With the onslaught of “Unconventional Gas & Oil” being brought online and a reduction of demand, partially due to the warmer winter, this has created Over supply of hydrocarbon products. I see this problem existing for sometime, until the necessary infrastucture is built and fully operational.

It reminds me of back in the 1980′s when the Oil Patch was in a “Boom and Bust” cyclic mode. At that time there was a lot of talk about building a large Oil & Gas Refining industry in Alberta. This would have supplied finished products (such as plastics, Gasoline, Deisel Fuel, etc.) at higher prices than selling and shipping the raw Oil & Gas hydrocarbons. As it turned out, none were built because no one wanted a refining industry in their backyard and here we are today still giving away our raw resources.

The Alberta Government is first to see the affects of this conundrum with their budget shortfall due to lower Oil & Gas revenues. With the lower Crude prices and slide in land sales, the Governments of both Alberta and British Columbia are going to find the next few years challenging. Politicians  should wake up and see the importance of building these infrastructure projects now before the interested parties which are willing to purchase these products, mostly Asian, find alternative supply countries. Also with the evident future budget shortfalls, the government will have no choice but to raise taxes for all residents to pick up the difference or suffer major program cuts. Basically PAY NOW or everyone will PAY LATER.

 GOLD CREEK would like to extend its warmest Wishes and Greetings for a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON. We wish Everyone a Safe and Prosperous NEW YEAR.

I was fortunate to demonstrate the overwhelming superiority of the “GEOSAMPLE TANK SYSTEM” on a recent well. The location was in East Central Alberta where the Drilling Contractor had made arrangements to supply what they thought would be sufficient for the containment of Invert Contaminated Washing Effluent. The set up was a small rubber “Horse Watering Trough (TUB)” located at the drain of the Sample Wash Shack.

Several problems transpired over the first well such as:

1) The Trough was too small to handle the volume of Effluent daily; in fact the “Vac Truck” was parked at the Tub to pump it every two hours day & night.

2) The “Tub” was so flimsy that a 12 foot 2 x 4 had to be installed under it to prevent the “Tub” from collapsing and spilling its contents.

3) Thirdly, as the weather deteriorated and the Alberta torrential rains started the “Tub” was overflowing even faster than normal.

With the Drilling Supervisor completely frustrated with the situation I showed him a brochure copy of the “GEOSAMPLE TANK”. Arrangements were made and the Tank was installed on the second well. The “GEOSAMPLE TANK’S” water tight design was demonstrated when we pumped down the Tank after each Horizontal Leg Run (~800 metres). The Tank was floating like a boat in the Rain Flooded pit it was installed in. Needless to say even with the flooded & muddy Lease the “GEOSAMPLE TANK” performed flawless; another “GEOSAMPLE TANK SYSTEM “success

With the introduction of new drilling technology to increase the drilling rates, as well as the Oil Companies attempts to reduce up-stream operating costs; there are now greater demands on Wellsite Geologists to effectively time balance their daily duties. In some cases Oil Companies are opting to “waiver” expensive Wireline Logging Costs at “TD”, therefore basing their play development assumptions only on the crucial Geological Samples taken while drilling, as well as the Wellsite Geologist’s Sample Interpretation from his or her Strip Log. All these factors together point to the fact that the On-Site Geologist’s interpretations are more important than ever. Therefore sufficient time is required to fully evaluate samples to produce an accurate interpretation.

With this development, some Companies are opting to go with two-man teams working a twelve hour shift, which doubles Wellsite manpower costs. Others have introduced “Contract Sample Washers” for half the cost of a second Wellsite Geologist. These “Contract Sample Washers” not only are able to clean and prepare geological samples for the Geologist but also assist in the collection of “Specialty Samples” such as GeoJars, Isotube Gas Samples, etc. With this part of the Wellsite Geologist’s duties being taken care of, it gives the On-Site Geologist more precious time to evaluate, interpret and plot vital sample information. This results in a far superior end product being submitted to the Client allowing the Oil Company to make a more accurate exploration and production decision. As a result, it only makes sense that Companies would be seeking ways to receive the best quality information possible at a reasonable cost. Therefore in my books “Contract Sample Washers” are well worth the ticket.

Talisman Energy Inc. has joined the race to locate and develop SHALE GAS in the Baltic Basin of northern Poland. In 2010 Lane Energy Poland and Schlumberger, announced that it had started production on the first of three wells drilled in Northern Poland; this news has sparked a flurry of activity by several companies such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, ConocoPhillips & Talisman Energy.

Poland’s main energy requirements in the past have been primarily provided by Coal, with the countries Natural Gas requirements being met by the importation of Natural Gas from Russia. Dependency on Russian gas accounts for about two-thirds of Poland’s domestic natural gas needs, which translates to about 10 percent of the total energy used in Poland. The development of these large Shale Deposits – for Unconventional Natural Gas – may position Poland to provide Europe with large quantities of natural gas; reducing Russia’s strangle-hold on Europe’s energy dependency. Talisman Energy is optimistic that its success in developing the Montney Shale Gas properties of Canada will provide the expertise to bring Northern Poland’s Shale Gas potential to market. Gold Creek Consulting Ltd. is presently in talks with Talisman Energy to provide the needed Shale Gas Wellsite Expertise on their Poland Project starting in August 2011.

In the quest to reduce upstream Costs and Drilling time to complete the Montney Shale Gas Wells of northeastern British Columbia; oil & gas companies are opting out of expensive Wireline logging programs to evaluate the wellbore. This puts the emphasis on Wellsite Geologists to deliver as much geological data (from drill cuttings, gas data, etc.) as possible to clients. Gold Creek Consulting Ltd. has introduced high powered “Microscopic Photography” inlays on geological strip logs; clients are beginning to see the benefits of pictures rather than words on a page. The Montney Formation is a perfect example, where images of “Infilled Micro-Fractures” and “Open Pore Spaces” within the shale unit can be downloaded directly to the Client. This in turn allows the Client to focus on specific zones of interest along the Wellbore to possibly maximize production outputs. Other benefits of this procedure involve any observed zones of “Secondary Fracture Enhancements” or “Frack Proppant” encountered in samples suggesting close proximity to previous “Fracking” from other wellbores on the pad location. This degree of detail on each Strip Log Geological Interpretation has become standard practice for Gold Creek Consulting Ltd. and will continue to benefit the Client throughout the future.

The introduction and prolific use of Polycrystalline Diamond Cutter Bits (or as commonly known as PDC Bits) over the past decade or so, has created a growing challenge for Wellsite Geologists to properly interpret drill cutting samples. PDC Bits were the Oil Company Drilling Department’s answer to increase ROP (Rate of Penetration) and lower operational costs while drilling Oil & Gas Wells, but created a new set of interpretational problems for Wellsite Geologists. Improper evaluations of these drill cutting samples can and have been a costly failure for Oil Companies to evaluate the Well Data with any type of accuracy.

The development and advancements of PDC Bit designs have greatly improved since their conception; with Bit Suppliers claiming to have models that perform well in most every rock type. PDC Bits are designed to be rotated at relatively high RPM causing drilling characteristics that include tearing and pulverizing all or part of the rock fabric to produce bit flour, clay, or sand; depending on the rock types being drilled. This produces bit-generated pseudo-sample textures that differ substantially from those of the actual in-situ formational rocks. This process can be further complicated by the introduction of drilling fluid contamination especially when using oil base (Invert) drilling mud.

With the introduction of all of these problems, the modern Wellsite Geologist must have the necessary skills to properly interpret these bit-generated textures. Geologists can then begin to accurately correlate these bit-generated pseudo-sample textures into a valid strip log interpretation utilizing near realistic Lithology, porosity and structure types.

In conclusion, Polycrystalline Diamond Cutter Bits are not going to disappear anytime soon, therefore it will be up to the Wellsite Geologists in the future to familiarize themselves with the skills to properly recognize these mechanically produced cutting textures.

Gold Creek is pleased to announce that the field testing of the “GEOSAMPLE Transfer System” over the last season was a great success. The Tank performed extremely well with only positive feedback from Geologist’s and Rig Crews. The Tank itself is made of environmentally responsible aluminum which been professionally constructed with details to make it easily serviceable compared to other imitations. The simplicity and low operating costs of the system is what sets it apart from every other system I have seen used before, making it easy to use and less “time consuming” for Rig Crews, thus allowing them to tend to their other duties. Regular pumping and cleaning is required only every 4 to 5 days in “Fast Drilling” (@ 200 m/day). It only takes 5 minutes to pump out tank and remove cuttings if required. Also at the end of the well there is no need for expensive clean-up or reclamation of contaminated soil behind “Geo Wash Shack”. The past and recent competitor’s models used at the wellsite have had issues of breakage, freezing and exposure to the elements. The results of these problems cause even more environmental damage and time consuming labour for crews. For further information check out our “Downloadable Brochure” found on our “WEBSITE”.

The development and advancements of PDC Bit designs have greatly improved since their conception; with Bit Suppliers claiming to have models that perform well in most every rock type. PDC Bits are designed to be rotated at relatively high RPM causing drilling characteristics that include tearing and pulverizing all or part of the rock fabric to produce bit flour, clay, or sand; depending on the rock types being drilled. This produces bit-generated pseudo-sample textures that differ substantially from those of the actual in-situ formational rocks. This process can be further complicated by the introduction of drilling fluid contamination especially when using oil base (Invert) drilling mud.

With the introduction of all of these problems, the modern Wellsite Geologist must have the necessary skills to properly interpret these bit-generated textures. Geologists can then begin to accurately correlate these bit-generated pseudo-sample textures into a valid strip log interpretation utilizing near realistic Lithology, porosity and structure types.

In conclusion, Polycrystalline Diamond Cutter Bits are not going to disappear anytime soon, therefore it will be up to the Wellsite Geologists in the future to familiarize themselves with the skills to properly recognize these mechanically produced cutting textures.