American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2019 - 77

ConventionCoverage: North Dakota Petroleum Council
major source, and we are getting uncombusted gas moving past the flare, what
kind of problems will that create for us?"
Glatt asked. "We are working with industry
and manufacturers to see if we can have
reliable combustors and flares, and if we
can document that reliability. We would
just as soon not see gas flared, but where
it has to be flared, we want the best and
most efficient flares possible."

Dave Glatt, director of the North Dakota
Department of Environmental Quality, describes how his agency is adopting rules
that will increase its authority over emission
regulations, especially the methane emission standards in the Clean Air Act's Subpart 0000 and Subpart 0000a sections.

methane emission standards included in
the Clean Air Act's Subpart 0000 and
Subpart 0000a sections. Dave Glatt, director
of the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, said his agency was
in the process of adopting required rules.
"We are getting the appropriate software to handle all the reporting documents
that are going to come in, and staffing
and training of staff as we move forward,"
he said, adding DEQ plans to implement
the program by July 1, 2020.
North Dakota also is planning to incorporate mobile air quality monitors
into its environmental portfolio, Glatt indicated. He said the devices would be
used to measure methane concentrations
from oil and gas operations.
"Is there a way we can use these to
give some indications on how good air
quality is in the Bakken?" he posed. "We
will start looking if there is a way we can
start using next-generation technology.
This could be something that, if it works
well, is cost-effective and generates good
numbers, could be used by your operations.
It would give you a heads up if there
were emissions or leaks at your facility."
Glatt reported the department was
working with industry to get approval
for high-efficiency combustion flares, noting that some new devices were 99% effective in gas combustion. He said other
states and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had reported flares were
not fully burning the flared gas.
"If we truly need a 99% efficiency
rate to stay as a minor source and not a

Pore Space
Another focus of the 2019 legislative
session was pore space, reported Reice
Haase, energy, natural resources and agriculture policy adviser to North Dakota
Governor Doug Burgum. He noted that
North Dakota always had vested pore
space title to surface owners.
"1979 was a big year for North Dakota's oil and gas law," Haase related. "First
was a Supreme Court case that ruled that
the mineral estate was dominant. Then,
the legislature passed the Surface Damages
Act, which required payments for the
use of surface for mineral development.
North Dakota first defined pore space in
2009, as part of the Subsurface Pore
Space Act, which was passed in the
context of carbon dioxide sequestration.
It never was intended to apply to the oil
and gas industry."
Haase pointed out that, in addition to
defining pore space, the act also vested its
title with surface owners and prevented
its severance from the surface estate. A
2017 North Dakota Supreme Court case
determined that any pore space use con-

stituted a damage, leading to uncertainty
for operators. State legislators passed SB
2234 in the 2019 session to clarify legislative
intent regarding pore space use, he said.
According to the state legislative website, a landowner's right under the bill
for compensation for surface damages
for saltwater disposal wells remains unchanged, while landowners with saltwater
disposal wells in a unitized field will
lose compensation for injected wastewater
unless they have an existing contract. SB
2234 also bars landowners from claiming
that injected wastewater from a disposal
well on neighboring properties was migrating into their pore space.
Haase noted SB 2234 included a policy
statement supporting the use of pore space
to facilitate mineral production, and amended
the Surface Damages Act to separate the
act from pore space policy. This was done
by adding a definition of land to the surface
damages chapter and clarifying that pore
space was not intended to be covered.
In late July, Haase reported, the Northwest Landowners Association filed a lawsuit against the state claiming North
Dakota had invaded and taken possession
of pore space. "The landowners' association has used this publicity to solicit
donations for its legal costs," he noted.
"Unfortunately, the debate has been framed
as industry versus landowners when it is
more accurately landowner versus
landowner. The landowners of existing
injection wells largely have been ignored
in this debate. The defendants replied on
Sept. 6, denying all these charges." ❒

Hydrocarbons Still Crucial Piece
Of World's Future, Analyst Says
WATFORD CITY, N.D.-Tomorrow's
world well may see many more electric
vehicles on the highways and flying
cars above, but all of them still will
need hydrocarbons for their manufacture
and power, predicted Colin Fenton,
chairman of commodities at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.
In his presentation to the North Dakota
Petroleum Council's annual convention,
Fenton said oil and gas would remain an
integral part of modern life. He also cited
reasons for believing that better days
could be coming for hydrocarbon prices
in the not-too-distant future.
"Even if I give all of the ride sharing,

fuel economy, and all of the millennials'
arguments, I still get an oil demand footprint globally that looks pretty much like
it does today," he predicted. "We cannot
have a sustainable future without hydrocarbons. I mean that literally. It is not
possible to have sustainability without
hydrocarbons. If you want to live in that
world with flying cars, may I point out
that the flying car is made of hydrocarbons:
thermoplastics, synthetic adhesives, the
tires, and on and on."
Fenton pointed out that gasoline demand, rather than falling, was rising so
fast in Latin America that Mid-Continent
producers were using domestic or CanaNOVEMBER 2019 77

American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2019

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