Culberson County, TX - Oil & Gas Discussion archives

This is truly great news! How do we exploit this being that - after all these years we’ve owned it, we have not tapped into it? We’re excited but unsure who to contact next. Perhaps we should counter the petroleum guy’s low-ball offer? Thank you again for your wealth of knowledge. It really is appreciated by newcomers like me.

Surface rights include the water rights on the property in Texas…depending on how deep the fresh water aquifers go. Around
me in Reeves county, they extend down to 2000 feet depth.
Ten years ago or so, $300/surface acre was about the average…$150 to
$750/acre was the range then. Now it starts at $750 and goes up
to $10,000/acre for surface property in Culberson county.

My advice is to hold out for more reasonable offers if you need the
money and want to get rid of the land. By the way, where is the land
in relation to Van Horn? I was just out to a homestead on 10 acres 12
miles south of Van Horn on Green River road…and the guy paid $3000
for the acreage he owns there.
Be advised the exploratory drilling of the stacked shale plays under Culberson county has just barely begun and the companies KNOW the
production reserves for both gas and oil are there…so as the exploitation advances, the price of land will go up and up to whatever
the oil and gas company market will bear.

By the way, SpaceX and Blue Origin space cargo businesses depend on
American made BE4 and BE6 liquid fueled rocket engine boosters. And
guess what they are using for fuel…LIQUIFIED NATURAL GAS…LNG and
liquid oxygen!! Natural gas produced in west Texas and liquified in
a plant on their property north of Van Horn…and a plant to liquify
oxygen from the atmosphere. So, their spaceport is going to be self
sustaining…all PRIVATELY owned with no US Government involvement.

Don’t sell your surface rights land. Lease a Right of Way to an oil company
or pad sites for drilling, but don’t sell your property. You can turn
that 10 acres into a monthly income stream by leasing the surface for some operations…like having a saltwater disposal facility or a fresh
frack water sales facility on it.

Thank you Lawrence! Our land sits in Van Horn, TX. Is this a good thing? We are such novices at this that I feel offers that we are getting low-balled with their offers to us. To think we even considered selling at $800 for all of it not knowing what we know now.

MJ Pas…Yes, having land in and around Van Horn is a good thing because
Van Horn is gonna start growing soon. In addition to all the oil and gas
exploratory drilling in Culberson county, many plastic products companies will be building manufacturing facilities along the IH 10
corridor because their raw material resource will be abundantly available
there and new gas fired electrical generation facilities will be tied into
the Texas ERCOT internal power grid. Electrical energy will be cheap and abundant there which will greatly enhance businesses there.
Remember that Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX spaceport
facilities are just 15 miles north of Van Horn. Their spacecraft taking
cargo to the ISS space station and other destinations will stimulate the
economy around Van Horn, too.

You can lease your 10 acres as a site for a natural gas compression plant
where gas gathered from surrounding wells is compressed to 900 PSI
and put in natural gas transmission pipelines.

Just hold onto your surface land and be patient. You WILL get a lot more offers…so don’t take the first one. Things will become increasingly
competitive…wait for the frenzy.

This is a wonderful idea. I’m just waiting for that day when they come knocking at our door. Thanks for the advice Lawrence!

Wade, thanks for posting this Apache update. Have you seen anything from Cabot or Devon on this area (they are basically in Alpine High to the SE)?

The O&G Journal this month has an article about Exxon/Mobile about to spend 52 Billion dollars in exploration/exploitation of the Permian and
Delaware basins.
Another source says Exxon/Mobil is projecting to spend 22 Billion in
proving fields in Culberson county.

I think the bulk of exploration for the next year will be done South of Van Horn, all the way to the Rio Grand river.

Rock Man,

I haven’t done anything with Cabot in the area. Devon has tried to get a foothold and has drilled a few wells. Not sure of results.

Cabot is supposedly working under the name "Cody Petroleum. Both they and Devon have not released any info on their drilling results yet.

I’m up in block 112 and getting an offer for surface only. Well after talking to some county officials, they advised holding. Too many people offering little for a lot

They were asking to buy my surface rights for 2200 for 10 ac

MJPas…Once again I counsel you to WAIT. Don’t sell your surface or mineral rights to anyone…don’t lease anything yet. The feeding frenzy has not yet started in Culberson county, but it IS coming!! Culberson will have 75 rigs running before June as the exploration/production frenzy picks up. Just wait.

The response is great. Glad to be on this blog. Even if nothing happens I have great land neighbors.

I was wondering if any of you would know if Antelope Productions is a reputable company. They initially offered us $300/ac (9.24 acres) but thank goodness for this forum I learned so many things about the latest in Culberson County so we have learned to ask them to make their best offer and we will look at it. They came back with $541/ac for surface rights only. Pre-forum awareness, We would have jumped on this but now that I’m more aware of the goings-on in that area, I am more inclined to hold out. Any thoughts?

They tell me yes, I think its time for a road trip. The county told me that more interest in this area is a pipeline.

Diving into the Tx RRC site to see what is happening may be better than a road trip to the field. You can’t see permits and it is even difficult to see well heads as well as access locations of any active wells.

Antelope Production (no “s”) is a lease brokerage firm based in Dallas the serves and the “front company” for acquiring leases from mineral owners. The funds for all their work (and bonuses paid to mineral owners) is coming from their client (who is normally kept confidential). They have been active in Culberson County since 2014 - mostly in Block 42.

Although I don’t know anyone at this company personally or professionally, the fact that they have been doing this in Culberson Co going on 4 years would indicate to me that they are a legit company that pays their bills and honors their commitments.

P.S. Their objective - and that of their client who is paying the bills - is to get minerals and surface leased for as low a price as possible. Which is why having a forum like this helps in educating individuals as to what is happening in their areas