i have mineral rights to one section(640 acres) 22 north,26 west in ellis county oklahoma .there is two gas wells currently operating & two wells that have been capped & abandoned due to low productivity.the royality checks for the operating wells are getting less & less.would four wells deplete the amount of gas available on one section of land or is there a good possiblity future drilling will occur?
George,
Physically depletion is a function of the permeability of the gas reservoir and the difference between the pore pressure in the formation and the wellbore. Combine that with the cost of operating the well and you get the short term answer. Sounds like your section was developed on 160 acre spacing. 2 are plugged and 2 are plugging along.
Recent technology development has brought the development of several other formations for oil in Ellis County. M Barnes mentioned the Granite Wash but there are a few others being exploited. You may want to consider a closer look at your geologic potential and the corresponding options available to you. 640 acres is an attractive target for your lessee or others if you wish to pursue an aggressive role.
Gary L Hutchinson
Minerals Managment
thank you for your reply mr Hutchinson although I don't fully understand your answer.all this gas & oil well stuff is new to me.basically the royality checks are supplementing my social security income.i am concerened if I need to be prepairing for this royality income to be coming to a halt in the near future.also would the four wells deplete the gas available on the 640 acres?thank you again for your expert assistance on the subject.
In laymans terms, it sounds like the 4 previously drilled wells were drilled to the same formation (or depth), based on the very limited information you provided, it is probably NOT likely that further drilling will be done in that formation (or to that depth), but the possibility does remain that other formations (or depths) could be explored.
Specifically if there are more oil prone formations under your land as opposed to just gas prone. Hard to say if or when that will ever happen, doesn't look like much has gone on in that township in the past couple of years so I wouldn't anticipate much in the next year or two but only time will tell!
in response to your reply does that mean when these last two wells run dry and are capped the mineral rights to this section are pretty much useless?
George,
Were these 4 wells vertical or horizontal wells? The mineral rights will not be useless if there are other possible formations that are economically productive.
Clint Liles
how can I tell if they were horiz. or vert.?
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is the agency which oversees oil & gas operations in the state. The database containing all required filings with the state is below. You will need to insert as much of the requested information as you can in the fields them submit the query.
It should return a variety of information including copies of the drilling permit and other documents required by the state.
http://occpermit.com/wellbrowse/
Hope this helps.
George,
You are a good candidate for Secondary Recovery efforts. If they turn one or two of the wells into injection
wells, they can stimulate the recovery of gas in the other wells. Secondary recovery is called water flooding.
But, if there's a big source of carbon dioxide near you, they can recompress CO2 and inject it into the formation, repressurizing the gas cap in the producing formation and stimulating further gas recovery....that's called Tertiary Recovery.
Gas well recovery experts need to study the stratigraphy under your land and develop a recovery plan if
it makes good economic sense.
near Verhalen, Tx
Great answer!
Sounds like the consultant might be a good investment for this owner. Although there is no absolute answer to the owner's question, it certainly would provide him with additional knowledge of the future potential for his mineral rights.
hi Tom,i would appreciate the consulting company info.
Tom,could you please send me the consulting company info?thank you for your reply.
you get what you pay for in an evaluation or valuation (note the difference = reserves versus market value per USPAP ) . If its the cost of a home appraisal don't bother, its worthless for a decision like what royalty will fund the rest of your life with and how much when. There are data bases a GOOD petroleum appraiser has - that costs allocated $. That's state of the art, not volumetrics or land man back of the envelope calculations. First off very few if any reservoirs are tertiary recovery for gas - its almost always oil on gas well injection turnarounds. No carbon dioxide secondary and tertiary recovery are piloted for low API and hi viscosity oil, where a mobility is improved. Second, gas prices suck. Don't go there. Oil's the game. But get deeper below old formations that require horizontal lateral well-bores. Be prepped to pay up for this or sell out and invest in corrected stocks at much less risk of not having a boat arrive in time.
All good points cut through the fat.
Gary L Hutchinson