Well permit basics

I have mineral rights in Williams County, and have one well on 1/4 of our property. Can someone help me with the following:

  1. Do well permits have a time period during which they must be exercised?
  2. I know how to see daily, new permits; but is there a pace to see all permits for a given area?
  3. A permit was issued in Sep 2010 for part of our property, but cancelled in Jan 2012. Does thar necessarily have negative connotations for oil on the property?

JimS:

A permit is good for one year after it is issued. If a permit was issued in Sept. of 2010 and no activity took place, then it would be cancelled one year later unless the operator renewed the permit. You really can't let this type action give you negative connotations since sometimes it is impossible to second guess oil companies and their decisions. On one hand, you can say that their interest was lessened due to several under producing wells or the investor side had problems or the operator pulled away to drill in other areas which are nearing expiration dates. One thing that weighs heavy in this matter is when does the lease expire? Again, there are so many reasons this type situation could occur and I stopped trying to second guess these companies a long time ago. I am at the point that when a rig is on location, you can begin thinking positive.

JimS, to put it in perspective permits cost about $100, that's a little under 8 cents per acre in a 1280. I have a few acres in a spacing with a great well in the next spacing. My spacing has been permitted, permit permanently cancelled repermitted with multiple permits, changed hands to a different operator and permitted again. When do I think they will drill ? Haven't got a clue ! While an operator will have a permit before drilling, any permits before drilling are essentially meaningless til the bit hits dirt. I agree with Charles, I have given the exact same advice before, that the better indicator would be lease expirations.

Charles and RW,

Thanks for the response. I have subsequently learned that G3 cancelled the permit because they have leases expiring just to the south (157-102 & 102) and will come back to property in Jan of 2013 - six months before lease expiration.

Jim