Coastal Bend Oil & Gas Permits - Nov 27, 2012

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Just eight permits were filed in the Coastal Bend area last week, but a couple of them were interesting.

• Apache permitted an 11,200 ft well in Nueces County
• EOG permitted a 12,750 ft horizontal well in San Patricio County

If you have an interest in the area, watch to see if these two wells get drilled. It will be interesting to see if they're typical Gulf Coast targets or if they are planning to test one of the shale formations in the area.

Read the full report at caller.com

Eagle Ford Shale in Mexico Needs Private Investment

The Eagle Ford Shale in Mexico is still years away from development even though over 5,000 wells have been permitted and more than 2,000 wells are producing on the U.S. side of the border. The difference is a nationalized oil monopoly versus the free market north of the Rio Grande. Literally hundreds of companies have competed for the right to develop the Texas Eagle Ford, while PEMEX (the national oil company in Mexico) has been forced to standby and wait until the organization has a better understanding of hydraulic fracturing. Only FIVE wells have been drilled to date and 170 wells are planned over the next four years. For reference, there are more than 200 wells being drilled each month in the Texas Eagle Ford.

What will spur Eagle Ford development in Mexico?

Mexico's president elect, Enrique Pena Nieto, has proposed energy reforms that will allow private investment into the country, but he faces a strong headwind. Both houses of congress are controlled by his opponents and constitutional reforms require a two-thirds vote for approval.

Read more at Chron.com.

Bee County Passes $9,500 Well Permit Fee to Fund Road Repairs

Bee County Commissioners passed a resolution that will require Eagle Ford oil & gas operators to pay a $9,500 fee for each approved well permit.  The fee will be contributed to the Bee County Road and Bridge Fund and will be used to make needed repairs in areas of high traffic. Road repairs can cost as much as $50,000 per mile. There are 18 approved permits, from five companies, in the northern area of the county that will be affected by the new fee. $171,000 will be raised almost immediately.

This is the first required fee I've seen, but I know I've seen talk of others. Use the comments below if you know of other counties with similar permit fees. In Dewitt County, one operator is voluntarily donating $8,000 to the road fund for every well it drills.

Slow Permitting During Thanksgiving Week

Only one Eagle Ford well was permitted last week in the area surrounding Corpus Christi.  Pioneer Natural Resources permitted the 21,000 ft horizontal well in Live Oak County.  20,000 ft wells are becoming more common.  If economics are challenged by lower commodity prices, you can bet extending laterals on larger units will be a way operators increase reservoir drainage to improve economics. Read the full news release at caller.com

Eagle Ford Well Permitting Up - Reaches 1,000 Producing Wells

Eagle Ford permitting has risen more than 150% over 2010 and the producing well count likely surpassed 1,000 in early October. That's a quick trip to 1,000 producing wells. There were virtually ZERO in 2008. With 770 producing wells at the beginning of September and ~ 200 active rigs drilling in the play, we likely eclipsed 1,000 producing wells sometime in early to mid-October. 

Permit numbers increased by roughly 150 percent, totalling 2,522 permitted wells. That number is up from 1,010 drilling permits issued last year, and up more than 9,000 percent since 2008.

As of Sept. 1, 300 oil and 470 natural gas wells are operating in the 16-county shale rock play, according to the Texas Rail Road Commission,

Read the entire news release at ibtimes.com