A Mysterious Patch Of Light Shows Up In The North Dakota Dark
If one could get the gas from the flare towers to a combined cycle natural gas reactor for under 0.9 cents per cubic foot, or, about $170 per well per annum, there could be room for a small profit ($900k/year less operating costs). Note that I assumed you're paying the well owner market price for the natural gas they're presently flaring off, a conservative assumption.<p>Gas flared per annum (MM cubic feet) = 150 [1];
100 cubic ft gas in MWh	= 0.0302 [2];
»Natural gas flared (MWh) = 45,300<p>Plant efficiency = 61% [3];
»Available energy (MWh) per annum = 27,633<p>North Dakota electricity price (kWh) = $0.0681 [4];
Value of available energy ($ million) = $1.882 [5];
»Value per cubic foot gas = $0.0125<p>Market price of gas ($/MMBTU) = 3.48 [6];
BTU/cubic foot natural gas = 1020 [7];
»Market cost of gas ($ million) = $0.532<p>Excess value of gas in fields = $1.349;
»Excess value per cubic foot gas = $0.0090<p>Number of wells = 8,000 [8];
Mean gas per annum per well (cubic ft.) = 18,750;	
»Expected excess value per well per annum = $168.67<p>[1] <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5073583" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5073583</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.convertunits.com/from/hundred+cubic+foot+of+natural+gas/to/megawatt+hour" rel="nofollow">http://www.convertunits.com/from/hundred+cubic+foot+of+natur...</a><p>[3] <a href="http://gigaom.com/2011/05/25/ge-to-crank-up-gas-power-plants-like-jet-engines/" rel="nofollow">http://gigaom.com/2011/05/25/ge-to-crank-up-gas-power-plants...</a><p>[4] <a href="http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/state-regs/pdf/North%20Dakota.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/state-regs/pdf/Nor...</a><p>[5] Expected revenues per annum if you burnt all the gas flaredin Bakken & Three Forks in a combined cycle reactor<p>[6] <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/" rel="nofollow">http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/</a><p>[7] <a href="http://www.onlineconversion.com/forum/forum_1038451235.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.onlineconversion.com/forum/forum_1038451235.htm</a><p>[8] <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203707504577010463934234498.html" rel="nofollow">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020370750457701...</a>