It is an interesting thought that they would be holding the wells because they are primarily gas. There are a couple of problems I see that are still making me scratch my head.
1.They are designated oil wells.
2.The first production in those sections was in 1968 from the Penn held by Gulf oil. I believe they were part of the W.A. Estes Lease. Those wells are still producing. Whiting is probably holding the acreage from an old lease.
3.Say they were incorrectly designated as oil when they were actually primarily gas. Why would you drill one and then drill two more in 2011 when gas prices had already tanked and everyone knew it would be a very long time until they went back up?
Maybe they were test wells that did not get the results the company had hoped for. The lease could still be HBP due to the older wells still producing. BP just pulled out of the Point Pleasant shale in Ohio due to poor results from their initial wells in that area. Other producers have hit very good wells and will continue to drill out leases. You win some, you lose some. At least you still have production from the older wells. And as a previous poster mentioned here, it doesn't mean in the future those plugged wells will not be re-entered. In time it may be more economical than it is today. Kind of like where I am from in Kansas. Back in the 70s and 80s if a new lease didn't make 50 BOPD they shut in the wells. Today if you could get 50 BOPD from a lease you would be doing extremely well, and making big bucks in that area.
Yes they informed us that they were all tight holes. We spoke to one of the neighboring operators. They said they had never seen that many loads of fracking fluid delivered to one site. They also said they had tried talking to Whiting about it but had no luck.
It could be that they were working different levels or reworking an old level with a different technology. If the area was originally worked in 1968, it is entirely possible it could be productive with new technology.
Looking on the Railroad Commission's map do you see a pentagon with a line coming from it? That indicates that it is being worked or reworked with lateral drilling.
Another thing to consider is that when these companies get their financing for wells, they often commit to drilling so many wells. Even though the price collapsed, the drilling was driven by financial commitments rather than market forces.
Whatever their reasons, I believe that Whiting knows what they are doing, and that it will eventually be very productive for them and the mineral owner.