The price of crude oil is hovering around a hundred dollars a barrel. When that happens mineral activity in Pointe Coupee heats up again. Back in the 1980 it was the Tuscaloosa Trend.
The "Trend" was a layer of sand bearing condensate and natural gas. Tremendous amounts of gas and the Parlange Plantation out on False River was right on top of the bonanza. It still is, still producing along with several other wells in what is known as the Judge Digby Field. At one time it was the top producing field on land in Louisiana, it is down around 15 or so today.
That spawned a lot of exploration activity and new fields named Moore-Sams and Morganza appeared. Both fields are still producing, though some wells have gone dry. The one the family was involved in went dry years ago.
Today there is a well about a mile south of the family holdings down into the Tuscaloosa Trend and is producing about 250 barrels of oil and umpty ump cubic feet of natural gas. It was a productive well, stop producing and was reworked three or four times, the last one successful. It has been producing for the last four years. It is known as the LaBarre well and is in the Morganza Field. There are a number of wells still producing in the Morganza Field.
The new activity involves the Austin Chalk. The Tuscaloosa Trend is down around 18,000 feet. Considering the average elevation of Pointe Coupee is around 30 feet above sea level, that is an impressive depth. Austin Chalk is above the "Trend" at about 16,500 feet. Between the Austun Chalk and the Trend is the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (as in the Hayville and Barnett Shales).
Our place is being leased for Austin Chalk at 20% royalty and Tuscaloosa Trend at 25%royalty. I am surmising that they may do either or both.
Some of the maps show the place is on top of the Edwards Shelf Edge which seems to be the most ideal spot. Other maps show it to be across the Mississippi River in West Feliciana Parish. No matter, the place has been leased - again.
The new field is name the LaCour Field and the test well is located in upper Pointe Coupee near the confluence of the Old River and North West Moganza Spillway Guide levees. It is set back a couple of thousand feet from each levee. It is to be 16,300 feet deep with a total depth of 22,000 feet. That means it will have a horizontal of about a mile. I believe the horizontal will be generally east/west in orientation. This will be LaCour #43. It sits in the edge of the older Morganza Field, wonder why a new name? I guess it has to do with the geological strator they are after.
So with the lease our hopes rise again. Just getting the lease money is good enough for us. It is like finding money in the road my grandfather used to say. He meant if was like free, no work, just collect it up.
BTW, the LaCour #43 us about 7.75 miles from the front of the plantation. But I have read they have leased as far off as close to the new John J. Audubon Bridge, or about 16 miles from LaCour #43.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Fritzville . . .
You have heard of Margaritaville, well we have Fritzville here. For several years we have had a lizard live in and around the back patio of the house. They are commonly known as "Fence Lizards." The proper name is Scroplosis Undalitus Undalitus or Hyacintha. They are found from Northeast coast of the US as far North as Massachusetts and across the South to our area in Texas. They are not found very much futher West than Palo Pinto County right next to us.
Their coloring matches very closely to a pile of old oak limbs we have stacked up to burn by the patio. So they often sun themselves on the wood pile and are hard to see as they blend in so well with old wood and lichens. You have seen old wooden fences with age growths on them like lichens and moss, and that is where you find them. They are not Chameleons and do not change colors. And they are bigger than Chameleons. Yes, we have Chameleons too.
Well we have Water Well Fritz, he lives at the water well. I believe he lives under the pressure tank. It is a great place to find insets, their primary diet. They love crickets.
We have on the other side of the yard near the faucet and hose storage container yet another Fritz. He lives under the hose roll up box, a big plastic assembly that we crank the hose pipe back into when finished spot watering. He roams the "mound," a left over pile of dirt just barely in our yard. It has a Crepe Myrtle growing on the top of the hill and a large one growing next to the hose storage container.
And we have the front porch Fritz. He lives out front. He roams the bushes, Crepe Myrtles. We see him infrequently but we see has leavings here and there.
And we discovered little Fritz, about a inch long body with a tail about the same length, residing in the flower bed by the main bedroom back windows. His turf is shared by Fritzina (who is probably his mother). She is quit a bit bigger than he is or any of the other Fritzes.
Fritzina lives under the big green storage cabinet that is on the patio pushed up against the rear windows. We store bird seed and other paraphernalia there. It is on rollers so there s quite a bit of clearance for her underneath the green box. We see her often in the AM on the patio, she ranges all the way into the garage, so she moves about. She also climbs the Hackberry Tree next to the main bathroom. We suspect it is cooler and yet another population of insects residing there.
This is Fritzina's second year with us. There was a Fritz but I think she ran him off, not enough food for both of them. She is bigger so she won to the turf.
Our neighbors are jealous in that we have so many Fritz's around us. We all use pest control a lot so there is no reason for us over them but we seem to be the preferred location.
So it is Fritzville.
Their coloring matches very closely to a pile of old oak limbs we have stacked up to burn by the patio. So they often sun themselves on the wood pile and are hard to see as they blend in so well with old wood and lichens. You have seen old wooden fences with age growths on them like lichens and moss, and that is where you find them. They are not Chameleons and do not change colors. And they are bigger than Chameleons. Yes, we have Chameleons too.
Well we have Water Well Fritz, he lives at the water well. I believe he lives under the pressure tank. It is a great place to find insets, their primary diet. They love crickets.
We have on the other side of the yard near the faucet and hose storage container yet another Fritz. He lives under the hose roll up box, a big plastic assembly that we crank the hose pipe back into when finished spot watering. He roams the "mound," a left over pile of dirt just barely in our yard. It has a Crepe Myrtle growing on the top of the hill and a large one growing next to the hose storage container.
And we have the front porch Fritz. He lives out front. He roams the bushes, Crepe Myrtles. We see him infrequently but we see has leavings here and there.
And we discovered little Fritz, about a inch long body with a tail about the same length, residing in the flower bed by the main bedroom back windows. His turf is shared by Fritzina (who is probably his mother). She is quit a bit bigger than he is or any of the other Fritzes.
Fritzina lives under the big green storage cabinet that is on the patio pushed up against the rear windows. We store bird seed and other paraphernalia there. It is on rollers so there s quite a bit of clearance for her underneath the green box. We see her often in the AM on the patio, she ranges all the way into the garage, so she moves about. She also climbs the Hackberry Tree next to the main bathroom. We suspect it is cooler and yet another population of insects residing there.
This is Fritzina's second year with us. There was a Fritz but I think she ran him off, not enough food for both of them. She is bigger so she won to the turf.
Our neighbors are jealous in that we have so many Fritz's around us. We all use pest control a lot so there is no reason for us over them but we seem to be the preferred location.
So it is Fritzville.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Things . . .
Mid July, 2011. Eye surgery tomorrow, the left eye this time. Only a few more months of putting up with this for me. Dr. Labor said all I needed would be a Lasik tune up. Probably a PRK tune up. Have to wait for the eyes to return to normal. But first got to have the final operation on the left eye.
Examination the other day revealed high pressures in the right eye. New drops for that but no prescription. The servicing Optomertrist asked if I had been using any steroids. It did not occur to me, that one of the post eye drops was indeed a steroid. Makes you wonder if Doctors ever read their charts?
Fritzina is back under the big green cabinet on the patio. We often she her in the AM when it is cooler. She leaves big deposits right on our door lip. Makes you wonder if that little animal is trying to say something.
Weather is horrid. Temperature is running over a hundred degrees everyday this week. We are on to a new record for number of days over a hundred degrees. Lows at night coming in at eighty two or three. Good enough to walk at 5:30 AM but not later in the day at all. It truly is hotter here than in Tucson, Arizona.
Well is indicating it don't like the dry weather either. We are increasingly having to manage it to keep it going. The acquifer is suffering, everybody is sucking it down and it is not getting recharged. Already some neighbors have had their wells dry up (over drafting does it).
Life goes on . . .
Examination the other day revealed high pressures in the right eye. New drops for that but no prescription. The servicing Optomertrist asked if I had been using any steroids. It did not occur to me, that one of the post eye drops was indeed a steroid. Makes you wonder if Doctors ever read their charts?
Fritzina is back under the big green cabinet on the patio. We often she her in the AM when it is cooler. She leaves big deposits right on our door lip. Makes you wonder if that little animal is trying to say something.
Weather is horrid. Temperature is running over a hundred degrees everyday this week. We are on to a new record for number of days over a hundred degrees. Lows at night coming in at eighty two or three. Good enough to walk at 5:30 AM but not later in the day at all. It truly is hotter here than in Tucson, Arizona.
Well is indicating it don't like the dry weather either. We are increasingly having to manage it to keep it going. The acquifer is suffering, everybody is sucking it down and it is not getting recharged. Already some neighbors have had their wells dry up (over drafting does it).
Life goes on . . .
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Its Hot . . .
It is hot, burning up here. Record high temperatures and now over 11 days over 100 degrees Fharenheit. Heat index up around 104 to 106. The grass is showing stress in places where the water is not quite as much as the other spots in the yard. Even one little Oak tree showing heat distress, the other is doing fine as it gets a lot of run off from the hill (well not a hill, more of a slope).
One of our neighbor's well has gone dry, again. He does not seem to manage water very well (no pun intended). We space out our stations with a 15 or 20 minute wait after each one. That gives the well time to recharge. And then we do spot watering here and there.
When you use the irrigation system you are flowing the well at max capacity. When you spot water using a hose and single sprinkler head, then the well has plent of capacity. That and using a proper cycle as described above and watering at night all tend to get the job done without over drafting the well.
Don't understand our neighbor. He is a civil engineer, or so he says he is. Yet he has drainage problems (I don't guess he pays much attention to slopes or natural drainages). Now he has dried up his well. Not sure about this guys sense of geography or use of resources.
So far we are still doing okay. Drought here and floods elsewhere in the Dakotas, along the Missori and even down the Mississippi this year. Water distributino is not so good or water management is not so good. Texas has only two natural lakes, one of which extends into Louisiana (Cross Lake near Shreveport, LA). Even the Red River separates Texas and Okalahoma and they have made a huge man made lake, Lake Texoma, but it to is subject to drought conditions. The Red River is not a raging torrent most of the time, but rather a slow moving small river that can be mean and out of control at times.
We depend on man made lakes all around us for our water supply. Lake Weatherford is near us and it is down six feet or so already and still a couple of dry months to go. They back pump water into it from Lake Benbrook down the Clear Fork of the Trinity River from us. Locals don't like it but it serves its purpose to keep Lake Weatherford going.
Birds and deer come often to drink. So we have lots of them because we keep the bird baths full and feed the birds too. The deer are scavengers, drink water out of the bird bath and tip over the bird feeders to get the seed.
One of our neighbor's well has gone dry, again. He does not seem to manage water very well (no pun intended). We space out our stations with a 15 or 20 minute wait after each one. That gives the well time to recharge. And then we do spot watering here and there.
When you use the irrigation system you are flowing the well at max capacity. When you spot water using a hose and single sprinkler head, then the well has plent of capacity. That and using a proper cycle as described above and watering at night all tend to get the job done without over drafting the well.
Don't understand our neighbor. He is a civil engineer, or so he says he is. Yet he has drainage problems (I don't guess he pays much attention to slopes or natural drainages). Now he has dried up his well. Not sure about this guys sense of geography or use of resources.
So far we are still doing okay. Drought here and floods elsewhere in the Dakotas, along the Missori and even down the Mississippi this year. Water distributino is not so good or water management is not so good. Texas has only two natural lakes, one of which extends into Louisiana (Cross Lake near Shreveport, LA). Even the Red River separates Texas and Okalahoma and they have made a huge man made lake, Lake Texoma, but it to is subject to drought conditions. The Red River is not a raging torrent most of the time, but rather a slow moving small river that can be mean and out of control at times.
We depend on man made lakes all around us for our water supply. Lake Weatherford is near us and it is down six feet or so already and still a couple of dry months to go. They back pump water into it from Lake Benbrook down the Clear Fork of the Trinity River from us. Locals don't like it but it serves its purpose to keep Lake Weatherford going.
Birds and deer come often to drink. So we have lots of them because we keep the bird baths full and feed the birds too. The deer are scavengers, drink water out of the bird bath and tip over the bird feeders to get the seed.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
More on Austin Chalk . . .
Our lawyer says there is no fracking going on in Pointe Coupee. I sense that it is too deep to get done.
There is horizontal drilling and there is going to be a lot of that in the Austin Chalk. The test wells in Avoyelles are all horizontal wells. Some of them are posting laterals or horizontal distances of up to a mile or more. and there is said to be some new technology in seismic data reading. Really don't care as long as they sign up for a lease.
While the long laterals are good for the exploration and development it is bad for the land owner. It means the exploration companies want rectangular shaped units that are basically long and narrow. This takes up more area, ergo less production per square foot, royalties are spread over a larger area, or less per square foot. So the land owner suffers at the expense of the developer. I foresee fights at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) over the size and shape of the units. Gonna get interesting I am sure.
Mean while I have found the Lebarre well on Google Earth which is directly south of the plantation, I estimate about three miles. The Lebarre well is considered a Morganza Field well, produces about 230 to 300 barrels of oil and gobs of gas each month. It was a producer that quit. And it is really a Tuscaloosa Trend well, not an Austin Chalk well.
In 2005 it was "recompleted" at a different Tuscaloosa Trend reservoir at 18,200 feet vertical well. However, it took three tries to recomplete the well but has been producing since 2005. It is kind of hard to imagine a well that is over three miles deep and the surface elevation is around 30 feet above sea level. Amazing!
I also located the Wilbert Well back of Stonewall Plantation, over grown and shut in. I wonder if it is worth "recompleting at a new reservoir level of the Tuscaloosa Trend" or even a location to go back in and to explore the Austin Chalk. I am told that (a) developers do not like to go back into wells and (b) their drilling processes really messed up the Austin Chalk as they went by it (too much mud packing the zone). I would imagine that there is a consideration of doing that but . . . As a matter of interest it was the well in which we had about four acres of production, our parents got a nice piece of change for about a year, then it sanded over and no one recompleted the well. It was a Moore-Sams Field well.
I urged the family to get on with the lease as I am afraid the price of oil is beginning to drop. If it gets to low, they wont lease and we will not get any street money!
There is horizontal drilling and there is going to be a lot of that in the Austin Chalk. The test wells in Avoyelles are all horizontal wells. Some of them are posting laterals or horizontal distances of up to a mile or more. and there is said to be some new technology in seismic data reading. Really don't care as long as they sign up for a lease.
While the long laterals are good for the exploration and development it is bad for the land owner. It means the exploration companies want rectangular shaped units that are basically long and narrow. This takes up more area, ergo less production per square foot, royalties are spread over a larger area, or less per square foot. So the land owner suffers at the expense of the developer. I foresee fights at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) over the size and shape of the units. Gonna get interesting I am sure.
Mean while I have found the Lebarre well on Google Earth which is directly south of the plantation, I estimate about three miles. The Lebarre well is considered a Morganza Field well, produces about 230 to 300 barrels of oil and gobs of gas each month. It was a producer that quit. And it is really a Tuscaloosa Trend well, not an Austin Chalk well.
In 2005 it was "recompleted" at a different Tuscaloosa Trend reservoir at 18,200 feet vertical well. However, it took three tries to recomplete the well but has been producing since 2005. It is kind of hard to imagine a well that is over three miles deep and the surface elevation is around 30 feet above sea level. Amazing!
I also located the Wilbert Well back of Stonewall Plantation, over grown and shut in. I wonder if it is worth "recompleting at a new reservoir level of the Tuscaloosa Trend" or even a location to go back in and to explore the Austin Chalk. I am told that (a) developers do not like to go back into wells and (b) their drilling processes really messed up the Austin Chalk as they went by it (too much mud packing the zone). I would imagine that there is a consideration of doing that but . . . As a matter of interest it was the well in which we had about four acres of production, our parents got a nice piece of change for about a year, then it sanded over and no one recompleted the well. It was a Moore-Sams Field well.
I urged the family to get on with the lease as I am afraid the price of oil is beginning to drop. If it gets to low, they wont lease and we will not get any street money!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)