Proven Best Practices: February 2014

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Options for Sour Gas Disposal	Misinform	SAGD Amendment Closures	The HR Manager Takes the Spotlight

Sour gas problem? Need a disposal option?

Hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide must be stripped out of natural gas streams before the gas can be sold on the TransCanada Pipeline system in Alberta and BC.

It’s economic to remove sour gas from natural gas and convert it into elemental sulphur when the gas is found in larger quantities. However, it can be challenging to economically handle small amounts of sour gas.

Stripping, iron sponge, sulphur blocking, amine systems, disposal, using it as a flood injectant, and sequestration. At Proven, we’ve helped many operators deal with sour gas.

There are a few questions that start operators down the road to determining the best strategy:

How much sour gas production do you have?
How much sour gas do you need to store?
How can you reduce the amount you need to store?
Do you have a volumetrically contained substrata available to sequester the gas?
Can you use it to recover more oil?

Can Proven help you with your sour gas problem?

~Granger J. Low

In January, the AER approved more SAGD Amendment applications than ever before. That month they approved almost 20 applications. Those applications had been in the process for 4.6 months on average but one took 22 months.

However, in the last nine months, they have closed more SAGD amendment applications than ever before as shown in the accompanying chart. Historically the regulator has closed (refused) about 5% of the SAGD amendment applications filed by industry. The AER closes applications for technical reasons, and sometimes for technicalities.

Connie Low is Proven Reserves’ Human Resources Manager having joined Proven’s team approximately 15 years ago.

Connie was born and raised in a small town in Southern Alberta where her father worked as a rancher and political activist.

Connie graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Science in Education, and minored in Music. She worked as an Elementary School teacher until the birth of her third child, at which time she retired to teach piano privately.

Connie remains active in the community and involves herself with her children’s schools and various church activities.

In her spare time Connie enjoys travelling to new places and anything to do with music. She participates in various musical projects including musical theatre, a singing trio, and various solo efforts.

Thanks Connie!