American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2020 - 29

The Michigan Public Service Commission threw the next curve ball at Line
5 by denying Enbridge's request for siting
approval to replace and relocate the section
in the Straits of Mackinac into a new
tunnel beneath the lakebed. According to
the PSC, Enbridge believed it already had
authority to construct the concrete-lined

tunnel based on the PSC's 1953 order
that first granted permission for Line 5.
However, the PSC says it determined
the replacement project differed substantially from the original approval, and required a new easement and 99-year lease
of public trust property. "The commission
found that the Line 5 project involves

important factual, policy and legal issues
best resolved through a proceeding that
includes discovery, comprehensive testimony and evidence to provide a robust
record," a statement from the PSC reads.
The Michigan PSC has scheduled an
Aug. 24 hearing on Enbridge's application.
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Permian Basin Producers Cut Flaring
OSLO, NORWAY-Flaring-related carbon dioxide emissions intensity from oil
production in the Permian Basin is set to
reach historically low levels in the second
half of 2020, averaging between 4 and 5
kilograms of CO2 per barrel of oil produced, Rystad Energy estimates.
CO2-equivalent emission intensity associated with wellhead flaring already
has improved from the peak level of 1112 kg per barrel of oil in the fourth quarter
of 2018 and June 2019, to 8 kg per barrel
of oil in March 2020, Rystad says. The
firm predicts flaring-driven emission intensity will drop to a low of 3.9 kg of
CO2 per barrel produced in November.
"In the second quarter of 2020, a material part of Permian oil production is
being curtailed, resulting in an abnormal
oil production decline that is supporting
emission intensity at a level of 7-8 kg
CO2 per barrel, despite continuous deceleration in flaring. However, assuming
most volumes are brought back in the
second half of 2020, we anticipate a significant downward shift in flaring-driven
emission intensity," says Artem Abramov,
Rystad's head of shale research.
Although it acknowledges weak production additions are a factor, Rystad
predicts total wellhead flaring in the Permian will fall from 500-600 million cubic
feet a day in the November 2019-March
2020 period to 220-280 MMcf/d during
the second half of 2020.
According to the firm, total Permian
wellhead gas flaring was relatively flat at
barely above 500 MMcf/d throughout
November 2019 to January 2020. Flaring
jumped toward 600 MMcf/d in February,
driven by numerous major completion
rounds in the first two months of the
year, Rystad mentions.
The firm's preliminary estimates for
March 2020 indicate the beginning of a
counterseasonal and fundamental declining
trend, reflecting the activity slowdown
caused by low oil prices and operators'
decision to delay putting wells on pump.
Approximately 460 MMcf/d of flared gas
for March 2020 comes from Rystad's interpretation of reported disposition data,
while 70 MMcf/d is the estimated impact

of delayed reporting for the month.
Wellhead flaring was not distributed
evenly across the Permian Basin in the
first quarter. In the Delaware, Rystad says,
it saw concentrated flaring clusters on the
Texas-New Mexico border in Loving County, Tx., along with several clusters in the
southern portion of the basin, the gassy
Delaware West (more in Reeves County,
Tx., than in Culberson County, Tx.,) and
isolated flaring sites in New Mexico.
In the Midland Basin, there is little
flaring compared with the gas production
level in Midland County, Tx. Flaring
clusters occur primarily in Martin County,
Tx., and the Midland East Basin in Howard
County, Tx, Rystad relates.
Core parts of the Delaware Basin
(north, east and west) have seen total
wellhead gas flaring hovering around 300

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MMcf/d since fourth quarter 2018, Rystad
continues. Meanwhile, flaring intensity
has improved substantially in Delaware
North and Delaware East since then,
while being flat at about 5%-6% in the
Delaware West. Midland North and Midland East saw flaring spikes from the
fourth quarter of 2018 to the first quarter
of 2019, but since then, flaring intensity
has been reduced substantially to 3%-
4% in each basin.
More than half the Permian's top 45
operators (based on total gross gas output
from January 2019 to March 2020) reduced their flaring intensity in the past
year, Rystad says, with 10 flaring less
than 1% of the gas they produced in the
first quarter.
r

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JULY 2020 29

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2020

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