Oil/Gas Drilling in City Limits

[PonderInc]

My aunt had a couple oil wells (similar to the one pictured below) on her farm for many years.  I don't know if the pumping technology has changed, but these suckers are LOUD!  You can hear them from quite a distance: boom, boom, boom, putter, boom, boom, boom.  I used to pretend that they were Native American drummers having a pow-wow just over the horizon...instead of just noise pollution (that you could hear even inside the house from 1/4 mile away at night).



I don't know if anyone has developed "quiet" oil pumps, but I sure hope so!  Not sure I'd want to have a picnic at Mohawk with these things banging away nearby...and the smell of crude oil wafting over my sandwich...

[shadows]

Seems if the mineral rights are not in the Abstract then the surface rights is the only property conveyed when the land was split up.  Believe the corporation commission record mineral rights. Tulsa has many wells that were drilled then plugged.  Drilling rights only expire after a period of time.  Have a plugged well on a piece of property but do not own the mineral rights.  When oil was 2 or 3 dollars a barrel the interest was not in wells that produced a barrel a day but when it goes for $70 to a $100 dollars a barrel then the interest changes.  Abstractors will be going over the Indian allotment deeds on coal/oil mineral right that were conveyed.  Land Attorneys got another Christmas Present.

[FOTD]

Yes Shadows....there's an old derogatory statement made by real estate attorneys and abstractors regarding this issue.

Here folks, read up: http://clearville.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/clearville-tells-pa-officials-natural-gas-drilling-is-going-to-pollute-the-environment/

You don't know this, but our current mayor's company has polluted south Tulsa lands for many years.
The cost benefit analysis tells me that the potential danger from this far outweighs any benefits.

[Red Arrow]

My aunt had a couple oil wells (similar to the one pictured below) on her farm for many years.  I don't know if the pumping technology has changed, but these suckers are LOUD!  You can hear them from quite a distance: boom, boom, boom, putter, boom, boom, boom.  I used to pretend that they were Native American drummers having a pow-wow just over the horizon...instead of just noise pollution (that you could hear even inside the house from 1/4 mile away at night).

The noise was probably from the internal combustion (one cylinder?) engines used to drive the pump.  An electric motor would probably be a lot less noisy.

[Gaspar]

The noise was probably from the internal combustion (one cylinder?) engines used to drive the pump.  An electric motor would probably be a lot less noisy.

Noise is caused by the weights at the far end getting loose or off ballence for the pump load.  Easy fix.  The motors are silent, and even the gas engines are very quiet.  Some times they start to squeek, but not if they are maintained.

[Conan71]

Noise is caused by the weights at the far end getting loose or off ballence for the pump load.  Easy fix.  The motors are silent, and even the gas engines are very quiet.  Some times they start to squeek, but not if they are maintained.

They did used to use un-muffled one-lunger engines.  I can't tell you how long it's been since I've heard one and I doubt they are much in use anymore. 

[Red Arrow]

They did used to use un-muffled one-lunger engines.  I can't tell you how long it's been since I've heard one and I doubt they are much in use anymore. 

Those are the ones I was thinking about.  Some of that old stuff lasted "forever" so I thought some might still be in use.

[shadows]

PonderInc:
The Horse head pumps were made in the building where wrecker service is at present.  The one lung motors which operated on any fuel, stored the energy created by the firing of the piston in the twin flywheels.  It was regulated by the speed of the flywheels and fired only when the flywheels slowed down.  It was a crude but very efficient fuel injected motor.  This allowed the use of the motors in remote installations.  You heard the sound as the piston fired then the clicking of the governor bypassing the firing until the flywheels slowed down allowing it to cycle again.  In the Osage strike they could be heard for miles.

[Conan71]

Those are the ones I was thinking about.  Some of that old stuff lasted "forever" so I thought some might still be in use.

This brought to mind a really cool exposition:

If you have an appreciation for all things vintage (I have some weird fetish that makes me this way) there is a stationary engine show in Mount Pleasant, Iowa around Labor Day weekend every year.  There are a lot of working steam and internal combustion engines on display which use huge fly-wheels and the gimbaled-type governors.  They had a working machine shop (the mills & lathes were run by large leather belts off a common shaft) and saw mill powered by steam. 

[Conan71]

PonderInc:
The Horse head pumps were made in the building where wrecker service is at present.  The one lung motors which operated on any fuel, stored the energy created by the firing of the piston in the twin flywheels.  It was regulated by the speed of the flywheels and fired only when the flywheels slowed down.  It was a crude but very efficient fuel injected motor.  This allowed the use of the motors in remote installations.  You heard the sound as the piston fired then the clicking of the governor bypassing the firing until the flywheels slowed down allowing it to cycle again.  In the Osage strike they could be heard for miles.

I blieve they could run on drip gas, couldn't they?

[Breadburner]

The old one pop johnny....They are still around.....

[shadows]

I blieve they could run on drip gas, couldn't they?

Yes; they installed a mist extractor to pass the natural gas through and it collected "drip gas" which was of a higher octane than the premium gas sold today.  It could be mixed with crude oil for a super fuel. It is part of the royalties paid to the mineral rights holder and is sold to the refineries as a part of production.  Some of the drip gas is collected also from the natural gas production which also appears in increasing the BTU in a each thousand CF.  To reduce this local gas companies have developed a new word that describes the mixing of air with the natural gas thus the gas meter includes this fixed BTU which contains both gas and air paid for at the prevailing gas rates.  Residents become contributors for new ball parks. 

[FOTD]

You technicians seem to be avoiding any cost benefit analysis and the potential hazards this creates which is very typical of your industry....

The best comments are those concerning mineral rights and abstracting title.

Can of worms.

[Steve]

Yes Shadows....there's an old derogatory statement made by real estate attorneys and abstractors regarding this issue.

Here folks, read up: http://clearville.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/clearville-tells-pa-officials-natural-gas-drilling-is-going-to-pollute-the-environment/

You don't know this, but our current mayor's company has polluted south Tulsa lands for many years.
The cost benefit analysis tells me that the potential danger from this far outweighs any benefits.

Abstracting is a scam.  There are only 2-3 states in the U.S. that still require abstracting as in Oklahoma.  It is a political patronage scam.  
There are a few sure-fire ways to make money in Oklahoma, own a liquor store, own a vehicle title agency, or own a abstract company.

[shadows]

It is one of these stories on "that is the way we have always done it in Tulsa.  It started when the Oil Barons had an ordinance passed prohibiting drilling in the small city, given to the Indians as long as the wind blows and the water flows, to protect their interest and ended up paying an entrance fee of a million dollars to run for mayor.

The discovery of oil brought with it an useless by-product created by the cycle of life in the rapid disposing of organisms by nature which we call natural gas.  By common reasoning this gas contained the proper element of reproduction needed for fertilizer .  Also it could be produced back in a solid, remaining in a unstable product which become an explosive. Today there is an abundance of it and mineral right holders are paid on the amount that is put in the pipe line.  One month the check can be in thousands of dollars and the next month less than a hundred dollars.  Natural gas farming could be a simple process by using the garbage we are throwing away.

China with estimated 2.4 trillion dollars in negotiable US treasure bonds, the mid-east displeased with our actions, they are selling their oil to China for currency the dollar has been exchanged for, and China is building up a stockpile of oil although they may have areas that could have proven reserves.  Being a communism state and not fond of us could destroy our financial world standing.  "Made in China is liken the sword hanging by a hair over the house of David."

We are loosing the auto industries but the blow would be to loose the race for gasoline.  Tulsa, in the 104 years of annexing had taken land areas on which hundreds of wells have been drilled but because of the production would not sustain the low price of oil, were capped and buildings built over them.  With the dollar deprecating against other foreign currency will increase the importing of oil to where it could reach as much as $500 dollars a barrel or more which would make the capped wells, that produced 3 barrels a day, a $1500 day producer.  The retail market for gasoline could go in excess of a $100 dollars a gallon for those who could pay it.

Million dollars ante to play in the poker game to be mayor.   Who are the other players?  Does only one man walk away with the pot?