The oil and gas industry implements key elements of the Oil and Gas Compact Commission that serves to protect efficiency regarding domestic oil and natural gas, as well as the quality of the environment. With these ideas in mind, planning to change well types is much more efficient.
With an understanding of the key differences and features of these well types, making the change from marginal to stripper well is a possible and less complex process.
The Difference Between Marginal and Stripper Wells
Despite the terms marginal and stripper often being used interchangeably, these types of wells are actually quite different. By understanding the major factors that impact the benefits and possible downsides of these wells, knowing when or why to make a change in well type is made easy.
Marginal Wells
With a marginal well, production costs are higher than the earnings gained by businesses or companies selling the oil or gas. This type of well is more so dependent on economic factors and viability, such as oil prices and production costs. Unlike stripper wells, which are more focused in defined production, marginal wells emphasize economic viability and should only be implemented when they will make money.
Oil and gas produced through marginal well sites is typically lower, with combined oil and gas produced being less than 15 barrels of oil equivalents per day. Not only is production overall often lower, these wells often produce higher amounts of pollution and methane waste as well.
A marginal well poses the risk of becoming unprofitable in oil or gas production once oil or gas prices become lower than the necessary points of profit for the well. With this in mind, the downsides and risks of profit loss are typically a major factor in making the change from marginal to stripper well.
Stripper Wells
The oil and gas production levels are much lower with stripper wells, although this type of well is one of the most widely used because of a range of benefits.
In contrast to marginal wells, stripper wells have a more defined output of oil and natural gas. The highest amount of oil production does not surpass 15 barrels of oil per day over a yearly period, and the highest amount of natural gas production does not surpass 90 thousand cubic feet of gas over a yearly period.
Although these well types may produce only around 15 barrels of oil per day, they are a widely used and functional aspect of oil production in the United States.
Knowing When and Why to Make the Change from Marginal to Stripper Wells
When changing from a marginal well to a stripper well, there are a few major factors to keep in mind throughout the process. Cost efficiency and practicality are among the most important factors to consider.
In order to shift from a marginal to stripper well, the evolving economic factors relating to oil and gas are key to be aware of. Should a marginal well become no longer economically viable, making the change may be the most optimal option.
Service wells, which are most often created in order to benefit production in an already existing field, and step-out wells, which aid in determining production boundaries provide extremely valuable information during the process. With the data collected through the use of these well types, knowing if a marginal well should be plugged and abandoned is made possible. The understanding regarding production and economic possibilities that many types of wells offer is highly valuable in the process of making the change from marginal to stripper well.
How Reign Can Help
ReignSmartPOC has been shown to increase production by as much as three times the current production. With improvements in production, ReignRMC also aids in improving factors such as cost efficiency and safety quality.
