We have received several offers for the deep rights to an existing interest well in 6-2S-2W, Carter County. The offer is for is for all depths below the Springer formation. There seems to be quite a lot of interest in this suddenly.
My assumption is usually that the producers know more than we do, and that so long as we are prepared to take the risk of changing prices etc, that it’s probably better to hold. But I’m wondering what types of publicly available information might help us understand how much of a play there may be here. Or if anyone is aware of information regarding the potential for when drilling might start.
Many thanks for any advice. We are novices in this world.
Do the experts think that formation extends south through Carter County? Are most of existing wells to the NE of Carter? Does your well go for the Woodford? Thanks
Welcome to the forum. The deeper zones of interest are the Sycamore, Woodford and Hunton. The Woodford extends across several states as it is the Devonian source rock marine shale for many of the shallow fields above it. Horizontal drilling is extending into Carter County. Continental Resources pooled that section in September of 2020.
The case number was 202001383. The planned well is called Bryant 2-6-7XH and is a two section well with a surface location in 6 and a bottom hole location in 7. The are positioning the well to leave room for more possible wells in the future. (Hence your offers…) This particular well is planned for the Sycamore. Bryant 1-6-7XHW was filed in Dec 2019 with targets listed as Sycamore, Woodford and Hunton. Both were spud, but I do not see completions yet.
There are quite a few shallow fields across Carter with deeper potential horizons. Last year slowed down drilling, but I am seeing a gradual uptick this year depending upon location. Some wells were drilled last year, but not yet perforated and completed due to low prices. Offers may go out to mineral owners who are not aware that the wells were drilled. They want the potential royalties, so do pay attention to your areas and what is happening. You can look up the activity on the wells at the OCC well records site. https://imaging.occ.ok.gov/imaging/OGWellRecords.aspx
Production can be tracked on the OTC tax site. Gross Production
Wow, thank you for the detailed information. Very useful.
One thing I’m trying to understand (among many) is that the offers are coming from mineral interest buyers, not from from Continental. So I assume they have access to information on what the expected value of the play is in order to determine their offer. Is that publicly available information?
The case processing link allows you to see applications and pooling orders. The well records link allows you to see drilling applications, spud and completion reports and operator changes among other things. The ok county records will allow you to see if leases were recorded in your area.
There has been new drilling at shallower depths, (Deese Formation) and a pooling order in Aug. 2020 for the deeper Woodford and Sycamore Formations.
Thank you, Peter. Very helpful. I was especially interested in the county records as I see a lot of transactions recently from firms making the offers.
The buyers are professionals and make it their business to know what the value of different plays are. They have geologists, engineers and a team of trained professionals who know how to evaluate the potential performance of the reservoirs. Each buyer has their own particular strategy of what they are looking for, whether they are going to buy and flip or buy and keep, etc. If you are asking if there is a simple “list” out there in the public venue of what each play is worth in each section, then “no”. If you are asking if a trained individual knew where to find a lot of public data and put a plan together, then closer to a “yes”. There are some subscription packages by vendors that aid in those evaluations.
Thanks again, M_Barnes! Makes total sense. Profits often rest on asymmetric information. But being new to all this, I was wondering is some information might find its way to the public.