Flaring Under Fire: Pipeline operator sues Railroad Commission
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Flaring-Under-Fire-Pipeline-operator-sues-14879260.php?cmpid=ffcpDecember 3, 2019
Oklahoma pipeline operator Williams is asking a judge to overturn a decision by state regulators allowing one of the pipeline company's potential customers to burn off natural gas in a controversial industry practice known as flaring — instead of moving and selling the gas.
In a Nov. 20 lawsuit filed before Judge Jan Soifer with the 345th State District Court in Austin, Williams and its subsidiary Mockingbird Midstream Gas Services sued the Railroad Commission of Texas over the agency's Aug. 6 decision allowing Dallas oil and natural gas company EXCO Resources to burn natural gas produced by 130 wells in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas.
With methane prices low, natural gas viewed as a byproduct of more-valuable crude oil production and various legal issues, EXCO has been using temporary permission from the Railroad Commission to burn off natural gas from those wells since Dec. 2017.
In its lawsuit, Williams argues that the company's natural gathering pipelines connect to EXCO's wells and would allow the company to move and sell the gas instead of burning it off in a practice described as both "wasteful and environmentally harmful."
In a filing with the Railroad Commission, EXCO contended that it does not have a natural gas gathering agreement with Williams and even if it did, the using the system would be too costly and does not have enough capacity.
"Connecting to Williams’ pipeline would be uneconomic and without a flaring exception EXCO will have to shut in the 138 wells which could cause damage to the wells and the reservoir resulting in a waste of hydrocarbons," EXCO wrote....
