ENRG Launches First Web-Based Real-Time Noise Monitoring Service for Oil & Gas Drilling Companies

Business Wire, June 23, 2009

XTO Energy and Range Resources among the First to Use the New Technology for Drilling and Frac Operations

DALLAS/FORT WORTH METROPLEX, Texas -- Dallas-based ENRG announced today that it has launched the oil and gas industry’s first real-time, Web-based noise monitoring service that enables operators to be proactive to potential sound issues created by drilling or completing gas or oil wells. The new service, which is patent-pending, provides drillers and operators with 24-hour access to real-time well noise data via their personal computers or cell-phone devices. ENRG has been providing noise monitoring consulting services to oil and gas companies in the Barnett Shale since early 2006.

ENRG developed the new real-time noise monitoring service in response to the recent increase in urban and high-impact drilling and production in the Barnett Shale and Haynesville Shale areas. As drilling for natural gas has increased in these areas, city governments have responded with tightened city ordinances to address the impact of drilling noise in their communities. ENRG’s new technology is the only Web-based service on the market that enables operators to track their noise activities in real-time, and alert them via cell-phone text message or email if their operation’s noise levels exceed city ordinance compliance levels. As a result, the operator can make proactive changes to their drilling operation if need be, and/or be prepared to respond to noise complaints from city regulators or community officials.

The new ENRG technology is also unique in that it tracks noise levels against city ordinance allowable intermittent decibel increase thresholds, in which sound levels are permitted to increase intermittently for a restricted amount of time.

“Typically, if a drill site receives a noise complaint, the Operator will then conduct a sound test that traditionally measures only the hourly average decibel levels, not taking into consideration the city ordinance’s allowable intermittent noise increase thresholds. Without tracking and evaluating the city’s allowable intermittent increase in decibel levels, the hourly average noise levels at the well site may appear to be out of compliance,” said ENRG President and Founder Todd Boring. “As a result, the Operator may be compelled to install sound walls or blankets as an expensive reactive measure, which might be unnecessary, had the allowable threshold limits been evaluated on a minute-by-minute basis.

“If the Operator had used ENRG’s real-time minute-by-minute noise tracking, they might have found that the drilling operational noise was actually within compliance when the allowable intermittent decibel increases were evaluated,” Boring continued. “Our system tracks those allowable increases on a cumulative basis in real time, enabling the Operator to know precisely whether or not their sound levels are actually out of compliance. This can result in huge dollar savings for oil and gas companies if they can avoid constructing sound abatement installations.”

XTO Energy Inc. and Range Resources Corp. are among the first operators in the Barnett Shale to use the new technology.

“As a result of using the ENRG noise monitoring technology, we were able to quickly react to a noise complaint situation,” said Range Resources Regulatory Manager Mary Patton. “Instead of waiting 24 to 48 hours for a sound study as we’d typically done in the past, we were able to determine instantly that we were actually in compliance with the local city noise ordinance. As a result, we were able to quickly email a report to the city regulator that showed that we were in compliance, and avoided having to install a sound wall, which would have cost at a minimum approximately $8,000.”

XTO used the system to monitor fracing operations. According to XTO Energy Operations Engineer Jason Churchill, “The value we saw in ENRG’s equipment and technology is that it allows us to proactively identify if and when our operations are out of compliance and address the issue at that moment instead of afterwards, avoiding spending further money and time on additional sound surveys or abatement.

“The most desirable feature of this tool is the rapid notification process and availability of the live data via the Internet. If we had received a noise complaint, we’d have the data right at our fingertips demonstrating whether or not we were within the city’s noise limits. That expedites the whole process and eliminates additional expense and hassles,” Churchill said.

The ENRG noise monitoring system can be configured to instantly send text message or email alerts if the drilling operation reaches a compliance point. The system is easily accessible via the Web, with no software required beyond an Internet browser, and allows for multiple users to access the data, as defined by the Operator. The Operator can even provide access to city regulators should they so desire. Upon client login, ENRG customers can stream data straight from their drilling rig location over a secure connection (HTTPS) to their personal computers, laptops, or Internet-enabled devices such as smart phones.