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We received a visitor yesterday (June 30, 2008) from the Dawson Geophysical Company. It seems our subdivision is sitting on top of the Barnett Shale which contains lots of oil and gas. It is classed as the largest on-shore gas field in the U.S.
The builder of the subdivision didn't take the mineral rights when he built, so we own a share of what is discovered when drilling starts. A company has five rigs drilling on the Dallas Fort Worth airport and two rigs drilling just to the west of us -- all working in the Barnett Shale.
Dawson had us sign a release to allow them to run cable on our property to do a seismic study for the start of their plan to drill in an area less than a mile from our house. Our house is about fifty yards from the edge of a large undeveloped area suitable for drilling.
One rig does five to ten slant wells into the shale complex. See the DFW project on the following web site: http://www.dawson3d.com/index.html. (Copy and paste URL address into your web browser window.)
The drilling company, Chesapeake, has spud multiple horizontal wells intended as producers, and has five rigs on location drilling horizontally from five pads. “The drilling plan is based on 500-foot lateral spacing, which is what we typically have used in the good part of the Barnett Shale. With that spacing, we can drill up to 10 horizontal wells from a single pad,” he says, noting that the top of the Barnett is at ±7,500 feet at DFW and averages 400 feet thick. “Most of the wells will drill vertically into the top of the shale, turn within the shale, and then drill 3,500-4,000 feet of lateral through the lower part of the Barnett.”
It will probably be at least two years before we see this start to pay off. There is a survey to be run, wells to drill and some means found or developed to transport the gas to users. However it is exciting news to know that there is a chance to get monthly payments for the oil and gas under our property.
It did change our plan to sell the house and move. There is a good chance that the mineral rights far exceed the price of the house and lot. We have heard of payments in the range of $17,000 per year in the area near the Dallas Fort Worth airport. In researching for information on our find, I came across the following information on Gas wells.
Average cumulative production from the initial fracture stimulation is 1.25 billion cubic feet of gas per well. The wells initially produce about one million cubic feet of gas per day with a normal decline of 50% in the first year. Then the wells stabilize and produce for an average of 20 years.
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