Have interest in Indultado well in McClain in April this year oil volume was 19,946 barrels, May volume was 2,000 barrels. Does anybody know what is going on? Thank You Larry C. Kerr
Larry, My family has interests in the Indultado well as well. We were shocked to see the production go from over 900 barrels a day to less than 70 in one month as well.
We were told that the Indultado well would be shut down for a few days in April (I think) for the fracking of the Moose well. That well is about 1/2 mile due west of Indultado. Sure enough, April production was down from the previous month to the 19,946 you mentioned. But to then go to 2,000 this month does not sound like normal well depletion. It makes me think that that fracking had some impact on Indultado even if it is 1/2 mile away. But even that seems a little extreme.
I would think that Casillas would want to give an explanation for this even if it does not legally have to. I would think it would save itself many phone calls. I hope you get some replies to this. There are probably many interested folks out there on this topic.
Larry, No criticism here, but if you were to post your heading something like “Indultado Oil Well Down 90% in One Month,” you might get more people to respond. I almost skipped your post myself! Glad I didn’t.
I’m not where I can look these two wells up right now. But shut-in because of fracturing of a nearby well is the most likely clue. However, I don’t understand the “few days.” The fracturing takes much longer than that if it is a multi-unit horizontal. I would guess more like 3-5 weeks if no issues come up. The wellbore distances could have reduced the timeline of risk to only occur during a portion of the fracturing process. That seems less likely.
An excellent suggestion @nobshere1. Using a descriptive title for your Topic, and placing it in an appropriate Category are the best way for everyone to benefit.
The McClain field office was the one that said a “few days.” I’m certainly not sure how much a well 1/2 mile away should be affected… but having no experience in the matter, I would expect it to be minimal. 90% is far from that! It is curious though. And we appreciate your responses!!
An excellent suggestion @nobshere1. Using a descriptive title for your Topic, and placing it in an appropriate Category are the best way for everyone to benefit.
Including the Section, Township, and Range on your inquiry also helps those that might have info find it quicker.
Depending on the geology and all of the details on these two wells, 1/2 mile could actually be very close and have a moderate risk.
Google “franc hit.” It is a growing issue both within the same increased densities of the same leasehold and in surrounding leaseholds.
There is no guarantee with a well. We had a pretty nice gas well that was doing fine, and the pipe collapsed on it. Prices were cheap, and they never revived it. Things can change in an instant. If they can get your well back up, I am sure they will. They have a lot of interest in doing so.
Rick said “Depending on the geology and all of the details on these two wells, 1/2 mile could actually be very close and have a moderate risk.”
True. There should have been evidence presented in the OCC hearings as to how far out the frac will affect the shale zone. I thought the evidence usually ranged around 330 feet, not 2,640 feet.
But my thoughts are worth what you paid for them.
Anyone have a camera on this well? Were there outside investors in the Indultado? What was the previous/post gas production? Just curious.
Indultado is mainly an oil well, very little gas. But for 2018 oil: It has produced 22k in January, 23k in February, 25.8k in March, 20k in April (short month and frack shut down), and 2k in May.
Quite a fall off I’d say.
Yes, it is a decline! Gas is nice because it is metered and it usually maintains a linear relationship with oil. Not so with oil. It requires a lot of pumping when the gas pressure is not present. Two months ago we caught a company. Watched a tanker load and then followed it to place of sales. We let it occur and then contacted OCC field man. I am leery (paranoid) of all oil companies until proven otherwise. This was 3N 1E Garvin and it was a “non-producing well,” non-revenue, non-gross production paying well.
Indultado has been a good well from day one without gas. Actually, its production has been increasing substantially for the past few months until this! I would not think a company doing as well as Casillas would try to pull off an illegality. They would be just fine without this well. A 90% reduction might look a little too suspicious I would think. 
However, they should stop the speculation with a little sunshine!
I do understand you. Just occasionally look in the rearview mirror.
Frank, I’m not sure about the evidence presented on how far the frac will impact in the applications. I have not seen it. But, I do know that the fracturing operation must be reported in advance to the operators of wells in the same common source of supply within 1/2 mile of the perforated lateral.
I have often wondered what prevented the stealing of oil. There is no telling how much of that has gone on. It is horrible to think people getting over 80% of the oil would do such a thing.
Sometimes, maybe most of the time, it is the saltwater haulers/truckers stealing the oil instead of the operator. To sell the oil, they must have a PUN to report the sale. Saltwater haulers will buy and “workover” an old well which magically starts producing again. The sale of the stolen oil is reported to the PUN of the old well.
Frank, This was the operator doing the stealing and laying it on another well. They applied for a SWD, but it has been declined because no commission hearings have been missed by a surface/mineral owner under the spacing. The water table is finally flushing from decades of abuse; so, I assigned 1/2 my minerals to a savvy OCC surface owner.
nobshere1… if they shut down your well for the usual time to frac another (as someone said for several weeks) that would explain the drop in production of your well I’d think. From what I’ve heard they found that if they didn’t shut down surrounding wells while fracing another sometimes it would kill the existing well… sometimes they would come back and sometimes not nearly as good as they were. If they did shut them down while the other fracing was being done they would usually make it up after they were started back up. This is all coming from the forum people back in our earlier years (from about 4 or 5 years ago). Best Wishes!