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So, let's start at the beginning. I gave a little preview of
some recent news, but for a lot of our listeners who may not be
familiar with electric fracturing, can you define it for us, and
then give us a little bit of the history behind electric
fracturing?
Jesus Ozuna:
Thank you for having me. When people hear it, they automatically
think that it's maybe something where it's being powered by solar.
I mean, it has the word electric, but essentially, the power is
coming from natural gas, but all the equipment that's being used to
do the actual hydraulic fracturing process is electric. So, there
are no engines from the traditional sense, like a diesel engine
onsite. And, everything is being powered by electricity.
Hill Vaden:
Even though it's not solar, one would consider it a "greener"
frack than your typical diesel?
Jesus Ozuna:
100%, because the emissions that come from using natural gas
versus burning diesel. And, second because the whole spread of the
fleet is electric, and therefore it has that advantage where it is
an evolution. It is an evolution when it comes to green
technology.
Hill Vaden:
And, how big are these fleets?
Jesus Ozuna:
It's just as large as your standard fleet. When it comes to the
capacity and the ability to do the work, but the footprint we're
looking at in some cases (when it comes to just the reduction of
the pumpers) it's a 40% reduction on the actual footprint of on the
pack. There is a significant reduction because these pumpers with
these massive diesel engines just take up so much space and there's
so much extra wiring.
Hill Vaden:
Is that some of the advantage of it - being in urban or more
dense population areas? Is that where electric frack is most
conducive?
Jesus Ozuna:
Well, electric fracking is most conducive for areas where there
are potentially stricter regulations when it comes to sound
pollution or stricter regulations when it comes to emissions, which
then would in turn would be potentially a better option in a more
urban environment. But, you could still use it out in a regular
fracking site out in the middle of nowhere simply because of some
of the cost reductions that are there when it comes to fuel costs.
So, there's a variety of different factors to consider when looking
at any fracking.
Hill Vaden:
So, if there's cost reductions, noise reductions…
Jesus Ozuna:
Emissions reductions.
Hill Vaden:
…emissions reductions, footprint reductions, what are the
disadvantages? This is all good news.
Jesus Ozuna:
It is a lot of good news. To stay objective, the downfall is the
entry to use the technology. The costs to enter. On average to go
in and have an equivalent to a 45000 hydraulic horsepower fleet, it
costs you around $60 million. So it's a significant increased costs
versus other technologies which you can use natural gas, like
dual-fuel or dynamic gas blending, where it costs only $3 million
to do a conversion.
Hill Vaden:
60 versus three?
Jesus Ozuna:
60 versus three.
Hill Vaden:
Quite dramatic.
Jesus Ozuna:
But, you're not getting the same type of fuel cost savings.
You're also still using diesel. You're still going to have to be
bringing in diesel. A lot of hot fueling, a lot of risks when you
wouldn't using diesel. You can't promote it as 100% dramatic shift
forward when it comes to technology. And the other aspect of it too
is that the electrification also has its advantages with
maintenance costs like electric engine powering everything.
Electric generator powering everything is easier to maintain and
service than these traditional combustion engines.
This excerpt has been professionally transcribed as
accurately as possible. Please note, some words and phrases may
have been unintentionally excluded.
This article was published by S&P Global Commodity Insights and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.
