Speaking at the 2021 LBC Onshore Wellsite Facilities conference, Jake Balderama explained how Guidon Oil and Gas managed to reduce flaring at its onshore US production assets. The first and biggest step was finding outlets for intermittent gas production. This involved cutting deals with multiple gas gatherers, sometimes with no minimum daily or monthly flow requirement.
Next a LIDAR camera was deployed at Guidon’s larger facilities to detect and track flaring and send alerts. These allowed operators to ‘stay in front of any occurrences’. When flaring was detected, Guidon could immediately contact the gas gatherer to see what the issues were. Alternatively, gas could be redirected to a different gatherer until the issues were resolved. Guidon now performs LIDAR fly-overs quarterly on all wells and batteries and is trying to encourage other operators in the area to follow suit and help absorb survey costs.
One serendipitous result occurred when a long-term shut well was spotted with a roughly 20 mcf/d leak rate at the wellhead. ‘A great catch!’ The well was rigged up and brought back into production. Overall, of a total 747 mcf/d gas detected, Guidon manages to capture and sell 619 mcf/d. All this was achieved with minimal long-term operational expenditure. Most legacy vertical wells were outfitted at minimal cost. Smart accounting optimizes equipment rental and maintenance costs. Guidon now designs its facilities to allow kit to be added, resized or removed, shifting oversized equipment from older sites to its newest facilities. The system now in place allows Guidon to control its carbon footprint and avoid fines. ‘Well worth the money we put into our strategy’.
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