Overcome engineering challenges for multi-well gathering facilities

T. Farley and T. Hutchinson, Halker Consulting, Lone Tree, Colorado The North American energy sector has recently experienced growth at an unprecedented pace. Directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing have revitalized the petroleum landscape by facilitating access to new formations and new products from existing formations, all with the advantages of allowing more centralized, consolidated well and surface operations. While the industry revenues, rig counts, and barrels-per-day numbers paint a picture of unchallenged prosperity, this large, rapid increase in production is not without ramifications—both visible and hidden. Infrastructure challenges abound. The existing US infrastructu