This is all alien to me and despite reading about minerals, leasing sections and permitting I feel I’ve gained at best an inch in the mile of understanding. Family has 1200 acres in Sheridan County 34N 52E. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around using the GIS and other sites to narrow down what’s happening and when. In any event this is my first post and I wants to thank everyone for making so many quality posts - specifically Charles!
Grumpet:
Thank you for your compliment. Most of us on this forum are just novices, in the process of answering questions while learning ourselves. This forum serves as an information highway to all mineral owners. Your family has a very large amount of acreage in an area that has alot of potential for future activity. Your immediate area has a few old plugged wells but there is a producing well in T34N;R52E;Section 7 and one just spudded in T33N;R52E;Section 1. Are your minerals currently under lease? With that much acreage, you should be able to negotiate a very good lease so don't sell yourself short. I think that over the next 3 years, this area of Sheridan County will see some serious developement as several formations, mostly untapped, remains within your vicinity. Keep an eye out for drilling permits, etc. in your area and you can do this by reviewing the Montana Oil and Gas website. Good luck.
I was unable to locate anything specific about producing wells in that section but I fully admit that I'm in the early hominid stage on this. Seriously Charles, you really do know more than the average bear on these issues so I will watching what you post LOL! My Dad negotiated the lease and from what I understand there is slightly more than 1 year left on that.
With my primitive intelligence in this area I figured if the wells that are drilled in our area hit oil that would cause the big fish to see how much else may be there. Again, thanks for all of your posts - most of what I've been able to figure out thus far has been due to your posts!
Grumpet:
I will advise that when your lease gets within approx. 6 prior to the lease date, the current lessee or another company will approach you with a lease extension or top lease offer. At this point, you need to evaluate what wells have been drilled within the proximity of your minerals and note the amount of production for the well or wells. Just remember, if your lease expires, you can market your mineral leases to anyone and don't be in a hurry to lease as you want to get the best lease terms. Two things that are very important in negotiations, the term of the lease (should be no longer than three years) and the % royalty (check at the time to see what the going rates are). Of course the lease bonus but again check the going rate. Your family has alot of acreage in an area primed for future drilling activity so don't sell yourself short on the leasing end.
Grumpet Brumblecutt said:
I was unable to locate anything specific about producing wells in that section but I fully admit that I'm in the early hominid stage on this. Seriously Charles, you really do know more than the average bear on these issues so I will watching what you post LOL! My Dad negotiated the lease and from what I understand there is slightly more than 1 year left on that.
With my primitive intelligence in this area I figured if the wells that are drilled in our area hit oil that would cause the big fish to see how much else may be there. Again, thanks for all of your posts - most of what I've been able to figure out thus far has been due to your posts!
Thanks for the advice Charles, we will go slow for sure. A have another question for ya & that's how to determine the well output for an active well as identified as such on the www.bogc.dnrc.mt.gov site? I am unclear as to a way to see the stats for the sites I see on that website?
Grumpet:
There is a subscription service or a monthly production report that you can subscribe to via the NDIC which will show the monthly production information. I believe there is a yearly fee of $50 for this service. Go to the NDIC website, click on FAQ/Website Help on the left, click on "Where do I find monthly production for wells"; click on this and follow the directions. Hope this helps.
Grumpet Brumblecutt said:
Thanks for the advice Charles, we will go slow for sure. A have another question for ya & that's how to determine the well output for an active well as identified as such on the www.bogc.dnrc.mt.gov site? I am unclear as to a way to see the stats for the sites I see on that website?
I thought that site would just provide information for wells in ND? I'll call them today and check into that. Thanks again Charles.
Grumpet:
The NDIC will provide only the information on wells in ND. I must have misunderstood what you are wanting. What State are interested in?
Grumpet Brumblecutt said:
I thought that site would just provide information for wells in ND? I'll call them today and check into that. Thanks again Charles.
Property I'm most interested in is located in Sheridan County Montana. I can see one well fairly close in 35N-51E Section 36 as well as another "black dot" in section 7. Moving down on that same dnrc.mt map I see another well in 33N-52E section 1 that's spudded ( I take that to mean they are just starting to drill? ).
If I'm interpreting the map correctly the two wells in 35N-51E would be the only two "producing wells", thus far that are in proximity to the sections my Father owns. I'm wondering how one would determine the production levels for specific wells located on the dnrc.mt map?
I've also noticed that some of the wells are simply a solid black dot while other black dots ( especially in Richland County ) have red lines on either side of the black dot that appear, in some cases, to stretch through the whole section of land. I was wondering if the red lines indicate a well that is horizontal and it simply indicates the direction according to the map that the pipe is running?
Sorry to pester you with so many questions & like I said initially - I'm a newbie to all this and am trying to provide my Dad with all the "good" information I can.
2782-MRFORUMshotofsection.png (356 KB)
Grumpet;
When you have the GIS map magnified, you will be able to see your Township/Range/Section; click on the "i" w/ black background (which is an icon at the top); click on the individual dots and the information will appear at the bottom of the page (operator name, well name, etc.).......Now in the lower right hand of this box you will see "Show Production Data" and under that "Show All Production Data" which will be in blue. Click on this and you should be able to see any production on that well. The well you refer to in T35N;R51E;Section 36 indicates the following: Sagebrush Resources LLC; well name is SBR 1-36H (H stands for horizontal); well is currently producing; the field is Redstone; no production data available which could indicate that the well was recently drilled and still in the confidential stage (no information yet to be released). Follow those directions on any dot on this map and it will give you the information plus the production data if applicable. The red lines do indicate horizontal wells but if the well ID has an "H" in the number, this is another indication that the well is horizontal.
Grumpet Brumblecutt said:
Property I'm most interested in is located in Sheridan County Montana. I can see one well fairly close in 35N-51E Section 36 as well as another "black dot" in section 7. Moving down on that same dnrc.mt map I see another well in 33N-52E section 1 that's spudded ( I take that to mean they are just starting to drill? ).
If I'm interpreting the map correctly the two wells in 35N-51E would be the only two "producing wells", thus far that are in proximity to the sections my Father owns. I'm wondering how one would determine the production levels for specific wells located on the dnrc.mt map?
I've also noticed that some of the wells are simply a solid black dot while other black dots ( especially in Richland County ) have red lines on either side of the black dot that appear, in some cases, to stretch through the whole section of land. I was wondering if the red lines indicate a well that is horizontal and it simply indicates the direction according to the map that the pipe is running?
Sorry to pester you with so many questions & like I said initially - I'm a newbie to all this and am trying to provide my Dad with all the "good" information I can.
Thanks AGAIN Charles - I now see the light. Given you are such a good source of information would you have any idea where I could find a section map that marks out the outline of the specific sections owned? My Dad owns property within several sections of 34N 52E and I’ve not found a map as of yet that marks out how the sections are laid out.
Do you know approximately how long after a well is producing that it stays in the confidential status? The other thing I was curious about is if there is a rubric in oil drilling that more feet of shale = better? I heard that one of the older wells that was drilled in our area MANY years ago had 75 feet of shale ( but as I understand that was prior to the tech to get oil out of that. I didn’t know if it was a general rule that the more shale underground was better?
Again, thanks for all of your help - if you are ever in Seattle you need to PM me.
Grumpet:
First, to address your question about sections. The individual blocks on the GIS map are sections (640 acres). Now if your talking about specific areas within a Section, I would contact the Montana Oil and Gas Commission in regards to that specific question. I know this type info is out there but not sure where to find it. A well in confidential status is for a term of 6 months. After 6 months, downhole information can be obtained. In my opinion, the shale is an important factor but the main factor is the technology used today such as the 3D seismic tests which tells us if the area has drilling potential (enough show appears that would make an 8 - 9 million dollar feasible.) My family love Seattle and we spent the night in downtown Seattle back in 2010 on our way to Alaska. Great city and hope to visit again in the future. It's a long way from Texas to Seattle. I will try and remember to let you know the next time we travel that direction.
Grumpet Brumblecutt said:
Thanks AGAIN Charles - I now see the light. Given you are such a good source of information would you have any idea where I could find a section map that marks out the outline of the specific sections owned? My Dad owns property within several sections of 34N 52E and I've not found a map as of yet that marks out how the sections are laid out.
Do you know approximately how long after a well is producing that it stays in the confidential status? The other thing I was curious about is if there is a rubric in oil drilling that more feet of shale = better? I heard that one of the older wells that was drilled in our area MANY years ago had 75 feet of shale ( but as I understand that was prior to the tech to get oil out of that. I didn't know if it was a general rule that the more shale underground was better?
Again, thanks for all of your help - if you are ever in Seattle you need to PM me.
Ok, I figured out how to extract the owner information for individual plats within a Township… …By using the Montana Cadastral. http://svc.mt.gov/msl/mtcadastral/
A) hit search then choose a county.
B) Choose a name ( list of those surnames will populate )
C) once the correct name is identified - click on it.
The map will open up to the the Township, section of Township and the plat owned by that individual… …The plat owned by “that” person will be outlined in blue. …Zoom in the map slightly.
The other plats within that same section will be also outlined - and you simply need to “click” another section… …And the owners information will appear to include acres plus the size in acres of their land. …The zoomed map can then be printed out and used orientate plats against the Montana webmapper.
Do you know if “every” new well enters into a 6 month confidential status? …Or do some of the newly spudded wells post their productivity in under 6 months? …I’ve also noticed some wells in Sheridan County that show “SHUT IN”? Is this a bad thing? …Or does it simply mean they cant easily move the oil for some reason?
Sorry to keep beating answers out of you but the more I read the more I realize I don’t know about oil drilling… …I’m guessing that if the bedwell site in section 1 near our property is a bust it will not be good? …But then again perhaps with nearly 1000 mineral acres it might not be all lost if the Bedwell doesn’t produce.
As always thanks for being here for us newbies.
Grumpet:
All of the new wells that I have been associated with has been placed on confidential status. This holds true for most all wells in both MT and ND. I have minerals in both States so I keep up wells in both areas. The "Shut IN" wells means that the well production had depleted to a point of not being profitable to produce. If you notice, many wells are either "shut IN" or plugged and some of the plugged wells were actually still producing but at the time, oil was cheap and it wasn't profitable to produce. Also, some of these old wells have downhole problems such as holes in the tubing, etc. which gets very expensive to pull and repair. I have read articles about operators who are considering the re-entry into some of these old wells. Has seismic been conducted on your acreage. This will be a major factor in producing drilling interest. Good luck and I envy you for living in an area that has great weather (temp wise). Right now, the temp here in East Texas is 104 degrees. I just sit and dream of October to get here.
Grumpet Brumblecutt said:
Ok, I figured out how to extract the owner information for individual plats within a Township...
..By using the Montana Cadastral.
http://svc.mt.gov/msl/mtcadastral/
A) hit search then choose a county.
B) Choose a name ( list of those surnames will populate )
C) once the correct name is identified - click on it.
The map will open up to the the Township, section of Township and the plat owned by that individual....
...The plat owned by "that" person will be outlined in blue.
...Zoom in the map slightly.
The other plats within that same section will be also outlined - and you simply need to "click" another section...
..And the owners information will appear to include acres plus the size in acres of their land.
..The zoomed map can then be printed out and used orientate plats against the Montana webmapper.
Do you know if "every" new well enters into a 6 month confidential status?
...Or do some of the newly spudded wells post their productivity in under 6 months?
...I've also noticed some wells in Sheridan County that show "SHUT IN"? Is this a bad thing?
...Or does it simply mean they cant easily move the oil for some reason?
Sorry to keep beating answers out of you but the more I read the more I realize I don't know about oil drilling...
...I'm guessing that if the bedwell site in section 1 near our property is a bust it will not be good?
...But then again perhaps with nearly 1000 mineral acres it might not be all lost if the Bedwell doesn't produce.
As always thanks for being here for us newbies.
I love Seattle area weather - it's often overcast and cool here and after living several years in GA while in the Army I really appreciate the Pacific Northwest weather! How did you end up with property in both MT and ND? My Dad's Family came over from Norway way back in the day and got a homestead.