What is the highest spacing in the area? Right now NE of Ardmore it is 640, but XTO has requested an increase in Section 30, Township 3S, Range 3E.
They have wells they are drilling under two sections in Grady and Blaine that I know about. Blaine was the first one.
Daniel, The largest unit allowed in Oklahoma is 640 but a recent ruling was made that allows 1280 but it is actually 2-640s called a multi-unit. The royalty interests are still held in their original units and production is allocated according to the footage of completion interval in each unit. The first one drilled in OK was by Continental Resources and the allocation was 47%/53%. The theory is apparently that the royalty owner will get the same as he would have otherwise received and the Operator drills a longer lateral for a lot less money than the cost of two separate wells.
I should have asked:
What is the SMALLEST spacing?
Daniel, I have found on the OCC website that the first well XTO drilled in that section, the Hobbs 1-30H, had a surface location in Section 31 but the completion interval was in Section 30, thus the production is coming from Section 30. Now they have applied for Increased Density to drill the Hobbs 2-30H which will have both the surface location and bottom hole in Section 30. They have also applied for a Location Exception and a Rules Exception. I don’t see anything that indicates an increase in the size of the drilling unit. It looks to me if you are in Section 30 you will be getting a second well!
You got a lot more info in just a short time - HOW DID YOU DO THAT?
I have the Increase Well Density application, but I don’t see anything about the surface location, so I assumed that it would also be in Section 31.
I have not seen anything about a Location Exception, but I do see the Rules Exception.
The Location Exception was listed in the OCC case processing database on May 29 along with the other apps. This well, Hobbs 2-30H, will be entirely in Section 30. Back in December XTO got final orders for the Cook 03-06H31 with surface in Section 6-4S/3E and completion in Section 31-3S/3E. Probably finished by now, this follows the Cook 1&3.
I don’t know the smallest spacing allowed. I believe back in the old days they were drilling vertical wells in 10-acre units, nowadays I think it is usually 80 acres for a vertical and typically 640 for a horizontal. But I do know there have been some horizontals in half sections of 320 acres.
What are your thoughts on the four wells going in at Section 27, Township 3S, Range 2E - NE SE SE SE WALLS 1,2,3,4-27H26?
Does this mean that XTO got some 20-acre spacing?
Daniel,
Since these are horizontal wells, I don’t believe they are spaced by acreage but rather by footage from section lines and footage between well bores. They most likely take each case individually, but I have seen several orders where the wells are placed 330 ft. from section lines with 330 ft. allowed on each side of the well bore. Using this method, each wellbore would be 660 ft. apart and you could get 8 wells per 640-acre section. This, of course, is a simplified version but should at least give you a rough idea how multiple wells are spaced within a section.