Dunn County will be home to the first facility that will inject oilfield waste into the Dakota formation.
On March 31, the Houston-based Trisun Energy Services application was presented by Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms to the North Dakota Industrial Commission. The commission voted unanimously to allow the company to construct an oilfield liquid waste treating and processing facility at the Murphy Creek field in Dunn County.
The treating plant would be built in conjunction with the Buffalo Hills saltwater disposal well already on the site near Highway 22 north of Killdeer.
“The waste is drilling mud, the liquid part that we don’t allow to go to a pit anymore,” Helms told the commission. “They will grind the solids to get it into the Dakota, too.”
NDIC has ultimate authority
The process hasn’t been applied in North Dakota, but Helms said it’s a unique way to deal with some of the waste that would normally have to be trucked elsewhere. The Dakota formation is approximately 5,500 feet below the site’s surface.
The order came before the commission at the hearing for the application in February because Dunn County officials had testified that the proposed facility did not meet zoning requirements. The area is zoned as rural preservation, so it would need to be rezoned for rural development. However, that particular zoning designation requires a minimum development plan of 120 acres. Helms told the commission the facility would not need zoning approval since the county does not have ultimate authority.
“When a company makes a deal with a saltwater disposal operator and wants to set up at the site, the North Dakota Industrial Commission has sole jurisdiction, though it still requires a separate permit and bond,” Helms said.
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem agreed saying, “We have comprehensive authority as a commission for siting.”
Helms added that the county may create an exemption in its ordinance to allow for an oilfield waste treatment facility in a rural preservation area, but it would be limited to two acres. He said the proposed site is five acres.
How it works
The facility is expected to process approximately 4,000 barrels of waste per day. It would process, treat and reclaim waste from saltwater disposal tanks, tank bottom emulsion, drilling operations, production operations and other waste oil related to crude oil and natural gas exploration and production. The site would collect waste to be transferred from receiving tanks into a system that grinds it into small particles and dilutes it with saltwater to be injected into the Buffalo Hills saltwater disposal well. The solids that are too large to be processed will be separated from the waste liquid and transferred to a bin to be properly neutralized and temporarily stored for disposal at a solid waste landfill.
The process also optimizes oil production since all recovered oil is transferred to a skim oil tank for additional separation, forcing the oil to rise to the top where it can be sucked off and transferred to a tank for storage until it can be sold.
