The rig Geosouthern had drilling off FM 1697 just west of Burton and the one Chesapeake had drilling just south of 290 across from the intersection with FM 1948 both moved out recently. Does anyone know where they moved to?
The only rigs I know are working in the west end of Washington County right now are the two Patterson rigs sitting side by side on Harmon School Road between FM 1697 and Nixon Lake Road. One of those is drilling for Magnolia and the other for Chesapeake, and they were both on those sites before those other two rigs moved.
Since no one responded to my question, I’ll share what I heard elsewhere and hope somebody might have more to add.
The Patterson rig that just finished drilling three wells for Chesapeake (Wildhorse) from the pad that was furthest off Harmon School Road supposedly moved to Burleson County. There’s a rumor Chesapeake changed their mind about drilling from the last pad Wildhorse built before Chesapeake took over that was on the east side of 390 near Hoddeville School Road.
The other Patterson rig that drilled the single well for Magnolia (Enervest) from the pad that fronts on Harmon School Road supposedly moved back to the La Grange area.
Still no idea where the Santa Rosa rig went that Geosouthern recently used to drill two wells from the pad that is just outside Burton on the north side of 1697 but it also appears to have left Washington County.
Would definitely appreciate any information anyone can share on any of this.
Boy it sure has gotten quiet on this site and in Washington County in general. Is this the lull before the storm, or is this 1998 all over again! They were going like it was Spindletop, hit a dry hole on Adamek Rd., all we saw were the taillights as the rig left Washington County. I hope it is the former and not the later. Any good news out there at all?
The four wells that recently completed drilling off Harmon School Road west of 290 (three Chesapeake and one Magnolia) are being set up for frack and pipeline construction is underway. The results from those wells may impact what happens next.
The Patterson rig Chesapeake used there apparently moved to Burleson County and the one Magnolia used went to Fayette County. Neither company appears to have pads under construction or new permits filed in Washington County at this point. Geosouthern still has at least one pad ready to be drilled and has several permitted locations where they haven’t started dirt work yet. I’ll be surprised if they don’t move forward on something soon since they seem happy about making big gas wells and apparently are committed to keeping a lot of gas flowing to the big process plant AMP is building.
Dusty, most of the good inventory has been drilled and most the lands are now Held by Production. Activity will be somewhat quiet from now on. You will see a few rigs here and there but not much more in the Burton Area. The spacing of additional wells are uncertain but there is no reason to really drill more wells and risk it.
I’m interested if you have information that Geosouthern isn’t going to follow through on drilling the eight wells they already have permitted in the Burton area.
That includes four planned from the pad they completed a long time ago on Boundary School Road, three right around Burton and the Milam that is the offset to the wells Chesapeake is getting ready to frack on Harmon School Rd.
If that’s true Aspen Midstream will have a lot of excess capacity in the big plant they are building on Old Mill Creek Road based on gas commitments from Geosouthern.
They will drill them. There hasn’t been a new permit in over a month. Geo will permit maybe 3-5 more units, CHK 2-3 units. Verdun 5 units. After that there won’t be available land to unitize. Outside of these wells there won’t be many in that area. Everything will be HBP. Aspens midstream isn’t just this area, also it will take 2-3 years for them to finish all of their lines. Originally the plant was only supposed to be processing 14 mmcfpd. Now they are slating 200. This one line will only be filling around 60 depending on the point in decline of the aggregated wells. In regards to Geosouthern, it will depend on the IPs declines and timing. 1 of every 2 wells will be uneconomical. It is a statistical play. One additional thing no one has figured out is the spacing of these wells and wether there is any point to drill them. Right now we are only booking 1,500 ft spacing and have seen frac hits as far as 2,000 ft. Where aspens plant and lines are, are where several aggregated land positions are with no drilling. blackbrush, etc. also eog won’t be using aspen. Nothing is set in stone until it’s all built and drilled. I would say yes, there is going to be a lot of spare capacity in that plant. But for good reason. Best thing going for aspen is it’s new infrastructure is capable of high pressure gathering, when the older infrastructure is limited and aging.
Why wouldn’t EOG use Aspen? Their website shows a rich gas line down toward where EOG has the Tonkowa on the Fayette/Colorado Co line. Since a bunch are leased to EOG it is of some interest to discern their plans.
I wouldn’t think too much into it. Predominantly EOGs position is 98% dry gas. They built a almost 10 mile 12.75inch dry gas line to connect to the i-10 line. They do not plan on drilling more than one additional well. They will stem from this line in regards to their operation. If they do not have gas that needs processing, why would they send to aspens processing plant?
The line that Aspen shows on their website coming from the Tonkawa area connects to their line downstream from their processing plant. Do you have any source of info of what EOG’s plans are in the Austin/Washington Co line area. A lot of their leases in that area hit the 3 year point next Feb-March. Will be interesting to see what they do then.
If you pull up a detailed leasehold map the line crosses ONLY areas that has NGLs, and predominately verdun and geosoutherns acreage, not EOG. Like I said, this is a high pressure wet gas gathering line leading to the plant. EOGs acreage is 99.99% dry gas. They do not need the plant, they can plug directly into large intrastate lines, like they have already done at I-10 at huge cost with their 12.75 inch 10 mile line. They will continue to connect to their investments to this 100% owned line. Supposedly EOG is proud of their well, but they only plan to drill one more and then package to sell. They have since put up for market a similar asset in the area which I will not say where. They are not leasing or conducting land activities. Dry gas does not suit a company like EOG especially at these prices, however it could benefit another party that does not mind owning and developing dry gas. Also, EOGs well was incredibly expensive, it is marginally economical unless they get the well costs down by 40+%. Originally, there was a theory there would be more condensate and NGLs in the deeper portion which did not occur after tests. Due to the nature of this conversation please take this is hearsay and not fact and draw your own conclusions, however I will stand by what I am saying. I own alot of minerals and royalties in that area and would benefit from drilling yet I am not planning on having any developed properties down there in the next 3-5 years.
Well that is not what I had hoped, but it is what it is. A lot of EOG leases come up next Feb/March, be interesting to see what they do. I assume based on what I see that this area is mostly dry gas. Maybe this other operator you mentioned will jump into the area. Aspens web site shows a planned lean gas expansion pipeline coming from this area and tapping into their line south of their big treatment plant. Makes sense because it doesn’t need to be treated, but who is going to supply the gas. I am to meet the pipeline land man because they want to cross my property, and will get details about size,etc.
