by PAUL RAYNER

     The wealth of discoveries and the economics of oil have led a major player in the provincial oil industry to increase their presence north of Whitewater Lake.

      On October 1, Tundra Oil & Gas officially opened its new oil battery in the Regent district inside the RM of Winchester. According to Tundra Vice-President, Operations Tim Howell, the facility was born from a need.

     “We have been drilling in the Regent area for a few years now,” Howell stated, “We got to the well level that just trucking it out was considered uneconomical. The battery is something we use to gather production.”

A battery collects the oil from surrounding wells and separates the water and gas from the oil, eventually sending the water back down into the earth. On the grand opening, tours starting from Deloraine gave people an opportunity to take a look at the new facility, construction of which, Howell said, began this past spring.

      The facility collects from wells in the south and west, pumping into the main header continuously. From there, the mixture moves to the treatment facility, where it is separated into its different components. The oil goes to the four tanks, and the water to its two tanks. Due to the differences in the two, the oil travels through metal pipes, whereas the water goes through fiberglass to prevent corrosion. Gas is piped to the flare, although as Tundra tour guide Craig Lane explained, there is so little gas produced that machinery they usually run from the by-product is run by propane instead. The oil is picked up be truck and shipped to Cromer, Manitoba, close to the major fields in the Sinclair area. The water is piped to a holding tank a mile and a half west of the battery, where it is later put back into the soil.

As Lane explained, nothing freezes in the winter, as the liquids are pumped at 30 degrees Celsius, pumped quickly and the water only stays in the holding tanks for a half-hour.

      The battery will operate with two employees. As the tour demonstrated, they take safety seriously. One hut, a sort of command centre, includes several alarms and sirens, and a camera on the property to monitor developments 24 hours a day.

      It will soon be running at full capacity, which Howell explained, would mean the plant is capable of turning out as much as 300-400 barrels of oil per day. He added they are presently looking at gathering from 15 wells in the area, but are certainly trying to increase.

     “There is a definite intention to increase. We will have further developments in the area. We will be drilling more wells.”

     The reason the battery was feasible, Howell stated, was mainly due to economics. A $4 million plant, with more spent on other areas like acquiring hydro, was helped along by the high price of oil. Howell said it is hard to say exactly what the threshold for oil prices would be, as it would depend on many factors, but did say they would not like to see it dip below $50 a barrel.

      Tundra President Roland Moberg was present at the ceremony, and stated that the privately owned company, started in 1980 with present oil holdings in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, is the dominant player in the Whitewater Lake area. He said the economics of oil development help everyone. As he explained, royalties to landowners usually are around 15% to start with and then there is the number of people employed in construction and various other areas.

     “It is a very capital intensive business,” Moberg explained, “It costs about a $1million or more for each horizontal well.”

      He added that the company has presently drilled under Whitewater Lake and is happy with the results. More work under the lake is expected.

     Tundra used the ceremonies as an opportunity to make official a previously made donation of $100,000 to the fire department in Deloraine, which was used in the purchase of a new fire truck.

    Arthur-Virden MLA Larry Maguire was there for the event. He said the battery development was part of a positive outlook for his constituency. He feels that a stronger agricultural situation and other economic developments have helped stabilize or even increase population in the region, which is important. The Tundra battery plays into that.

     “This is bringing people into the region,” Maguire explained, “which from a political perspective, when you represent people, you want people to represent. This helps provide stability to the region.”