What does "free natural gas" really mean?

[Cliff_Johns]

When a property has "free gas," presumably because there is a natural gas head on the property, what does that really mean to the land owner? Does it mean you heat your house for free? Is there usually a limit to how much gas you use, etc?

I always thought that natural gas you get piped in has been filtered and "cleaned" so it burns well in a furnace , etc.

I see this in property adds in OH and PA often.

Cliff

 

[thingy]

It means what it says,free gas. They drill a well on your property you might own a certain percentage or all of the mineral rights,,part of that deal might be free gas,might even be a deal like that made if pipeline was run through your property.Filtering,they seperate the water from the gas at well before you would get it,,it'll burn just fine,,just need regulators,high and low pressure,,put a tap on the pipe line somewheres with a valve,regulators,gas line,,might need a drip or two,[something to catch extra water in low spots so it don't freeze],,maybe even a heater,,,but you got free gas.I've had it at least in three places I've lived,,all of these from very old wells,,not enough gas to make it profitable to sell but plenty for one or two homes for 100 years or more. Hooked up several taps when hooking up new wells,[some authorized some not],,,,don't know how much its done nowadays but in the old days it was common,,,,,,lotta gas wells in ohio,w.va.,pa. areas,,lotta people getting free gas too. thingy

 

[kenmac]

Who is going to filter out all the bad stuff & add the odorant that is required ? Nat gas without odorant is dangerous.

 

[midlf]

Who is going to filter out all the bad stuff & add the odorant that is required ? Nat gas without odorant is dangerous.

Nobody - see thingys post. Nowdays you can get combustible gas monitors for the home that mitigate the "no odorant" concern.

 

[midlf]

I wish I had free natural gas. The only free gas anyone gets around here is radon.

 

[thingy]

Yeah they add stuff to it to make it stink,,but natural gas does have an order,at least some of it anyways,,not real strong,but its not odorless,,as far as filtering out other stuff,maybe they do,never been involved on that end of it,but I wouldn't think much of that sort a thing,,most of the stuff I think that they don't want in it is a liguid,water,salt water,,thats pretty much eleminated at well before it goes in pipe,by seperators and sometimes heaters,,,,,,,kinda like drinking milk fresh from a cow,,might not be quit as safe but its still milk,,,thingy

 

[texbaylea]

I have had a petroleum lease on this propeerty that had free gas clause however the well did not produce enough gas to even power the well pump engine. The operator had to run it off LPG.

You can get odorizers to put in the line. They look like heavy duty filters that hold liquid mercaptan with a wick to feed it into the gas stream. We rented a house once where the natural gas came from a collection line. It had its own tap, regulator and odorizer. Whenever they refilled the odorizer it would stink in the house for a few days.

Vernon

 

[SPIKER]

Generally the FREE GAS is a limited to xxx,xxx cubic feet per year or so, some are higher others are not. these were usually drilled by the gas company a long time back god some oil//gas out of it but mostly produced some usable nat gas. then they come in and put in a line to the farm house who owned the land and they get the free gas and usually royalties of some sort depending on # of acres ect. lots of times the neighbors got royalties as well. all depended on original owners contract company drilling and state/local laws at the time of lease/drilling is being done.

usually around here in Ohio it is something like 100,000 CF free then pay after that or upwards of 300,000 is highest I've seen for large dairies that were in production at time of lease/drill contract.


mark M

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Don't know anything about free gas but the ingrediant added to provide the odor is Mercaptan. https://www.columbiagasva.com/safety_info/mercaptan.htm

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Thanks everyone. That's what I thought, but sometimes these things aren't as obvious as they appear.

Cliff