I'm looking into a friends mineral interest in blaine county, he's curious which horizontals are still active. On one hand the OCC well database says 2 old verticals are still active, however when you look on the OTC (Oklahoma Tax Commission) it says only one well is active. My questions is which source is more credible?
The OTC reflects the pay status of the wells, so from a financial point of view, they record who paid on the well and when. I lean toward them if I want to know value. For a horizontal, you may have an "active" status when it goes on their site as a new well. It may take a couple of months for the actual pay status to be reflected since the first checks don't go out for about six months after first sales. OTC usually four-five months behind in reporting.
From the OCC side (and the OTC side), well may still be listed as "active" even when it is not paying. It might have mechanical trouble, it might be only paying once a year if it is a stripper well or only has low volumes. A well may stay "active" because they are slow in plugging it. "Active" is a pretty nebulous term.
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I appreciate the insight, thanks.
Also, I have found the OTC to be more accurate regarding match the check stubs,especially for oil. Gas tends to be a few months late due to lots of logical reasons and is constantly being updated. The OTC will take off the old number and put in the corrected number and it should match your stubs. This is the tax site and should match your payor fairly closely. Also, remember that the gas numbers may or may not include the gas plant products and liquids, so that may not match exactly. They do have the new category for plant products, so that should help.
The OCC is frequently only measured at the wellhead meter, so does not account for shrinkage, line loss, etc. It is actual production. You only get paid on what makes it to the end, not what is lost along the way. And they frequently only report what the well is designated for such as gas well, oil well, etc., so you miss the other product. I check both, but I go with the OTC for matching check stubs.
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