Some land advice

[cowman]

In the near future most land owners in many parts of Alberta are going to find the gas companies knocking on their doors. Coalbed methane? It is huge and it covers a major portion of Alberta. More gas there than all conventional gas!
The surface leases tend to be quite small as they don't need to bulldoze out a lease or lease road. Three to four acres would be an extremely large drilling site, with a lease road the length of a quarter. When they are done all they require is a goat trail for the operator to get in on and a very small shack at the well head.
They are offering fairly decent compensation, maybe slightly lower than a conventional well. Here is the problem: On a 3.84 acre well site they want a 100 meter radius caveat registered which brings the total caveat up to 7.4 acres! However they only want to pay for the 3.84 acres! However, due to the caveat, you can do nothing(in a developement sense) with the 7.4 acres. I think anyone who is in this situation needs to see a competent oil lawyer to find out your options?

[cakadu]

It is important to note that if they don't know it's there, then they can't come and get it. That is to say, if you don't let seismic on your land in the first place, they can never come in and take it.

We've gone over the coalbed methane thing before and I don't think it's as sweet as it is cracked up to be. In the short term it looks good, but over the long term, what effects will there be?

What happens if aquifers get drained? We need to be diligent about our water supplies as they are fast dwindling. We have drained wetlands and recharge areas to the point that we have lost 63% of our wetlands. These provide a number of valuable services for us such as filtering water, slowing down water run off (should we ever get it again), recharge underground water.

To my way of thinking we have to quit thinking so much about the almighty dollar and look at what is really important. If there is no potable water to drink, all the money in the world isn't going to get it for you.

[PureCountry]

Amen, cakadu, amen.

My father has inspected over the construction of some coal-bed methane projects in the Swan Hills/Fox Creek areas, and from what he's told me, many companies are excited and optimistic about the future of this process. However, the landowners are well within their rights to refuse access. Just because the stuff is down there, doesn't mean we have to let them go after it.

There are other ways to make money than jeopardizing our water and safety.

[cowman]

Well I wasn't trying to get an environmental argument going here! I was just trying to give out some financial advice!
Because I am involved in the oil and gas business I am definitely Pro-oil!
Hey it is what pays the bills here in Alberta(including the cow welfare!)! And whether we like it or not coal bed methane is coming big time and no one is going to stop it!
That is just a fact of life. Now you can either fight it or embrace it but it will happen no matter what! Do you really think the oil companies don't have a clue about where it is, because they don't run a mini seismic over your land? These coal beds are huge...over 100 meters deep!
The majority of the heavy coal bed methane is in the Belly River formation? Where the oil companies have been drilling for the last, who knows how many,years anyway?
Well it never wrecked the water then,why now?
A lot of the hysteria over coalbed methane comes from uninformed people or people who have an axe to grind! Do your research and find out the truth?

[cakadu]

Yes cowman I am very much aware of what makes this province go around. I have also learned the hard way about granting access onto one's own land. Bottom line is if you don't let the seismic on, the rest does not follow.

I also realize that you are trying to help the folks who have let the seismic run and who do want to collect whatever monies that they can from the oil companies. More power to them if they do.

Where I get concerned is the long-term ramifications of doing all of this. There is more than just hysteria for folks who did see water disappear when they drilled through aquifers and such. The more homework I do on this whole coalbed methane issue, the more I question whether we should be endorsing it.

I'm also thinking about the fact that many of these resources are non-renewable and at some stage (quite likely long after most of us contributing to this forum have shuffled off this mortal coil) someone is going to pay for all that we have done to the land. We seem to forget that we are just here borrowing all of this and that we have to leave something for future generations. I was at a conference not too long ago where one of the speakers said that he would like to see enough left for future generations to be able to make decisions and/or mistakes. If we take it all away now, what choices are they going to have?

What we are doing to the land in whatever form it is taking, is absolutely 100% unsustainable and at some stage we have to wake up and realize that this is the case. I just hope it isn't too late. Sitting on a big bunch of money never has and never will appeal to me, especially when it means that environmental stewardship and sustainability are getting tossed onto the garbage heap.

[cowman]

Linda: I do understand your concerns. We hear a lot about this water draining out of the aquifier but you know I've never actually heard of a well doing that here in Central Alberta?
These coal bed wells are mostly in that 900-1000 meter range which puts them squarely in the Belly River formation, which is where a lot of the really light crude wells are...the Drayton Valley field is largely Belly River and it is a pretty heavily drilled field?
When an oil company does seismic for conventional gas and oil they are looking for a fault in the formation that might indicate a pool of oil or gas. With coalbed methane they are looking for the depth of the coal seam. So if the bed is 60 meters deep on one side of a quarter and 70 m deep on the other side it is a pretty good guess that the seam averages 65 m under that quarter? Coalbed methane requires many well sites so the gas can seep out of the coal. This means up to 4(for now) wells per quarter(8 in the future). You might stop them for awhile, but when they decide they want it, they will come calling? And we all know how the Alberta government takes care of the oil companies, right? Directional drilling isn't really an option on these fairly shallow wells.
We must never forget that we don't own the land completely? 500 feet down is ours and after that someone else owns it? And they have a right to exploit and use their property too? If you own the mineral rights then you don't have to worry about it because you own all of that land for however deep it goes.
I would suggest to you that a much larger concern would be the pumping of river water into depleted deeper formations? The company that applied west of Red Deer just got approved, despite the oppostion of every town in the area? I never had one doubt that it would happen...what the oil and gas companies want in Alberta...they get!

[whiteface]

The oil companies must have a reason they would like to pump water into the depleted formations...to hold the land together? I don't know, I can't agree or disagree, I came from B.C.'s Fraser Valley and don't know much about oil companies or drilling procedures and in that Fraser Valley, it rains so much we'd love to have a place to put some water! Why do the oil companies pump water into the cracks when they're done? Is that the best choice? Might be valuable for me to know, I live pretty close to you cowman and am finding that you might be as up to speed on oil finances as you are cattle - and I sure like to talk about making sound financial decisions. So "when" they come knocking, what do I need to know?

[cakadu]

Have no fear cowman, I am very concerned about the fact that we continue to pump potable water down holes to bring up the oil. Ironically, the announcement about Capstone getting it's water came just as the Source Water Conference was starting in Red Deer. The fellow from Alberta Environment had a little explaining to do.

Yes, you can say that they didn't get the whole amount they were asking for - 30% less, but that doesn't alleviate the problem. In the future, oil companies are going to have to use other means to bring oil up, which already exist - it's just that they have to pay for them.

Maybe if we started charging them $41/bbl for the water they pumped down the hole, they would move to these other methods in a more timely fashion. To take the water out of the hydrological cycle forever is just plain wrong, especially during these times of drought.

There is far too much fixation on the money that oil brings - it is a finite resource and non-renewable. What are we going to do when it finally runs out? On there own, each of these things that we are doing likely wouldn't do that much damage i.e. draining wetlands, pumping water down holes, clearing brush, but cumulatively, we are wreaking havoc. If we aren't already past the point of no return, we are fast approaching it.

I guess I keep wondering if our "progress" is really progress at all.