Storm brewing on the Mesa (Otero Mesa Oil & Gas, NM)

The Alamogordo News ^ | August 3, 2003 | Ellis Neel

[CedarDave]

An unlikely alliance of ranchers, environmentalists and a private property rights advocacy group has formed to protect what might be the largest pristine stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert.

READY TO STAND HER UP

[CedarDave]

There are so many things crazy about this article I don't know where to start. The whole article is so full of contradictory statements it makes no sense at all. There is so much hand wringing going on even a knowledgeable observer can't make heads nor tail of it.

I spent this afternoon with my rancher friend and oil & gas expert in Cloudcroft. He said that the ranchers on Otero Mesa haven't yet figured out that if they cooperate with the company (assuming the company is straight up with them), they will come out ahead in the long run even if they don't have mineral rights. For example, he said that dry holes can be plugged back and perforated for fresh water wells, power for gas wells and equipment can power water wells and pumps to distribute water. Lease roads can make moving cattle around easier, and used drill pipe (norm free of course) can be used for fencing, corrals, or any other use needing a steel post. And he gave several examples from ranchers he knows in the Artesia area. He said he was glad he was now out of the oil and gas business -- too much of this nonsense raises his blood pressure!

[CedarDave]

For your PING lists!

[Gabrielle Reilly]

ping.

See you pinged already bobthenailer.

[Between the Lines]

Threshold will drill with 100 percent air.

Another crazy statement in this article. If they are going to drill with 100% air, why was any water needed on the site? Usually there is some water needed with air drilling because it is actually done with a foam, although using 100% air is becoming more common. Except that they said that it was a "wildcat exploratory well." A wildcat well means they have no idea what they will run into down there and I have never heard of using 100% air on a wildcat well, only drilling with a mud slurry. This all sounds more dangerous than the "black" water everyone is so upset about.

This is a crazy article that is too hard to make any sense of.

[Grampa Dave]

One of these days we will read about how the Opecker Princes and Thugs financed the Watermelon Green Jihadistst for two decades to prevent drilling for oil and gas in America.

We should pass a law making it illegal for a documented Wateremelon enviralists to use gas or oil directly or indirectly. Ban them from buying food driven to their local stores. Remove them from houses with timber cut from trees and hauled to the forest to the lumber mill and the timber hauled to the job site.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Could possibly be, might have the effect of, could possibly contaminate what "might" be the largest potable supply, black water, white water, green water, blah, blah, blah.

Just like the Poweder River Basin, where when testing was finally done, the well water was purer than the ranchers aquifer water in most places.

We had the same argument in the N. Mich. Antrim shale play. Enviro weirdos had the public coninced that water with a very slight salinity from the producing wells, was magically going to migrate through a thousand feet or so of rock, to contaminate drinking water acquifers. Totally impossible in a plugged, cemented dry hole. Equally impossible in a cased producing well. What a bunch a horrible writing.

[FreeLibertarian]

Grampa, here in New Mexico we need the water that is under Otero Mesa worse than we need the gas. We must keep a close eye on the drillers to insure that we don't destroy a source of water that is vital to our future.

Both objectives are obtainable but in this case "Trust but Verify" is absolutely critical!

[Dog Gone]

I think this is the kind of article you get when someone writes about something they know nothing about.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Sorry for all the spelling errors in my previous post......

[Dog Gone]

I figured you were drinking the dark water a little early. ;-)

[BOBTHENAILER]

I figured you were drinking the dark water a little early. ;-)

ROFLMAO. The dark water will be drunk in approximately 1:06 minutes. BTW, I didn't see much difference in the picture of the two samples (lingering visual effect from last night's clear water imbibing?).

[Dog Gone]

Yeah, I wondered why they posted a picture that shows no difference whatsoever.

If those folks near Dell City want to know what black water is supposed to look like, they need to take a peek at Buffalo Bayou.

[BOBTHENAILER]

If those folks near Dell City want to know what black water is supposed to look like, they need to take a peek at Buffalo Bayou.

Buffalo Bayou is off my present exploratory radar screen, but that "white water" they showed must be nothing like the Bayou.

One of these days in the area we're currently playing, when we figure out what to do with the water in the dolomite, there will be another Dagger Draw, if you're familiar with that area. Currently we get some tremendous wells when we can get above the water, but even in the wells where the porosity is not above the water, they're gassy as hell.

[Dog Gone]

I've only heard of Dagger Draw, but the companies I worked for never had properties there, so it was just a name to me. There's still plenty of gas in New Mexico, and the 3D seismic should open up a lot more of it. When I was working the area, finding the Morrow channels was a bitch, but I suspect it's gotten easier.

That's a guess on my part. I'm working the Wilcox and Woodbine trends of SE Texas now.

[BOBTHENAILER]

That's a guess on my part. I'm working the Wilcox and Woodbine trends of SE Texas now.

Read a lot about both and it sounds good.

In our area we shot 10 sq. miles last year after we hit a 20 ft section of dolomite above the water based on 2D. That well is doing 2mmcf. Drilled another after the 3D and got 140ft. above the water. IP on that one is tight, but you can guess as to the flow rate.

3D rocks in certain areas.

Same where you're playing?

[Dog Gone]

3D makes all the difference in the world. When you reprocess data shot even 5 years ago, it makes a huge difference. I'm not a scientist, and even I can see where to drill on much of this data.

Keep your eyes peeled for reports on an Anadarko-drilled well in SE Texas. I have the well data on it, and it's going to be as big as they allow it to be. That kind of porosity and pressure have not been seen onshore before to my knowledge.

The oil bidness isn't dead in this country, despite the efforts of the enviromental commies.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Keep your eyes peeled for reports on an Anadarko-drilled well in SE Texas. I have the well data on it, and it's going to be as big as they allow it to be. That kind of porosity and pressure have not been seen onshore before to my knowledge.

The oil bidness isn't dead in this country, despite the efforts of the enviromental commies.

I'll look for that well and I couldn't agree more. Get out of our friggin' way and we'll show the country what $4.60 gas prices will do to a free market O&G bidness. We paid out the wells I referred to in less than 4 months, at an average price around $3.00.

I'm just a dumb old landman who happened to hook up with an old childhood friend who has his masters in geology. We been having so much fun it's scary.

On a side note, when we grew up together in Farmington, NM, his Dad was Division Geo for El Paso Products (exploration arm of the pipeline co.), my Dad was Division Land Manager for EP and another EP Geo lived on our block, an obscure fellow named Robert Barrett. And the rest, my friend , is history.

[Dog Gone]

There are some dumb old landmen, but you're not one of them. Trust me.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Thanks for the comp.

As the saying goes.....mo lease, no grease.

[FreeLibertarian]

How deep are you going now?

I was in western Oklahoma back in the late 70's and early 80's when the boom was going on. There was a rig a few miles south of Elk City that was huge, some claimed it was trying for a world record that at the time was held by a Russian well. Supposedly the Russians had gone down more than 30,000 ft. I seem to recall the Elk City well didn't go that deep but it still went more than 20,000.

South of Elk City are there are several different levels of production.