Coalbed methane production ramps up in Northeast Oklahoma

Feb. 20, 2004
Amvest Osage Inc., a unit of private Amvest Corp., Charlottesville, Va., has increased coalbed methane production to 7.5 MMcfd from 83 wells in Osage County and is continuing CBM and conventional oil and gas development on 370,000 acres on the Osage Reservation.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Feb. 20 -- Amvest Osage Inc., a unit of private Amvest Corp., Charlottesville, Va., has increased coalbed methane production to 7.5 MMcfd from 83 wells in Osage County and is continuing CBM and conventional oil and gas development on 370,000 acres on the Osage Reservation.

The company plans to drill 75 wells/year for the next several years on the Osage lands and will try horizontal drilling this spring in selected coal seams. Amvest's rights extend to all coal seams and carbonaceous shales, and the company also plans to try horizontal drilling in the Devonian Woodford shale.

Amvest mainly targets the Dawson, Weir-Pittsburg, and Rowe coals and secondarily the Iron Post, Croweburg, and Bluejacket coals, all of Pennsylvanian age. Deepest drilling depths are 2,400-2,500 ft. It reinjects produced water into the Arbuckle, about 100 ft deeper.

Amvest established operations in the area in 2001. In the fiscal year ended July 31, 2002, it invested more than $21 million, acquiring TEC Resources, drilling 33 wells, and installing gas and water gathering systems. It had drilled 136 wells by late 2003.

The properties acquired from TEC still produce 2-2.5 MMcfd.