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Guest Essay: Conventional vs Unconventional Oil & Gas Wells - Not As Different As You Might Think

By Laurie Barr, Save Our Streams PA

Unfortunately during the recent House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee hearing on April 24, 2023, committee legislators appear to have been mis-informed when a conventional oil well operator testified.

During the hearing the operator from Warren County explained to the (EREC) Committee that conventional wells are shallow, low pressure vertical wells, characterizing unconventional wells as deep, high pressure, horizontal wells.

This isn't entirely accurate.

Similar mis-characterizations have become the norm among conventional oil and gas well operators while speaking with the public, regulators and legislators and unfortunately it's not accurate and has been used to influence regulations and policy.

Unconventional wells are wells that are drilled into hard shale formations. And the well bore configuration of an unconventional well can be horizontal or vertical and often both.

Conventional wells may be both shallow or deep. In fact thousands of conventional wells are deeper than many unconventional wells. The well bore configuration of a conventional well could be vertical, horizontal or deviated.

Conventional wells have been and continue to be drilled to formations that were the usual target formations such as sandstone.

Deep wells, like Pennsylvania's Oriskany wells are also often high temperature and high pressure wells. Some of these very deep wells are also very old.

The first oil well drilled in Pennsylvania was only sixty nine feet deep, however within only a couple decades operators were able to drill wells over four thousand feet deep.

[DEP] Permits allow deep conventional wells to be drilled and also fracked. I think it's important to note that conventional wells may also have horizontal or even deviated wellbores.

Deep, high pressure, fracked vertical conventional wells cost the same to plug and re-plug as an unconventional horizontal or vertical well.

The reason is; there are no requirements to plug the horizontal bore of a horizontal/lateral well. And it may not even be possible.

Plugging is intended to stop the vertical flow of gas, oil and other fluids from traveling from deep formations to shallower formations, the aquifer and surface through the vertical well bores of both conventional and unconventional wells.

There really is no significant difference between plugging conventional wells and unconventional wells. Plugging techniques and requirements are similar.

To put it simply, both conventional and unconventional wells could be deep and also the configuration of the well bore of a conventional or unconventional well bore could be vertical, horizontal or even deviated.

In 2012 a friend told me about a well that was being plugged in Sabinsville, PA. I was interested in well plugging so I sat and watched the well being plugged.The plugger came over to me and explained the plugging operation. I asked him how much it cost to plug the well. And he said "one million."

The man plugging the well explained to me that this was a deep Oriskany well and it is now part of an underground gas storage field.

When it began leaking it needed to be replugged in order to keep the gas in the storage field.

He explained that the well was originally drilled in the 1930’s, plugged the first time in the 1970’s again in the 90’s. The 2012 plug was the third plug.

I asked him why it was so expensive and he said every oil, gas or water bearing zone that the well bore intersected needs to have cement 50’ above and 50’ below each of the zones.

Holding the cement in those zones required a steel plug.He explained the steel plug had to be drilled through for re-plugging. This was the reason for the high cost.

And this was the first time I heard the cost of plugging could be so high, it was also the first time I learned wells needed re-plugging. Cement cracks, shrinks and deteriorates over time and when it does, cement plugs need to be replaced.

Unfortunately members of the industry mischaracterized the differences between conventional wells and unconventional wells so many times, many (not all) believe the mis-charactorization themselves.

This has led to conventional and unconventional wells being looked at as two very different industries.

I think it's important to point out the similarities among wells because many industry experts have been mis-characterizing these wells and continue to do so. And they have influenced regulation and policy.

Characterizing wells by bore length is very misleading at best.

There is no substantive evidence the industries are different. The only real distinction between the conventional and unconventional wells is that conventional operators want to be regulated differently and so far they have been successful.

House Bill 962

[House Bill 962] falls short of requiring operators to post bonds in the neighborhood of the actual cost of plugging and re-plugging their wells.

House Bill 962 caps bonding for 150 deep conventional wells at $600,000.00 while Pennsylvania is awarding contracts to plug single SHALLOW wells at $94,000.00. This seems really counterproductive.

House Bill 962 would require--

-- $35,000 bond for up to 50 wells ( this is $700.00 per well @ 50 wells).

-- $60,000.00 for 150 wells (this is $400.00 per well at 150 wells). PA has never contracted to plug a well for $400.00.

Our legislators need to do better than House Bill 962. It continues to incentivize well abandonment.

Wells, especially deep, high pressure wells need re-plugging every 20 to 50 years or so, for the lifetime of the planet. We need a long term maintenance plan in place to cover plugging and re-plugging and this needs to be funded by the industry.

According to the American Petroleum Institute, in 2021 Pennsylvania's “the natural gas and oil industry, generating $78.4 billion toward the state’s gross domestic product—including $40.5 billion added to total labor income.”

Click Here for a copy of the complete Conventional vs. Unconventional Analysis by Laurie Barr.

(Photo: Conventional natural gas well being plugged in Sabinsville, Tioga County on August 31, 2012 by Laurie Barr.)

Laurie Barr, Save Our Streams PA, can be contacted by sending email to: lauriebarr59@yahoo.com.

NewsClips:

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: House Committee Warned Of Lurking Taxpayer Cost For Plugging Conventional Oil & Gas Wells

-- Bradford Era/The Center Square: Committee Warned Of Lurking Taxpayer Cost For Plugging Conventional Oil/Gas Wells

-- Bradford Era: Rep. Causer Applauds Conventional Oil/Gas Well Owner Art Stewart For Testimony On Orphan Wells [Actually They’re Confused-- Current Conventional Operators Abandon 561 Wells A Year, On Average; 55,000 More At High Risk Of Abandonment]

Related Articles - Hearing:

-- House Hearing: Let’s Work Together To Make Conventional Oil & Gas Industry Practices Cleaner, Respect Property Rights, Protect Taxpayers And Prevent New Abandoned Wells [PaEN]

-- EDF: Pennsylvania Has 55,000 Oil/Gas Wells At High Risk Of Being Abandoned; 51,000 Wells At Risk Of Being Transferred To Low Solvency Owners; Current Conventional Well Owners Abandon 561 Wells A Year, On Average [PaEN]

-- House Committee Meets May 2 On Bill To Restore Authority To Review Conventional Oil/Gas Well Plugging Bonding Amounts; Help Prevent Routine Abandonment Of An Average Of 561 Wells A Year [PaEN]

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