Emerald Operating Company

Emerald Operating Company (EOC) operates as a privately held Colorado S Corporation. The company owns and operates oil and gas wells across the Rocky Mountain region. 

After more than 30 years in traditional oil and gas, EOC now focuses on renewable energy and “farming hydrogen and methane” to support long-term fuel sustainability.

Shallow Gas Wells and Stranded Resources

In 2009, Emerald owned an interest in and operated about 170 shallow gas wells in northeast Wyoming. Low natural gas prices over the last decade forced EOC to plug and abandon over 100 of these wells in 2013-14.

Data from the remaining 70-plus wells identified a stranded gas resource exceeding 11 Billion Cubic Feet (1 BCF = 1,000,000 MCF). This gas remains in place and represents a monetizable energy asset.

Conventional production methods require operators to lift and dispose of large volumes of potable formation water. Removing this water lowers hydrostatic pressure in coal seams and releases absorbed methane.

Dealing with—and treating—potable water is an energy-intensive, expensive, and wasteful
process. The economics of conventionally producing this stranded gas are not feasible. These constraints led Emerald to pursue an alternative approach to developing stranded shallow gas assets.

An Innovative Approach

These shallow gas wells are also known as coal-bed methane (CBM) wells. CBM gas is biogenic in origin. That means it’s generated by an assemblage of methanogenic bacteria (methanogens) living in the coals and formation waters during the coalification process. 

Pumping water out of and off the coals (to desorb the methane) destroys the habitat of hydrogen- and methane-producing bacteria. Nutrients in the water feed the methanogens, and the methanogens are what generate the hydrogen and methane.

In 2014, Emerald initiated a project to develop a passive, non-mechanical downhole gas-water separator tool. Using Emerald’s existing network of shallow gas wells as a testing platform, this patented tool has significantly reduced operational expenses.

Moving Forward

As a next step, EOC has tested the feasibility of introducing downhole, non-hazardous, benign solutions (“Amendments”) into dormant/uneconomic shallow gas wells. The goal was to stimulate hydrogen and methane generation by nourishing the methanogens with these Amendments.

Field trials confirmed consistent successful production of both fuels, with Emerald using different Amendments for each.

More about Emerald

Since its start in 1993, EOC has an ownership interest in oil and gas properties in Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota. At the same time, EOC operated oil and gas properties in both Wyoming and Montana. It has also participated in and operated both conventional (vertically drilled) oil & gas plays, unconventional coal bed methane (CBM) plays in Wyoming, and participated in various horizontal plays in Montana and North Dakota (Shaunavon and Bakken formations).