Fracking Fluid Spill

[pcray1231]

FD, yup. I know 100% for sure they cut corners to save money. They're not regulatory corners, mind you (at least not that I'm involved in). More like willing to accept a greater failure rate to save money on materials.

The goal of regulations and fines is to make doing the right thing the cheapest option. Again, I'm only involved in the materials, but when they can save millions to have a slightly higher chance of incurring a fine in the thousands, well......

 

[afishinado]

pcray1231 wrote:
FD, yup. I know 100% for sure they cut corners to save money. They're not regulatory corners, mind you (at least not that I'm involved in). More like willing to accept a greater failure rate to save money on materials.

The goal of regulations and fines is to make doing the right thing the cheapest option. Again, I'm only involved in the materials, but when they can save millions to have a slightly higher chance of incurring a fine in the thousands, well......

If I were the MS Czar I would set up a point system for violations as well as fines (a lot like the point system for traffic tickets). Too many points for serious violations and your "license" to do business in the State is revoked. I would bet the O & G companies would tow the line if that were the case.

 

[TimMurphy]

pcray1231 wrote:
FD, yup. I know 100% for sure they cut corners to save money. They're not regulatory corners, mind you (at least not that I'm involved in). More like willing to accept a greater failure rate to save money on materials.

The goal of regulations and fines is to make doing the right thing the cheapest option. Again, I'm only involved in the materials, but when they can save millions to have a slightly higher chance of incurring a fine in the thousands, well......

Dear pcray,

Ethics are what make people to do the right thing when no one is looking.

All people have ethics, to varying degrees, but by and large corporations do not, as they tend to get in the way of profit margins. That's not good shareholder value.

Get set for more "mysterious" failures in the coming months. It's going to take something catastrophic to bring about any real measure of enforcement and fines and one event probably won't be sufficient.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[flythrower]

It does seem to be the concrete casing that causes most of the problems (aside from wastewater treatment). I'm not an expert on the subject but this raises a question....

Is there current technology that allows concrete to be "X-rayed" or something of that nature to determine its integrity?

Maybe there is a better preventative measure than that but it seems that if regulations put companies in a corner to not get lazy on casings then we would see less problems.

 

[Chaz]

Chesapeake has had problems in the past.

 

[pcray1231]

It does seem to be the concrete casing that causes most of the problems

Casings are essentially 2 steel pipes of different diameters, with concrete poured in between. A failure has to be in all of the materials, but steel is the first line of defense and must hold. There are 100's of types of steel available for use designed for this purpose, often specifically chosen to match certain downhole conditions. Plus, they're rarely a single piece, usually welded in some manner, which is often the weak spot. So welding practices, followed by heat treat for the steel (and how it'll respond to the weld/heat also depends on grade of steel).

Also, consider the bottom of the casing. So, you have a 1000 foot hole in the ground. You wanna stick a steel pipe down 200 feet, so that nothing inside can get out. But you have to seal the bottom, or else the stuff will just go up the outside of the pipe. Truthfully, I don't know exactly how that is done, but it seems like it should be a weak spot in the system.