EOG Glacier C well Gonzales County Texas is near our family’s Lavender Thiede well, operator Penn Virginia.
I’m concerned.
Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.
Is the new well a horizontal well? Is your well vertical or horizontal ?
New well is horizontal on 220 acres, my well is vertical. I am new to getting involved. My dad was David Thiede and he worked with Penn Virginia to try to get to move forward on fracing without success… yet. It seems like our operator, Penn Virginia is not acting in our best interest, but I could be wrong.
Don’t confuse the surface location with the whole well path. The wells can be rather close together and not impact (or impact) each other. Depends upon if they are in the same reservoir.
Have no idea if Penn is working in your best interest or not; but, IMHO, Penn is one of the big boys, so they will do their best to keep EOG from pumping their oil. With that said, 1500 feet is a long way from your well, so they could legally drill much closer. First, even thought the drilling rules don’t favor the mineral owner, the RRC has some set back rules to help with your concerns; but, still much less than 1500 feet. To add to this, I doubt very seriously that EOG is drilling a horizontal well on 220 acres. If they are, that is extremely rare. They may be drilling on a 220 acre surface tract; but, I suspect they have pooled other acreage so they can drill a decent lateral length.
according to rail road commission our Penn virginia wells are horizontal wells but are not active - if the legend and icons are correct
also it appears that the EOG well runs south through non-EOG owned properties but not north - the location of our wells, so perhaps it isn’t as bad as I think
EOG well value is an estimated “$3+ million per month for an 5 percent interest owner” and ~ 1300 feet away our well is bringing in a few thousand a month - per ShaleXP
Yes, it is likely that EOG has pooling agreements with neighboring leases. My dad was a petroleum engineer so I am familiar with horizontal wells and how surface does not equate to sub-surface activity. I also know that 1200’ is the pooling agreement space between wells and Glacier C is actually 1300’ from the Lavender Thiede well. EOG is creating a low pressure reservoir that siphons reserves from surrounding property and that is perfectly legal. My concern is that Penn Virginia has only held the lease with the minimal agreed production, are not doing anything to defend the oil on our lease by drilling an offset well nor commencing with horizontal drilling and fracing. I disagree with Penn Virginia’s strategy. What are my options?
Not sure if this helps at all, but PV is not in the best financial state at the moment. Following their failed merger, and stock price being near the 52 week low. They are most likely looking for a new suitor, they have already filed for bankruptcy in the past and with the DNR Merger dead, they are in a cash flow crisis. I wouldn’t expect any action out of PV at the moment, it appears they are working on boosting their portfolio to find a new merger/acquisition deal. And I am saying this having worked 15+ years in the industry, a stock owner in PV, and a current royalty owner and mineral buyer in the area. There is very little confidence in PV in the play at this time.
Thank you for taking time to reply. I wondered if PV was struggling financially. Even so, their staff have been great about helping us transfer ownership in the wells.
I hope to continue lobbying for drilling the Eagle Ford on our leases by hiring a land man or lawyer to assist me. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Without a continuous drilling clause in your original OGL, I’m not sure any level of lobbying for drilling your leases will help. Once your held by production, its on the oil companies timeline on when and where they drill. With Oil futures predictions right now not showing a heavy upward swing, the likelihood of seeing activity is slim. Most market analysis would tell you we are more likely to see oil in the $30s than the $70s. All oil companies are going to drill for economics, as their shareholders are all calling for seeing green on the ledger. So until we see oil get a significant boost you are going to see rig counts shrink. The big guys can still drill and be profitable if they have a nice spot, but the little guys have to tighten their belts and pick their rig placing carefully. As writing this PV only has one new rig up since August in Gonzales- API-42-177-34195 in the Cannonade Springs Unit, which is a sure sign of the times. Again I believe and others I have spoke with that PV is trying to fluff their portfolio and look for a new buyout/merger since the death of the DNR deal.
Thank you for taking time to reply. I appreciate your insight. I’m curious why Texas allows fracking in such close proximity to neighboring wells without requiring pooling. The courts in Pennsylvania ruled in favor of a mineral owner in our predicament. Fracking, even though it is just outside of the legal distance required for extending a pooling agreement offer, is equivalent to drilling on our lease.