Equinor prepares to take on new Eagle Ford Shale projects
Norwegian oil giant Equinor will soon be returning to the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas for a new round of drilling.
The exploration and production company has filed for its first new drilling permits in more than six months, seeking permission from the Railroad Commission of Texas to develop three horizontal wells on its South Texas Syndicate lease in La Salle County.
About 25 miles east of Cotulla, the three gas wells target the Hawkville field of the Eagle Ford and Austin Chalk geological layers down to a total depth of 12,000 feet. Total depth refers to both the vertical and horizontal segments of the projects.
The three wells are the first new projects for Equinor under its new name. The state-owned energy company switched from Statoil in May to reflect a shift to reducing its carbon footprint and increasing its investments in renewables.
Permian Basin
Exxon Mobil subsidiary XTO Energy is this week’s top driller in the Permian Basin of West Texas. XTO filed 20 drilling permit applications, more than any other company across Texas. XTO is planning 20 horizontal drilling projects split between seven leases in Martin, Midland and Pecos counties. The four projects in Pecos County target the Rojo Caballos field of the Delaware Basin up to total depths of 8,500 feet. The 16 projects in Midland and Martin counties target the Spraberry Trend area at varying total depths up to 9,900 feet.
As one of the most active exploration and production companies in Texas, XTO has filed for 356 drilling permits this year. Nearly 70 percent of those filings were for projects in the Permian Basin, the rest between the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas and Haynesville Shale, which straddles the TexasLouisiana border. The company produced more than 32.9 million barrels of crude oil and more than 608.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2017.
Eagle Ford Shale
EP Energy, a Houston exploration and production company, filed six drilling permit applications, more than any other company. EP plans to drill six wells split between its Maltsberger and Rocky Comfort-Hixon leases in La Salle County. Five of the projects target the Eagleville field of the Eagle Ford geological layer, while one targets the Pearsall field of the Austin Chalk at total depths varying from 9,700 to 10,200 feet.
Haynesville Shale
Although drilling activity is up in the Haynesville, exploration and production companies largely took a break over Thanksgiving. No permits were filed for horizontal drilling project, but Sonerra Resources of Nacogdoches is seeking to recomplete a vertical well on its Standing Pine lease in Nacogdoches County. The project, 10 miles southeast of Nacogdoches, targets the Nacogdoches E field of the Pettit geological formation down to a depth of 9,575 feet.
Barnett Shale
With only one active drilling rig in the Barnett Shale, there were no new filings for horizontal drilling projects in the North Texas shale play over Thanksgiving. Three permits were filed for vertical wells in the North Texas shale play. BKJ Oil of Archer City is preparing to drill its first new oil well in more than eight years. The company plans to target the Archer County Regular field down to a depth of 1,500 feet on its W.J. Logan lease about 10 miles southwest of Archer City.
Conventionals
Blanco oil company Porter, James W. Special is drilling its first new oil wells in more than two years. Porter received drilling permits for four vertical wells on its Wilson D. Wing lease just northeast of Houston in Hardin County. The wells target the Batson Oil field down to a depth 1,110 feet.