November 21, 2012
An abundant, safe and affordable food supply
Hardworking agriculturists who produce our food, fiber and important byproducts
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November 9, 2012
As you will recall, I toured an oil and gas drilling rig in the Jonah Field last fall. Encana representative Bob Myhre guided my tour group through the control room of rig #129 in the Jonah Field during the tour, which was hosted by Encana Oil and Gas, USA.
Here is some video I took while I was on the drilling rig:
In parts of the video it is hard to hear what’s being said, so my intent is for you to enjoy the sights from inside and outside the control room. To learn more about my tour of the drilling rig, read my first post.
As I look back through the photos, videos and notes I took during this tour of the 20,000 acre Jonah Field outside of Pinedale, Wyo., I’m amazed all over again by the technology used to produce these vital energy sources. I’m also amazed by the people who are proud to work so hard to keep the US and the world running!
From RealPartner Liz Lauck, Wyoming Stock Growers Association
October 18, 2012
While touring the Jonah Field in Pinedale, Wyo. with Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., we had the opportunity to tour a working drilling rig. You can read more about my trip to the Jonah Field in my first post.
Above is Rig 129 on the Jonah Field. Each drilling rig in the United States has a unique, assigned number. I was interested to learn that the rig runs directly off of the natural gas from a nearby producing well. The use of natural gas reduces air emissions by a whopping 50% when compared to using diesel fuel.
Here we all are, dressed to the nine’s in our FRCs and PPEs (fire retardant clothing and personal protection equipment). Robert Samples, the drilling supervisor, spoke to us about the particulars, science and safety behind drilling for oil and gas.
It takes approximately 15 days or less to drill each well. Encana and other energy companies often employ directional drilling, which allows one rig to access multiple gas reservoirs from one drilling location. This greatly reduces the environmental footprint. Oil and gas companies such as Encana are constantly discovering and implementing new and better technologies that reduce environmental impact and increase worker safety. What’s better for the environment and for energy workers, is better for the companies’ sustainability.
Now we’re headed into the control room on the oil and gas drilling rig.
The control room looks a lot like how I imagine the inside of a space shuttle would appear. The rigs are automated with Iron Roughnecks and Iron Derrickmen, which reduces manual handling of pipe and increases safety for Encana workers.
This system carefully monitors many variables while the drill operates. It shows depth, drilling speed, pressure and more. The control room operator has a lot to monitor!
Typical drilling locations impact only five acres of land and support multiple wells from the same site. The tour guides also reported that a rig in Colorado was able to serve 52 wells from the same pad. Now that’s progress!
From RealPartner Liz Lauck – Wyoming Stock Growers Association
September 26, 2012
A proverb tells us “from small beginnings come great things,” and this was the case with the Jonah Field. As you will recall from my first RealEnergy post, I was a part of a tour of this vast and productive oil and gas field near Pinedale, Wyo. last fall. Wyoming historian Ann Chambers Noble was on hand to give the tour participants an overview of the Jonah Field’s beginnings. It was wonderful to visit with Ann on the tour. She is a marvelous resource and has carefully documented a lot of important Wyoming history. Read her article on the Jonah Field and Pinedale Anticline, and check out her book Hurry McMurry on Neil McMurry who was the man behind the success of Jonah.
From Liz Lauck, Wyoming Stock Growers Association
July 3, 2012
Touring the Jonah Field – Part I
Last fall I had the exciting opportunity to tour the Jonah Field, hosted by our friends at Encana Oil and Gas, USA. The Jonah Field is located south of Pinedale, Wyo. It covers about 30,000 acres and has resulted in millions of dollars in tax and royalty revenues for federal, state and local funds.
View of Jonah Field from the tour bus’ window
In learning more about the Jonah Field I found these articles interesting: The Jonah Field and Pinedale Anticline: A natural-gas success story by Ann Chambers Noble (whom I met on the tour and found to be a wonderful wealth of historical information) and The Jonah Story on the Bureau of Land Management website.
We began the tour at the Sublette County Visitor’s Center. There we loaded on buses and headed to the safety office.
Sublette County Visitor’s Center in Pinedale, Wyo.
The side of the building next to the Visitor’s Center. Sublette County is deeply rooted in agriculture, as well as energy. The two industries share a lot of common interests, including proper use and care of the land.
Encana’s Community Relations Adviser Randy Teeuwen welcomes everyone on the tour bus.
While there, we also heard about the latest oil and gas exploration effort being undertaken – the Wyoming Normally Pressured Lance (NPL). Encana’s Randy Phillips talked extensively about these efforts, the government standards and procedures they must maneuver through and the latest technologies that will be used in the NPL to produce more oil and gas with less impact on the environment. I’ll talk more about this in another post.
Encana’s Randy Phillips talks about the Jonah Field, as well as the new Normally Pressured Lance field.
While at the safety office it seemed fitting that we go through safety training. They explained all the practices and procedures we needed to adhere to while in the field. Then they gave us some stylish safety outfits and accessories to wear. I think they were designed for the runways of Paris and New York.
Fire retardant jumpsuits for the tour
“Clackers” protect toes for folks not wearing steel-toed boots. They’re also incredibly stylish.
After all the great discussion we were all anxious to get in the field. We dressed up on all our PPEs and FREs (personal protective equipment and fire retardant equipment) and headed to a Central Delivery Point (CDP). Aren’t acronyms fun?
Central Delivery Point
Encana employee Jeff Strange explains the purpose of the Central Delivery Point to the tour group.
Many different natural gas wells are delivered to a CDP. Here the gas, oil and water are separated. From there the gas and oil is transported through pipelines to buyers across the country and the water (which is a natural byproduct) is used in fracking. Using CDPs helps Encana stay efficient, reduces emissions and creates less disturbance to the land.
Several wells are directed to each Central Delivery Point.
There is a meter house that is the point of custody and after the oil and gas pass by the meter it officially is owned by someone else.
The meter where the oil and gas leaves the ownership of Encana.
The tanks hold the separated oil and water.
Each well is operated off of solar panels and are monitored by computer. Employees also periodically check and monitor each well and each CDP to ensure everything is running correctly.
Each oil and gas well is operated by solar energy
We did a lot more on the tour and I look forward to sharing more in the weeks to come, so keep checking back!
From Liz Lauck, Wyoming Stock Growers Association
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