British petrochemical giant Ineos plans to begin fracking in Texas
British petrochemical giant Ineos plans to do in Texas what it can’t do back home in the United Kingdom – horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
As part of an unpublicized deal, Ineos bought tens of thousands of acres of Austin Chalk leases from Houston oil company Crawford Hughes in August 2019, Railroad Commission of Texas records show.
Over the past month, Ineos has filed for a pair of drilling permits to develop two horizontal wells targeting the Giddings field of the Austin Chalk geological formation on two leases near La Grange, a Fayette County town about 65 miles southeast of Austin.
The permits are the first filed by Ineos under its own name.
With total depths down to 10,500 feet, the wells will give Ineos more practice with shale drilling. The company, which owns petrochemical plants in Texas and elsewhere around the world, unsuccessfully sought to bring the shale revolution to the United Kingdom.
Saddled by concerns about earthquakes and other environmental issues, Ineos largely abandoned those efforts in the British Isles last year and began to look to the United States for opportunities, The Guardian reported.
Permian Basin
Denver oil company Ovintiv plans to drill 12 horizontal wells on five leases in Martin County. The oil and natural gas wells target the Spraberry field down to a total depth of 10,500 feet.
Eagle Ford Shale
Fort Worth oil company Lonestar Resources plans three horizontal wells near Gonzales. The company filed for drilling permits to develop three oil and natural gas wells on its Hawkeye leases. The wells target the Eagleville field of the Eagle Ford at total depths of 10,000 feet.
Haynesville Shale
Louisiana oil and gas company C6 Operating plans to drill a horizontal well in East Texas. C6 filed for a drilling permit to develop a natural gas well on its Black Stone lease in San Augustine County. The well targets the Carthage field of the Haynesville Shale down to a depth of 13,300 feet.
Barnett Shale
There were no drilling permits filed in the Barnett Shale of North Texas from April 22 to 28.
Conventionals
Helotes-based Verdisys plans to go “wildcatting” along the U.S.-Mexico border near Del Rio. The company plans to drill an exploratory well on its Goodson lease about 3 miles southeast of Comstock. Seeking to crack the code of the Val Verde Basin, a subbasin of the Permian Basin, the vertical well targets the Wildcat field down to a vertical depth of 6,800 feet. The company previously drilled two exploratory wells on the same lease going down to depths of 2,500 feet.