brighter spot just up from the bottom right corner is about where I am at.

 

Are there any other bright spots other than your paycheck ,what do you do to keep from

getting bored on a friday night.

 

Are there any other bright spots other than your paycheck ,what do you do to keep from

getting bored on a friday night.

I used to live in NoDak. The answer is... drink.
We drank so much on Friday nights that Saturdays were a time to sleep (that way we didn't need to find something to do on Saturdays). Absolutely nothing to do on Sundays - the Blue Laws kept all (both) of the stores closed. Only groceries and gas were open on Sundays. I guess it was the only place I lived where I actually knew (and liked) my neighbors. That kind of thing happens when there is nothing better to do.

 

Now that I am no my next set of six days off I have some more time to elaborate on our equipment some more.

Going in line from the Hydration unit the next big machine is the blender.

The blender for the most part just mixes the proppants (sands, ceramic beads, and whatnot) with the gel slurry that the hydration machine is making.

Really all it does is measure the incoming flow rate of fluid and try to keep a steady mix of proppant being added.

That said when adding the proppant we are working with volumes rates of around .5 - 5 pounds per gallon of fluid being pumped of which as you may recall can be at flow rates up over 50 BBls ( ~2100 GPM) meaning that at the upper end of things the blender unit is mixing something like 5 tons of proppant per minute into 2100 gallons of fluid!

Now numbers Vs physical references figure that your average semi truck that hauls gravel down the road for construction projects is carrying about 20 tons of material so we are burning through a truckload of proppant in about 4 minutes at the high end rates.

Most of the time we are running fairly light mixes of .5 - 1.5 pound sand at flow rates of 5 - 45 BBls minute so we are not burning through truckloads quite so fast.

Relating to the proppants we store then in large portable hopper units called sand hogs of which each holds around 200 tons at full capacity. They are multi hopper bins that have a large conveyor belt underneath them that carries the proppants from their bins to the blender or to a second belt unit that lets multiple sand hogs feed a single blender.

All of the proppants are transferred from the trucks to the sand hogs using large air blower systems and 4" lines.

When we are fraccing a well and running at the upper end of things we have a semi load of proppant being brought in and unloaded about once every 5 - 6 minutes.
Same with the water usage. A typical freshwater haul truck brings in about 120 - 140 BBl's a load and we are burning through them at a rate of one load every 3 or so minutes hence the need for having a large volume of water and sand on site before we ever start an actual job.

 

Now relating to the bright spots of fracc work.

A lot of times we run into well related problems that can force us to shut down for hours to even days at a time while a second company sets up to repair it if its a problem we can not fix ourselves.

Given that we have paid on site downtime of which initially we use the time to do preventive maintenance and related service work to the equipment. After that we clean things up a bit then its movie time!

Well some of us watch movies and other 'cab up' which means getting into one of the trucks on site that has a sleep er and taking a good long nap while on the clock.

BTW our datavan has one big 65" HD monitor, a fair sound system, great air conditioning, a small kitchen of sorts, comfy chairs for at least 10 or more people, satellite internet local Wifi and phone service.

Now as the on shift electronics technician it tends to fall on my duty to make sure the big screen, sound and satellite linked systems are in peak working condition at all times.

As cool as satellite internet sounds it sort of sucks. to be honest the delay times on everything are 2 - 3 seconds and the up /down rates rarely ever passes 500 Kb/s which means that we either have to run the movies off of hard drives or hotspot someones phone to get any decent video feed rates.

 

tcmtech,
What's the latest? The stock market guys are predicting doom and gloom with $50 oil. Should I buy or sell.

 

I was wondering the same thing. For many months I've been hearing the figure $51/bbl as the price threshold at which all the expansion in the U.S. becomes unprofitable. Now, even if true, a transient dip below that isn't going to collapse the industry, but I'm still always skeptical of those proclamations because they are based on tons of assumptions that seldom take into account market reactions and adjustments. So now that we are noticeably below that price point and the indications appear to be that we might be there for a while, it would be interesting to hear what the temper is within the industry.

 

Is this too political?

The usual oil producers are trying to lower the price of oil just long enough to crash the American investment in energy production?

 

Is this too political?

The usual oil producers are trying to lower the price of oil just long enough to crash the American investment in energy production?

I think there are other factors at play, such as the increase in American production reducing demand for other producers who are then unable to come to binding agreement on their own production levels because many of them need to produce even more in order to offset the lower prices because of the degree to which their economies are oil revenues -- but of course this only drives the price down further. Still, if the end result is that it results in a scaling back of American production, this would be good from their view point. But even if that happens, once the price goes back up enough to make things profitable the production will ramp back up. Eventually things will stabilize (as much as oil prices can ever be said to stabilize) but I suspect it will stabilize at a lower price, in real terms, for quite some time to come.

 

Still drilling still fraccing and still hiring people here. That what I see on the inside.

I don't think the big players are falling for it this time. They may cut back some but for the most part investing in our own resources pays in the end. Playing the other guys games don't.

The other aspect of it is our oil industry has a lot of backing from our own state of which has money to spare, unlike the rest of the country, so given that even if things keep going down our local government will back things up. Locally we don't play the same games the rest of the country does and it has paid well for us.

Stock wise I am rather hoping my companies stock falls even further so I can buy in cheap. I hate paying more than $1 a share for stocks.

 

Is this too political?

The usual oil producers are trying to lower the price of oil just long enough to crash the American investment in energy production?

It has happened in the rare earth metals, The market was flooded with foreign material and, as soon as the last American mine was closed, the supply was tightened by a foreign government mandate. Then, as soon as investment to reopen American mines started, the supply opened again and prices fell. I don't think the American mines ever reopened.

 

I don't think the big players are falling for it this time. They may cut back some but for the most part investing in our own resources pays in the end. Playing the other guys games don't.

Finally! It has only been 40 years since I was standing in line, waiting for a gas pump, and 40 years of making other countries filthy rich with U.S. dollars. With response time as fast as this, it's no surprise that several other countries are beating us at our own game (technology and manufacturing).

 

Nothing will stop this boom. Much profit can be made at $50 oil from the sands. And even lower.
These nut numbers per barrel is for public and media consumption.

This fall in price will make the industry much stronger and less effected by market price.

It culls the herd and improves efficiency.

Shale, sands, and fracking doesn't have the high start up it use to have.

Once an industry gets established....like these have, our efficiency will kill the competition.

And within a few years, even NY will allow fracking.

Liberal governments can not ignore money that is easy to tax.

And with oil..........we simply out bid the greenies.

I certainly wouldn't want to invest in alterative energy.

 

I am a bit mixed on the AE stuff. Where I live wind power works and is cost effective to invest in which as far as I am concerned because of that they should put a wind turbine on every oil well pad alongside a huge natrual gas gen set powered by the oil gases as well!

I think of it as a trifecta of energy production and regulations confusion.

But thats just me.

 

There's no guarantee that NY will be seduced by big oil money. Florida has had a ban on offshore drilling for decades while other Gulf states are cashing in on offshore drilling. When LA's coast was hammered with a gigantic oil slick, Florida's waters remained pristine.

 

I am a bit mixed on the AE stuff. Where I live wind power works and is cost effective to invest in which as far as I am concerned because of that they should put a wind turbine on every oil well pad alongside a huge natrual gas gen set powered by the oil gases as well!

I think of it as a trifecta of energy production and regulations confusion.

But thats just me.

I have no problem with AE as long as it is done sensibly and stands on its own two feet. I don't mind government funding research in it, but I am opposed to government providing huge subsidies to it (and the same applies to oil or anything else) it and when that still doesn't make it economical then passing (mostly at state and local levels) all kinds of laws mandating that people use it.

Bottom line -- places in which a certain type of alternative energy can be economically exploited should do so, but places where it can't should not.

 

AE, BP. All I know can I trust eating fish? Many of the "well" wishers will dis-agree and many others will not well agree.

Just a play on words; lets just agree to dis-agree and be done with it.

All I know is many want to shut down wood burning in this hole in Utah; just to clean up some air and so I can breath without health issues. Once Tenth largest area worse air in America; not excluding the car emissions; based on the annual accumulation per period. But of course no bother; you don't have to deal with it. Because you don't live with it.

Lets just put more out there; now in the water and underground. Doesn't matter if we don't have it to drink right? After a million or two years we don't care; we have oil now....

I'm not a tree hugger; just a concerned citizen with health issues associated by pollution.

My apology now.

Sincerely,
kv