The changing face of thermal regulation

The face of thermal scheme regulation changes constantly. How does that affect the approval of your project?

One operator's application for a new thermal scheme was met with a request for information about cap rock faulting. The regulator requested 3-D seismic interpretation and other evidence.

You can see his 3-D seismic interpretation and cap rock analysis within moments for less than $100. Just click on the button below.

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Such a burden of evidence would not likely have been requested 5 years ago. But, because of recent flow to surface problems, the regulator has become extra sensitive to such issues.

In the end, his application was closed rather than approved. It had taken almost 2 years to process at that point.

The changing face

A few years ago, the regulator's motto was "The changing face of regulation." They recognized the progressive nature of the industry and were vowing to keep up with it.

Indeed, the nature of almost all leaders is to add rules or policy every time something doesn't work out quite right. The regulator is no exception.

When an abandoned well near an injector leaks, the regulator establishes rules for checking all abandoned wells.

When a thermal operation activates a surface seep, the regulator sets policy for checking future seep possibilities.

SIRs - a gold mine of information

Applications show the concerns of the regulator focused on reviewing the working details of any scheme. Their supplemental information requests (SIRs) indicate the current hot buttons.

Discussion around SIRs show how operators are dealing with the new regulatory confrontation. AppIntel includes the application documents, the supplemental information requests and the disposition documents. And you can get them in moments from AppIntel -- not days or weeks.

The constantly changing thermal regulatory paradigm

The only way to stay abreast of the constant regulatory shift is to read the AER applications of other operators. The regulator's announcements of policy change are too late. Their bulletins don't have enough detail.

Now you can get an email each time a thermal application is submitted. Area alerts by AppIntel.

For interesting applications you can also get an email each time a new document is uploaded. Use the Application Watch feature of AppIntel.

Tags: Closure, Seismic, Thermal, Heavy Oil

Granger Low  23 Jan 2017

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