By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 23 -- Operators are finding apparently commercial volumes of gas in the Mississippian Barnett shale as far as 100 miles south of Fort Worth.
Considerable drilling is taking place near Waco in Hill County 55 miles south of Fort Worth, and leasing and drilling are under way in Hamilton, Comanche, and even Lampasas counties 100 miles south of Fort Worth, according to a presentation by Westside Energy Corp., Dallas.
Operators are completing Barnett gas wells in Hill County, which had no commercial production for years. The county now has at least several dozen wells permitted, most of which are to be horizontal penetrations.
Operators working in Hill County include EOG Resources Inc., Devon Energy Corp., DTE Gas Resources, JW Operating Co., EnCana Corp., Quicksilver Resources Inc., a joint venture of Westside and Forest Oil Corp., and several others.
Westside and Forest this week are drilling the horizontal section of a third Hill County well, Primula 2H. The second well, Ellison Estate 1H, tested at an initial 1.9 MMcfd of gas on a 40/64-in. choke while returning completion fluid.
The companies' first well, Primula 1H, gauged 2.1 MMcfd from a 1,600-ft lateral in February.
Since mid-2006, various operators have reported initial potentials of 1.5-3.2 MMcfd from Hill County Barnett horizontal completions. Westside's economic assumptions are completed well costs of $3 million and estimated ultimate recoveries of 2 bcf/well on 60-acre spacing at $5/Mcf.
Meanwhile, Westside has accumulated 52,000 net acres west of Waco in Comanche, Mills, Hamilton, Coryell, and Lampasas counties. Marathon Oil Corp. has completed one vertical and six horizontal wells in Hamilton County and has built a pipeline, Westside said. The Barnett shale is 130-220 ft thick at 4,500 ft in these areas.
