It is no secret that EOG is drilling in the Eagle Ford, despite Mark Papa stating in the fourth quarter earnings call that “we have got a policy of not commenting on any of our horizontal oil activities where we are still leasing acreage.” With that being said, lets dive into the Drilling Info database to see what EOG is doing out there.
Below is a map of the EOG well locations in the Eagle Ford area that have spud since 2009. There are 32 wells spud spread across 6 counties from Webb to Gonzales. The clusters appear to be in the same relative structural zone in the more downdip portion of the play.
The map below is a zoomed shot of the cluster in NE Karnes county labeled with well type and spud date. EOG has repeated this pattern in each of their clusters so far. They have a series of parallel NW SE trending horizontal wells with one or two offset vertical wells.
The next step in sifting through this data might be to look what completion and production data is available. On the production front, there is currently only one producing lease. Below is the production chart . The cumulative oil production is 48,407 bbls and 49,254 Mcf as of 12/09. There are two wells on this lease, which may explain the spike in production after it resumed production.
As far as completions go, only well record oil completions have been filed which omit all the juicy information such as volume/day, oil gravity, and frac stage info.
So is there anything else we can infer based on the available data? Well it is just speculation, but it looks like EOG may be setting up for simulfrac operations. Drilling Info has done some simulfrac studies in the Fort Worth basin and EOG is a technological leader in this field. A simulfrac is when two or more somewhat parallel wellbores are frac’ed at relatively the same time. Sometimes operators use vertical offset wells to monitor the interaction between wells which may explain the vertical offsets within these clusters. In fact, 3 of the 8 vertical EOG wells here say monitor well in the completion form. The relative cost difference of simulfrac operations is minor and the production efficiency is greater.
However, until more data is available, this is just speculation. Regardless, we here at Drilling Info – Energy Strategy Partners will be keeping a close eye on all Eagle Ford industry activity. If you would like to stay up-to-date on current Eagle Ford activity, make sure to check out our Eagle Ford Play Project in DNA.
Justin Birmingham
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I noticed EOG’s pattern in Gonzales, Karnes, and Atascosa Counties, but was unaware it continued through McMullen LaSalle, and Webb. Thanks for the interesting map and analysis.
TRRC recently approved EOG’s application for temporary field rules for the Eagleville, (Eagle Ford) field in Karnes County: https://www.rrc.state.tx.us/meetings/ogpfd/ogpofldrules/02-64010-frl_000.pdf
Examiner Report:
https://www.rrc.state.tx.us/meetings/ogpfd/ogpofldrules/02-64010-frl.pdf
In addition to the EOG wells in Karnes County, the Dan Hughes wells near Falls City, are listed as Eagleville (Eagle Ford), and fall right in line.
This paragraph from the examiners report sounds like the field rules could be designed to support simulfracs.
EOG requests a spacing rule that requires a minimum of 330
feet from lease lines, with no minimum requirement for spacing
between wells. The proposed spacing is necessary to allow
drilling of horizontal wells which may have to be placed very
near each other in some cases to achieve optimal fracture
treatment results. EOG will drill multiple horizontal wellls then
will fracture stimulate all wells prior to placing any of the wells
into production. EOG believes fracture stimulating a well
adjacent to a producing well will damage the producing well.
EOG believes in order to drill an economic oil well, the laterals
will need to be 100 to 200 feet apart and will need to be
heavily fractured stimulated, more so than typical horizontal
gas shale wells.
I’d appreciate any insight into what the field rules mean for landowners.
Thanks for the documents John thats very interesting. It seems to me that these rules allow for more wells per lease and will greatly increase the production and royalty checks. Simulfrac’ing oil shales is pretty new and may be by far and away the way to go. We’ll keep an eye out for more information regarding this issue and let you know.
This is really interesting. I agree with John that this suggests that EOG is taking what it has learned in the mixed Barnett area (simulfracs and accordion laterals) and applying it here.