{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Energy 101: We Ask The Dumb Questions So You Don't Have To","title":"How Chemicals Prevent Billion Dollar Well Failures","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2955,"description":"Brandon Wamsley from Flatirons Chemicals joins the show to explain how the $100 billion oil and gas chemical industry actually works - from killing bacteria that sours wells to keeping pipelines from corroding in minus 58 degree North Dakota winters. He shares his journey from laying tile in construction to becoming a field technician in Williston during the Bakken boom, where people literally camped in tents chasing oil field opportunities. The conversation breaks down why chemicals are cheap insurance for producers, how bacteria creates hydrogen sulfide downhole, what H2S scavengers actually do, and why the industry churns through chemical providers every 2-3 years in an expensive honeymoon cycle that Flatirons is trying to disrupt with AI-powered solutions.\nClick here to watch a video of this episode.\n\n00:00 Why chemicals are essential to oil and gas production\n03:45 Brandon's construction background and move to North Dakota\n08:01 Williston during the Bakken boom and tent cities\n11:19 Learning the chemical industry from the ground up\n14:08 Meeting mentor Ed and his 40 years in midstream\n18:01 Frack chemicals and evolving completion designs\n22:03 How bacteria contaminates wells and creates H2S\n27:11 The stream analogy for disrupting formations\n31:24 Turning wells on to production and artificial lift\n36:03 Midstream chemicals and H2S scavengers explained\n40:12 Innovating the chemical procurement process with AI\n45:09 Houston meetings and vertical integration strategy\n48:16 Life back in Colorado after two years in Williston\nhttps://twitter.com/collide_io\nhttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.io\nhttps://www.facebook.com/collide.io\nhttps://www.instagram.com/collide.io\nhttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_io\nhttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.social\nhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/8F_7R-SE-nw_rUP_p1-vdDVWboJt_kcEhdbgrgTEL7E/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9jYjY2/Yjk4MWJiZWFlYmVl/ZGIxYjkxYTdiYTdi/ZGUwMy5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}