Power to the Permian? Spotty at Best, Outrun by Shale Boom
https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/power_to_the_permian_spotty_at_best_outrun_by_shale_boom-01-oct-2018-157084-article/The Permian Basin, which produces almost 4 million barrels of oil a day, has expanded so quickly that suppliers of the electricity needed to keep wells running are struggling to keep up. The Delaware portion alone consumed the equivalent of 350 megawatts this summer, tripling the load from 2015. That’s enough to power about 280,000 U.S. homes. And providers say the draw is likely to triple again by 2022.
While providers are rushing to build new power lines, it takes three to six years to get them up and working. In the meantime, drillers are bemoaning the reliability of the system and desperately seeking alternatives, exploring the use of solar and natural gas to fuel power-generating gear on-site.
The electrical grid in West Texas “was not set up to withstand that much power going through it," said Marco Caccavale, a vice president at the oilfield services company Baker Hughes. "Plain and simple, you have reliability challenges."
Power is just one more oilfield complication in a region struggling to deal with extraordinary growth over an incredibly short period of time. Worker and pipeline shortages are major concerns, along with the growing levels of water and sand needed for fracking. Meanwhile, highways initially designed for minimal use are gridlocked in the day and deadly at night....
...The iconic 40-horsepower “nodding donkeys†that power vertical wells draw about 30 kilowatts each. But in the decade since the advent of fracking, the drilling technology that works to shake loose oil trapped in layers of shale, the old-style pumps are being supplanted by sophisticated equipment that needs more and more power to operate. At the same time, the well count has grown dramatically, rising by 33,483 since 2006, according to Austin-based Drilling Info Inc.
Shale wells developed using fracking can run horizontally for miles. To lift oil out, companies now depend on electric submersible pumps that individually draw about 300 kilowatts, according to Toni Jameson, an electrical-engineering consultant who leads a coalition of Permian companies studying the issue.
"Power is the last thing that anybody really ever thinks about," Jameson said. "Most operators and producers out here, they’re here to produce. No one thinks about power until they realize, ‘We can’t produce that well without it.’"...
