SO...NOW I HAVE NO MORALS?!

As I sat this morning...barely awake and sleepy eyed, I inhale my second mug of coffee.  WKYC news (channel 3 in my area) is on...not really listening at this point, then I see the headline on the screen.....MONEY OR MORALS?  This news segment was about the Utica shale drilling in Ohio and the decision that landowners face regarding to lease or not lease.  They interviewed a gentleman who owned 10 acres and has yet decided to lease or not, due to the possible environmental concerns.  It was your typical news segment on the pros and cons for a landowner, but what REALLY ticked me off was that headline! My family calls me a tree hugger...I feed every stray animal that wanders into my woods, I help the injured, I do nature photography, I donate to charities when I can.  I've paid for food for strangers and I've taken the chance to intervene on certain outright immoral situations when I saw them unfold...BUT, since I HAVE leased with an oil/gas company...I have no morals?!  Of course it couldn't possibly be that I have done enormous amounts of research on the pros/cons of this type of drilling, spent quite a bit of time sorting this all out in my mind and have made an informed decision?!  I have great hope and faith in the overall safety of this type of drilling.  Nothing like adding 'fuel' to the fire!  I'm done venting.

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Permalink Reply by time will tell on December 17, 2011 at 4:38am

Jack don't rule out the chance of Finnbear shiny oil question not being from water flowing over a coal seem . This is very possible with the carbon in coal and the  5 different types of source rock in our area .

Permalink Reply by Nelson Roe on December 16, 2011 at 5:15pm

Kim,

I would recommend you try to locate & speak to a lady by the name of Little Cougar on this site.  I believe she is in a similar situation to what it sounds like you are going through.  I believe she had the old wells that were HBP.  The O&G companies did come to her to renegotiate the contract & got it to where it was agreeable to all parties involved & it sounds like she is currently enjoying receiving the royalties while a lot of us are still playing the waiting game... Now granted, I believe she is located in PA, but I believe the scenario would be similar.

Permalink Reply by Kim D on December 17, 2011 at 1:27am

Nelson...Thank you so much, I will look into that.

Permalink Reply by Jack Straw on December 16, 2011 at 2:38pm

RE: “what is your opinion on the future of all these shallow wells?”

All those old shallow wells will continue to produce until they can no longer economically be maintained. The costs of the drilling and completing of those wells were recovered a long time ago. Essentially the only ongoing expenses are for someone to tend the well; coming around once a month to read the meter, a coat of paint on things every five or ten years, minor maintenance. Also, when the well finally peters out, they are legally required to plug and abandon the well; the longer they produce these “stripper” wells, the longer they can delay (substantial) abandonment expenses.

At present (severely) depressed natural gas prices, it is not likely economic to currently drill new shallow wells; but it is still economic to produce existing shallow wells (as they still provide positive cash flow).

 

RE: ” Would it be worthwhile for CHK to 'convert' (if that is what they do to the older vertical) or construct new wells to these areas?”

For a variety of reasons, it is neither possible nor safe to re-enter these old shallow wells and deepen them to the Marcellus or Utica.  

A casing program has to be expressly designed for a deep Marcellus or Utica well.

The materials initially used in the drilling of the old shallow wells are not up to the task of handling the pressures of a deep well.

 

All in my humble opinion.

One size fits most.

 

JS

Permalink Reply by time will tell on December 16, 2011 at 4:14pm

Yes you are right JS . One thing that will be lost is house gas - free gas for domestic use . If you don't have your mineral rights the free gas is a real blessing . One might check the existing well to see if it worth having for that purpose . You would take the responsibilities of the well but the free gas is a big plus .

Permalink Reply by time will tell on December 16, 2011 at 5:46pm

Jack , I have 5 shallow wells , 2 of them I signed over to a producer who signed a lease  that I stated they could recomplete an existing well . The original lease had the words drill and or recomplete an existing well . I had them remove the word drill .In your opinion they can not re-drilled threw the the existing hole to the Marcellus or Utica ? The wells were drilled to the Devonian shale and plugged back to the Gordon , 30 ft and the Berea . One of them was cemented to the bottom of the Gordon sands due to casing failure . Thanks for your time .

Permalink Reply by Jack Straw on December 16, 2011 at 6:02pm

I guess this is where "One size fits most." comes into play.

Nearer to the western edge of the basin, the Marcellus and Utica are shallower.

My earlier thoughts and comments were geared to PA and Eastern Ohio.

In the area with which I am most familiar, the Marcellus lies 4000 feet below the shallow production. And, the Utica is another 4000 feet below the Marcellus.

It is likely that my earlier comments do not apply to your situation.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

All in my humble opinion.

 

JS

Permalink Reply by time will tell on December 16, 2011 at 6:23pm

My farm is in Eastern Ohio , Monroe co .

Whats your thoughts  on the old casing issue that you mentioned on prior post in regaurds to my wells . My understanding is that the Utica shale is several thousand feet below the the original permitted  drill. Is it possible to drill threw the same hole as the original was with this new information ? Jack , thanks again /p>

Permalink Reply by Jack Straw on December 17, 2011 at 10:34am

RE: “What’s your thoughts on the old casing issue”

Not knowing how long ago these wells were drilled, it is hard to comment.

To re-enter and drill deeper to the Marcellus would dictate the prior running of some logs/testing to  test the integrity of the casing and existing cement bond; this done to assure that shallow aquifers are protected and assure that no shallow sands might be pressurized by deeper Marcellus gas. 

Another possibility would be that they pull existing casing and re-drill to the Marcellus and/or Utica; I kind of doubt that they would chose to do this.

 

RE: “The original lease had the words drill and or recomplete an existing well.”

I wonder if their intention in inserting this clause was to perhaps re-enter and re-frac the shallow sands; with the hopes of using more “state of the art” fracing technology to increase the production of these shallow sands? Always tough to know what someone else was thinking.

 

I have checked out a few maps that are available on the internet for Monroe County, Ohio:

The Marcellus Shale is mapped at depths of 3500-4800’ sub Sea Level (SSL)

(3500 SSL at NW corner of Monroe County increasing to 4800’ SSL at SE corner of Monroe County).

You would need to estimate depth by interpolating based upon your location within the county. You would need to add your local surface elevation to get subsurface depths; there is a lot of varying topography across Monroe County.

One map I found listed the thickness of the Marcellus as 10’-75’ (10’ at NW corner of Monroe County increasing to 75’ at SE corner of Monroe County)

Another map I found listed the thickness of the Marcellus as 10’-20’ (10’ at NW corner of Monroe County increasing to 20’ at SE corner of Monroe County)

Here is a nice article on Marcellus Shale play in Ohio:

http://ohiodnr.com/Portals/10/Energy/Marcellus/The_Marcellus_Shale_...

In Monroe County the depth to the top of the Utica Shale is mapped as 5500 -7500’ SSL  (5500 SSL at NW corner of Monroe County increasing to 7500’ SSL at SE corner of Monroe County)

 

All in my humble opinion.

One size fits most.

 

JS

Permalink Reply by time will tell on December 17, 2011 at 12:05pm

Thank you Jack for looking into this , the reason for this clause was to prevent any drilling on my farm the current law breakers  .The original lease had the words drill and or re complete ,I made them remove the drill part from the lease and I am very glad I did .

The folks that I leased the 2 wells with breech my lease over and over again causing an environmental catastrophe that can never be corrected . 

If you care to hear the details you may add me to your friend list . 

I will share the details at the proper time with others .

Again thank you Jack and look forward to speaking to you .

Permalink Reply by Kim D on December 17, 2011 at 1:32am

Much appreciated, Jack.

Permalink Reply by Kim D on December 17, 2011 at 1:50am

You see my hopes here were...a)  I still own mineral rights.  b) This well is currently producing oil/gas per ODNR, I thought I had read that they could come back to a shallow well and re-drill horizontally, thus reaching the Utica rich shale - guess I read wrong.  c)Any minimal net royalty percentage may be worth keeping the mineral rights.  Thanks for all the advise, everyone.

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