I'm not sure if I'm posting in the appropriate sub-forum and though I haven't been able to find references to my question in the FAQ's or other threads, suppose it may have been addressed in previous discussions, if so I apologize.
My family has leased out our Panola county Texas mineral rights upon which the operator subsequently placed a functioning gas well which has apparently been producing since 3/11. We've received a royalty check which covers the well's production from 3/11 through 8/11. However, though I'm under the impression that the production of such wells is posted on the TRC website, searches utilizing the lease number, well name, operator and other parameters which are available on the site's query interface produce no results specific to the well designation we were given. It doesn't seem to appear on RRC maps of the appropriate Survey either. I wonder if the well is too new to be posted on the TRC site or if perhaps the production of some wells isn't posted at all, and can't be viewed on the site? Searches using the operator name produce a list which includes among others a similarly named well with a different number and much lower production quantities, but not the well named on our documentation. I don't believe the problem is due to an error such as a typo or other incorrect input. I'd appreciate any guidance or advice about resources that might enable us to compare the official RRC record to the information on the operator's documentation which we've received.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Michael:
You might want to contact the Railroad Commission of Texas office in Kilgore, Texas (which is the District Office) and ask for guidence on how to properly use the RRC website. The information on this well should be posted on the website. The phone number to this offfice is as follows: (903) 984-3026. Hope this helps.
Thanks Charles, I feel like I've done a pretty determined search on the site but I may have made some blunder which I've been unaware of. At least I know now that the information should be available on the website.
I spoke to Wanda at the TRC, and she advised me that the permit on the well was pending and gave me a permit number to use in a search on the "Production Reports Query [Form PR]". That brought up the records. This permit number isn't on any of our documentation as far as I can tell, and I'm not sure if there would have been a way to access the well's production without Wanda's help. Anyway, Thanks for the TRC number Charles.
Michael:
I am confused about the "permit" being pending? I would think that if the well had been producing over the past several months, there would be a lease ID# assigned to the lease. Maybe the well has not been on-line long enough for a lease ID# yet. Most likely being in Panola County, I'm guessing this is a gas well probably a Haynesville Shale gas well. When the lease ID# is assigned, it will be a 6 digit number since it is a gas well while oil wells carry a 5 digit number. I know Wanda and she is very knowledgeable in regards to the records department. Good luck in resolving your problem.
Michael Helms said:
I spoke to Wanda at the TRC, and she advised me that the permit on the well was pending and gave me a permit number to use in a search on the "Production Reports Query [Form PR]". That brought up the records. This permit number isn't on any of our documentation as far as I can tell, and I'm not sure if there would have been a way to access the well's production without Wanda's help. Anyway, Thanks for the TRC number Charles.
Yeah, I'm a bit confused by the fact that the well has production records going back to 3/11 but still doesn't have a Lease ID# and doesn't show on the TRC maps of the pertinent survey as far as I can tell. It is a gas well. I'm not sure how Wanda found the permit #, I gave her the well name and she came up with it pretty quickly.
Sometimes it takes longer to get an ID# assigned than other times. It might be due to a backlog of new wells which causes delays.
Michael Helms said:
Yeah, I'm a bit confused by the fact that the well has production records going back to 3/11 but still doesn't have a Lease ID# and doesn't show on the TRC maps as far as I can tell. It is a gas well. I'm not sure how Wanda found the permit #, I gave her the well name and she came up with it pretty quickly.
Sadly (for me), I have recently been the victim of the RRC's backlog. In my case, the second well was drilled and completed 2 months before they had production on the first well. Both showed as permits with no production or completion. 8 month backlog in that district.
Buddy:
I've seen this problem at the RRC in regards to backlogs, ever since these massive gas shale plays came into the picture. Actually, even when Southwest Energy Production Co. started their developement just south of Tyler, Texas. It was a headache as wells were drilled and completed faster than the paperwork could be completed.
Buddy Cotten said:
Sadly (for me), I have recently been the victim of the RRC's backlog. In my case, the second well was drilled and completed 2 months before they had production on the first well. Both showed as permits with no production or completion. 8 month backlog in that district.
Buddy Cotten
Mineral Manager
Charles, Buddy; I am rarely in favor of bigger government, but I would be in favor of the state hiring more people for the RRC. We probably have 50 people on the state payroll making sure nobody disturbs an egret.
charles s mallory said:
Buddy:
I've seen this problem at the RRC in regards to backlogs, ever since these massive gas shale plays came into the picture. Actually, even when Southwest Energy Production Co. started their developement just south of Tyler, Texas. It was a headache as wells were drilled and completed faster than the paperwork could be completed.
Buddy Cotten said:
Sadly (for me), I have recently been the victim of the RRC's backlog. In my case, the second well was drilled and completed 2 months before they had production on the first well. Both showed as permits with no production or completion. 8 month backlog in that district.
Buddy Cotten
Mineral Manager
rw:
I used to know the internal workings at the RRC very well since I worked in the Oil and Gas Division for about 15 years. I know operators would complain about the backlog in the records department back in the mid 1990's. I can't imagine what the load has grown to today with the Barnett Shale, Haynesville Shale and Eagle Ford Shale plays.
r w kennedy said:
Charles, Buddy; I am rarely in favor of bigger government, but I would be in favor of the state hiring more people for the RRC. We probably have 50 people on the state payroll making sure nobody disturbs an egret.
charles s mallory said:
Buddy:
I've seen this problem at the RRC in regards to backlogs, ever since these massive gas shale plays came into the picture. Actually, even when Southwest Energy Production Co. started their developement just south of Tyler, Texas. It was a headache as wells were drilled and completed faster than the paperwork could be completed.
Buddy Cotten said:
Sadly (for me), I have recently been the victim of the RRC's backlog. In my case, the second well was drilled and completed 2 months before they had production on the first well. Both showed as permits with no production or completion. 8 month backlog in that district.
Buddy Cotten
Mineral Manager
In my own case the information I was seeking was available on the RRC site, I was simply too green to realize that I needed to learn the permit # to make a query. The confusion was exacerbated by the fact that our division order had a six-digit number which was labeled a "property" number and fit the digit count I learned was appropriate for gas wells. The survey map on the RRC site displayed the well under a different (temporary?) number with information that didn't seem to quite fit the picture I had of the well in question, and as I remember the well icon yielded no access to production records when clicked with the "identify wells" map tool. However all the relevant production records were available once I had the permit # and knew to utilize the "Production Reports Query [Form PR]" instead of the map viewer.
I later performed another search for a survey spelled "Mary Galbraith" in our hard-copy documentation, a survey containing other mineral rights which also belong to us. No luck, but a map search of the area revealed a survey labeled "Mary Gilbriath" south of Terrell where the mystery mineral rights are located. Apparently the RRC search engine is not enabled to produce results from almost correct alternate spellings or typos (either on our documentation or the RRC's) in the way that a Google search will offer results when it encounters similar but inexact matches.