Thanks for the reply and the useful information, John. Your geology degree certainly trumps my 1 month geology course when I was a Shell Oil engineering trainee back in 1964.
Good to know about the 1/5 royalty and $200-250 in my area. In 1979 I was originally offered 1/6 but was able to negotiate 3/16 and $50/ac. My neighbor to the West, Bruce Brookshire (one of the Brookshire Bros. of the grocery chain), held out and got 1/5 but unfortunately the well on his place was dry. I would have had a few acres in the Brookshire 1 unit. Marshall had originally cleared a wellsite in the middle of the South 1/2 of my land but before they drilled, moved the well location adjacent and to the East and then cleared another site. I was really angry since they cut down some good pine timber (they did pay reasonable damages) but it was a good thing they moved it. Apparently, this was to locate on the good side of a fault. Brookshire’s dry hole turned out to be on the “wrong” side.
You had mentioned the Elrod #1 and Brushy Creek #2 being horizontal wells. They are both pretty deep. Do you know if that is the vertical depth or the total length of the well including the horizontal leg? There were at least 2 earlier Elrod wells several miles east of me when the Pert W field was being developed. The development went from East to West and ended with the Brookshire dry hole. I’m surprised that neither the Wade nor the Holcomb wells are permitted as horizontals. I couldn’t locate the drilling permit for the Sally Stone and don’t know whether it is vertical or horizontal.
The land man who called me was with RWT Land Services. I’ll try to find out the operating company he is representing and will let you know what they are offering. I know what you mean about being in a hurry; I’m 72 and can’t wait another 30+ years for the next big oil play! Thanks again.
Charlie