Re:Russia Flaring Around 4.34 Mcmd of Gas Normally Bound for...
by spywaregorilla on Wednesday August 31, 2022 @04:54PM
(#32668223)
> they have to "shut in" the wells, which means their output is effectively lost for all time.
What does this mean? Like the physical well asset is no longer useable? Or that the resource itself is forever unuseable even if you just make another well, if that concept even makes sense at all?
Re:Russia Flaring Around 4.34 Mcmd of Gas Normally Bound for...
by mikewarot on Wednesday August 31, 2022 @07:13PM
(#32669553)
My understanding is that you effectively have to drill a new well, because of the permafrost, and the water in the gas, the well casing will get fractured, and thus leak, plus all the other fiddly details.
I do know that drilling through permafrost requires a level of expertise that Russia doesn't have in house in sufficient numbers.
They did, that's what the flare is. I expected it[1].
>thus giving domestic producers an incentive to pause production.
They can't "pause" production, it's either go, or halt forever.
If they don't flare off the gas, then pressure builds in their lines, or, worse yet, they have to "shut in" the wells, which means their output is effectively lost for all time. There is a massive, irreplaceable investment in those wells and infrastructure that Russia can't afford to lose.
Natural gas contains water, these wells are in permafrost, which means if the flow stops, that water freezes, cracking the wells or the pipes from them. The last time Russia had a supply disruption, during the Soviet Collapse, this happened. They just finished repairing the damage in 2021.
If it happened again, they wouldn't be able to hire Western experts to repair it again, at any price.
1 - https://twitter.com/mikewarot/status/1562677637549412355