Triple Crown advances Kansas drilling in 2015

Nov. 12, 2014
Triple Crown Energy LLC, Tulsa, has closed on separate joint ventures with US Energy Develoment Corp. (USEDC) and Millennial Energy Partners LLC. Triple Crown plans to drill 24 vertical wells on its Kansas acreage holdings in 2015.

Triple Crown Energy LLC, Tulsa, has closed on separate joint ventures with US Energy Development Corp. (USEDC) and Millennial Energy Partners LLC. Triple Crown plans to drill 24 vertical wells on its Kansas acreage holdings in 2015.

USEDC purchased a 50% working interest on 2,500 net acres in Hodgeman and Ness counties, Kansas. Millennial secured a 25% working interest on 10,000 net acres Hodgeman, Ness, and Gove counties, Kansas.

Each joint venture is a cash and carry agreement to launch Triple Crown’s vertical drilling program in Kansas.

Development efforts could extend to all of Triple Crown’s 40,000 net acres in the state. Triple Crown will operate the assets and drilling operations are already under way.

The vertical drilling program will target a variety of five productive zones including Mississippi Lime, Cherokee, Kansas City, Lansing, and Marmaton, all of which are shallow targets at a depth no greater than 4,500 ft.

“Completed vertical wells in western Kansas cost $500,000-600,000 compared to more expensive horizontal wells that have been drilled,” Triple Crown managing principal Chase Williams told OGJ. “We’ve run models with $90/bbl oil and even at $50/bbl the economics for these wells still work,” he said.

In western Kansas, the Mississippi Lime is relatively thin, which makes horizontal drilling less effective. “To date, the longest commercial horizontal wellbore drilled in this area is about a quarter-mile,” Williams said. With that amount of reservoir contact, vertical wells make more sense. Ness County has about 1,400 vertical wells, with an average cumulative production of 96,000 bbl of oil.

Triple Crown’s Kansas drilling operations are currently under way.