Then Cabot must acquire the necessary permits before construction can begin – sometimes upwards of 45 different state and federal permits are required to move forward.
When construction officially begins, an access road is built first followed by the well pad site. Depending on the terrain of the location a two-tier pad site is built; One tier for drilling and completions equipment and the second for the water tank farm: a series of enclosed metal containers for holding water because Cabot does not use open-pits in its operations.
Many variables are taken into account when developing the pad site including: wildlife management, wetland management, erosion and sedimentation control and ultimately the future use of the land. Topsoil is removed from the surface and seeded to protect from runoff until the reclamation process begins. We also take added measures, such as placing additional lining on the pad site to build a containment to protect the land.
Drilling and frac’ing are both temporary processes. A typical Cabot well takes roughly 16 days to drill with completions taking an additional 2 – 3 days. Combined the development process is only a few weeks for each well in return for its expected production of natural gas for approximately 40 – 50 years.
After drilling and completions are finished at a location, Cabot reduces the site to an area as small as possible, ideally 1-2 acres in size. Only the well head, gas recovery equipment and pipelines infrastructure remain, leaving behind a small footprint.
When the well site no longer produces the final reclamation begins. All production equipment will be removed and each well will be plugged and capped per the Department of Environmental Protection’s oversight. Gravel will be replaced with topsoil and the topography of the land will return to a more natural state.
As oil and natural gas has progressed throughout the years horizontal drilling has allowed the industry to significantly limit the amount of disturbance related to development. Cabot is proud of its use of horizontal drilling in the Marcellus shale. Multiple wells on less pads results in reduced set up time, cost and environmental impacts.
PGlmcmFtZSBzcmM9Ii8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL2VtYmVkL3NHSWZpVmZOWGNzIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjMxNSIgd2lkdGg9IjU2MCIgYWxsb3dmdWxsc2NyZWVuPSIiIGZyYW1lYm9yZGVyPSIwIj48L2lmcmFtZT4=Natural gas development produces so much economic return for the area, with such little environmental impact.
FRAC: After frac’ing is finished, well pad sites are reclaimed.
