Apache, Primexx, Oxy, Noble, Exxon/Mobil, Chevron, and ShellWestern
are collectively planning on drilling 9000 wells over the next 18 months and expect at peak to have 250 rigs running in Reeves county.
That accounts for the 60,000 workers coming into the county over the next year…and they gotta have places to at least sleep occasionally.
Back in the 1930s, my Dad came to Winkler county in 1931 when he was 20 years old. The rigs were drilling so close to one another, you could step off the floor of one rig after an 8 hour shift, walk 70 yards, climb on the floor of another rig and work another 8 hours. He told me he HAD to work that way because they were ‘hot bunking’ at the Anchor Hotel where he stayed in Wink. That meant he only had a bunk for 8 hours out of every 24. Someone else was sleeping in that bunk the other 16 hours.
There was 40,000 workers in TENTS around Wink then.
It may get that bad around Pecos IF people don’t get their act together to
accommodate the workers who are going to be coming in in droves.
By the way, I knew Buddy Caldwell in Wink in the 60s. Worked for Texas Electric Service Company and was the local Boy Scout Master. Any kin?
250 rigs in Reeves?! That would be 1/4th of the current US Rig Count. And only by 7 Operators? As Wade said, there is currently 70+/-, 17 of which are by your 7 operators. I highly doubt that number triples in the next 18 months. Don’t get me wrong, I hope you’re right, I just can’t see it. However, that would probably just push Oil prices even lower. Nonetheless, Reeves is a great place to be in the oil biz.
Mike… Look for Brigham, J Cleo Thompson, and Resolute to be coming in there in the next 3 months. Brigham is drilling 2 miles east of me on east extension of county road 330 now.
There are other operators coming. ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Shell Western, Pure Energy, and many other upstarts just getting their capitalization together are coming, planning to exploit the area. With them will come thousands more workers who have to have SOMEPLACE to live at least temporarily.
And, there’s gonna be a flurry of gas and oil refineries being built here in west Texas near the production…because disruption by hurricanes, tidal waves, even earthquakes to the major consumers along the east and west coasts is simply unacceptable. (Of course you know those people count for far more in US society than do we who produced the oil and gas energy of this country!)
I never understood why, as an electrical construction foreman I was able to get $100/hour east of the Mississippi but only $17-20/hour in Texas! I always just assumed they had something against ‘oilfield trash’
I’m one of those Trust Fund Babies. Thanks, Grandpa. Stocks and bonds. Not Big Money. The Trust was started over 70 years ago. We would get statements listing the assets and the market price. There was one listing for something about Reeves Co. and an oil lease. It was carried on the books having no value. The Trust was distributed to us a few years back. Great. About a year and half ago, I received a big envelope. A Landman did the research and found us. It was an offer to Lease our mineral rights. I bit. I got a $4500 Bonus payment for my less than 1 acre. I don’t own any land. The oil company is privately owned. Found Money. I had no idea if and when they would actually drill a well. Guess what? They drilled two wells. Production started last June. I got my “Division Order”. I am going to get a Royalty check. They may drill more wells. Who knows? There is all this talk about Big Oil companies buying up Reeves. My Little Oil Company beat them to the punch. The Downside. The demand for rigs and workers will drive up the cost of drilling. The increase in production may drive down the price of oil. It is going to be a fun ride.
Anyone in the group around Pecos, Balmorhea, Toyah interested in building precaste concrete cabins/homes for the oilfield workers and their families that are moving in to exploit the Delaware basin oil and gas development?
You can develop your surface to bring in a steady income while maintaining your minerals and provide a place for new permanent residents for the area to grow.
My understanding is when an operator files a W-1 for a drilling permit that will require Railroad Commission to grant an exception to one of their rules (most often Rule 37 on spacing or Rule 38 on density) then any affected parties have to be given time to protest that waiver being granted. The operator applying for the drilling permit either has to provide RRC waivers of protest signed by those affected parties, or give RRC a service list with names and addresses of any affected parties they couldn’t get to sign so RRC can notify them of the application for the rule waiver. If some names or addresses can’t be determined the operators has to publish a notice about the application in a local newspaper for 4 weeks. The affected parties who have to be notified are other operators, or unleased mineral owners, that offset (directly adjoin) the area covered by the drilling permit application or are within a specified distance that is set by RRC rules. If the operator filing for the rule waiver notifies, or gets a waiver of protest. from an offset operator they aren’t required to notify the mineral owners that operator has under lease.
Received a notice that my operator wants comingle production from several wells and measuring monthly production by intermintent well testing instead of measuring each well individually. Have not heard of this before and was looking for comments.
AMOCO had VERTICAL wells around Wink when I worked for them, and you
could switch a well into a separator and separate tank to test the well for oil, gas, and produced water totals for 24 hours…and gather all that information in 5 minutes. I did it and so did all the other pumpers for AMOCO in the Wink area at that time.
By the way, AMOCO BECAME Apache Corp in 2004…so to my way of thinking, Apache in Wink is STILL AMOCO.
Horizontal wells are just as meticulously tested by Apache/AMOCO today.
Gentlemen, it is interesting to hear different points of view for sure, but as a layperson, it is very hard to decide who is right and who is not! It appears that perhaps there is correct information in each comment but for a novice it is very confusing.
Thanks for the reply…I’m learning lots by following this forum and have to admit I’m gradually catching on to much of the discussions. My great grandfather bought our property in 1917 (100 years now) and when I was a child and asked my parents for something, Dad always said, “wait until the oil well comes in!” We thought it was a joke until after my dad’s death and my mother received her first offer to lease in 2008. Since then it was been a roller coaster worth buying a ticket to ride.
There are inherent issues when production is not measured on a well basis before being commingled. The operator needs to define and commit to what is meant by “intermittent testing.” Is this monthly, quarterly, annually? Wells need to all be tested at the same time because the temperature variances affect the volume measurements. You do not not want one well tested in December and another well tested in July. Gas volumes can change very quickly. There is also the question about lease acreage expiration. Allocation method could keep a failed well alive and your lease in effect. If the wells are all within a single unit and the well ownership is identical, then there is not such a commingle issue. However, if your royalty decimal is not the same in the wells, then this is the operator saving expenses. Certainly testing must be at least quarterly for all the wells and you should have access to the testing data and to the method of allocation applied by accounting department for every month. Testing could take place and accounting might never change the allocation formula. You need all these commitments and promises in writing, not just an email or verbal from operator.
It’s alright, Kathleen. We are BOTH right, but TennisDaze never worked in the field 40 years ago testing wells each month and keeping paper records.
He is a product of modern day technology and operating methods.
Just be assured the major operators are meticulous about accurate reporting of gas, oil, and produced water totals from each formation, whether the well is commingled downhole or on the surface…and they have lots of ‘experts’ watching the production trends and comparing them to computer projections.
I didn’t mean to confuse you or upset you. My apologies, I’m kind of old and hard headed.
No results yet as far as I know, but I only have 2 acres (surface and mineral) of the 40 original acres. We leased in February . Ended up with $12,000 for a 3 year lease and I understand they are placing equipment to drill. Two permits taken out. Now we say to our kids and grandkids, “wait until the oil well comes in!” Apparently we will know before too very long if it is going to be worth it or not, but at any rate, it’s been fun to get a new education and speak to cousins I never knew I had! Great experience with, hopefully, some type of financial gain!
Would just like to get enough to assist the kids and grandkids! I think it was courageous of my mom and dad to not sell the property when there were many times they could have sure used the cash. And I know for sure my grandparents could have used the money. For us, at this time, it’s simply one of those wonderful things the old folks (listen to me say that when I’m in my 70’s!) did that we are still enjoying!