I drove by the wellsite yesterday morning. Rig is gone, but the gate guard RV is still there. In addition, there was a guy sitting in a pickup parked beside the RV.
It’s possible that they are still moving equipment out (can’t see the pad from the road) which would explain why the gate guard is still there. However, it is also possible that they only had a rig commitment for the test well and perhaps another rig will be brought in soon.
It can take several weeks to evaluate test results and develop a drilling plan.
Grapeland, Texas is located in Houston County. This Yancy well is located in the northwest part of Houston County west of Grapeland. This area has all had both 2D and 3D shot over it. PGS did the 3D about 2011-2012. It was a total of about 500 plus square miles in this area done in 3 separate phases. They also did some in Madison and Leon Counties. This is a very old “play” started in about 1981. Horizontal Drilling at depths of 20,000 feet was not possible then. All these deep well test were vertical. No horizontal well has EVER been drilled at the 20,000 depth in Houston County.
I got a call on 1-22-2025 from a local landowner that said that a “Workover Rig” was being moved in and also said there were 10 “frack tanks” at the Bob Yancy location west of Grapeland. Better than nothing! Also got a call about a mineral buyer the last few days contacting mineral owners in the immediate area.
Thanks for the update…I drove by there a few days ago and the gate was open and had streamers on it, possibly suggesting that equipment was going to be brought in.
Most every oil drilling locations I’ve seen over the year’s in East Texas have many different company signs on the entrance. The only one that I’ve seen on this location in the past was the Drilling Rig #. Everything is a “Big Secret”!
I have had several reports that there are mineral buyers trying to buy in this immediate area to the Yancy Well even after the Drilling was completed. They are active right now. So they most likely have inside information on this well that is promising.
Gate still open. Gate guard still there. Workover rig gone, but replaced by large crane like you typically see in frac operations. I was not able to see to the base of the crane, but I expect a test frac operation has begun or will begin shortly.
2-18-2025 I got a call from a local land owner today that said that the Yancy Well location is closed. The gate guard is gone. Also another company man I know said that he was told by one of his contacts that this is an EOG backed well. Maybe so and Maybe Not! Time will tell.
Based on info provided to date, I’m thinking this well has to be EOG or Chesapeake (now named Expand). I’ve leaned more towards CHK since they primarily are a gas company.
I also think that this well and the Houston County leasing are connected with the seismic work and leasing that has occurred in Cherokee County. That project started in February 2021 with East Texas Energy and Key Energy writing two-year seismic options that were followed by most of those being converted into O/G leases with three-year primary terms. Many of those leases will reach the end of the primary term in 2026, so we should see some assignments and drilling action this year.
If drilling is to proceed at the Yancey location, we should soon see lease memos filed in Houston County by Drake Exploration (Drake wrote the lease for the Yancey well, but nothing has been filed to date). It is likely that Cypress Energy leasing in Houston County is part of this project as well.
Does anybody know of a way to access Houston County Deed Records other than TexasFile? The reason I ask is that TexasFile is frequently more than a month behind.
Chesapeake had a lot of wells planned south of the Yancy location back prior to 2012. At one time Chesapeake had 5 separate lease brokers in Houston County. When the Haynesville and Eagle Ford Shale plays started they suddenly stopped leasing in Houston County. Chesapeake is operated a lot differently than back in 2012. I think that a lot of these oil companies are still a little “WOKE” along with their Lender’s.
Thanks for posting! I did a search on TexasFile and discovered that Chesapeake recorded 5,000 documents in Houston County between 2006 and 2012. Most appear to be leases. I spot checked a few survey locations, and found them to be south, southwest, and west of Grapeland. In fact, 27 of the leases included acreage in the G Greenwood A-37 Survey where they Yancey well is located.
More circumstantial evidence suggesting that Chesapeake (Expand) is the company behind the Yancey well. Hope we find out soon!
I heard the same thing today. A good friend of mine that owns quite a few minerals west and north of Grapeland told me Drake is knocking on his door every day. He said they are definitely in a big hurry it seems. Drake must know competition is on the way.
