Re[2]: [at-l] > RELIGIOUS, SENATE LEADERS OPPOSE ANWR DRILLING

[DTimm65344@aol.com (DTimm65344@aol.com)]

Thought we agreed the other day there aren't any stupid questions.

Many oil fields have natural gas fields overlaying them.  Once you decide you 
want the oil below the gas, the gas, being in the way, is extracted.  There 
are location (the largest one of which I'm aware is east of Houston in a town 
called Mont Bellvue (sp?)) where underground caverns or geologic formations 
(caves to most people) are used for natural gas storage.  Works great if you 
are confident in the containment system, otherwise you are sitting on a big 
bomb - or more precisely a Carbondale, PA type deal.

Storage is a difficult nut to crack and effectively market to those under 
whom you wish to store.

The oil companies factor the loss of the value of the natural gas into 
decisions about where to drill once an area is delineated.  They would 
obviously prefer to sell it all and  as I recall from the days when the 
company I work for owned an oil company as much is used in facilities and 
infrastructure as can be manage to defer the operating costs of using other 
fuels, but the drilling operations (while they look like huge monstrosities) 
actually have less energy needs than one might think (after all, they are 
remotely located and it takes a long cord to reach the nearest electrical 
outlet).

Bottom line - If a company wants the oil badly enough, they vent the gas if 
they can't sell it.

Black&blue

In a message dated 02/10/02 6:15:40 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
saunterer@jimbullard.org writes:


> Here's a stupid question from an artist type to the engineer types on the 
> list:  How come they do that?  "Flare away" the natural gas they don't have 
> 
> an immediate market for I mean.  Can't they store it?  Or not extract 
> it?  It's just sitting there underground.  If they can't sell it why not 
> leave it there until they can?  Why do they feel they can just throw it 
> away?  Doesn't it have value?  I wish some millionaire who can't spend all 
> his/her money right now would throw away the excess in my direction.  I'd 
> get a piece of land and build myself a house like Weary's.
> 
> sAunTerer
> 



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