DeWitt Landowners Sue Talisman

October 6, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

The Eagle Ford’s DeWitt County is at the center of a royalty dispute over unpaid royalties for one couple.

Eugene and Kimberly Cran, have taken their complaints to court, filing lawsuit against Talisman Energy (Repsol) earlier this week. The couple claims they were underpaid for their royalties for oil wells on their land in DeWitt County.

The Crans had entered into a lease with both Talisman and StatOil USA. They became suspicious when their royalty checks from Talisman were consistently lower than those from StatOil. The couple turned to the courts when they could get no reasonable answers from the company.

“The suit alleges that Talisman “systematically failed and refused to pay Plaintiff(s) the full royalties due and owing according to their mineral rights and leases.”

The Provost Umphrey Law Firm LLP represents the Crans and more than 100 royalty owners in the Eagle Ford. They expect to file more royalty payment lawsuits again Talisman over the next few weeks.

Talisman became a casualty of the crude pricing crisis. After a devastating $1.59 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2014 and announcements of major job cuts, the company was sold to Repsol in 2015 for $8.3 billion.

Federal Grant Targets Oil & Gas Workers

October 5, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

Dislocated oil and gas industry workers may soon find help with a new federal government grant initiative.

After months of low crude prices and tens of thousands of layoffs, many oilfield workers are scrambling to find other work. The U.S. Department of Labor announced this week that they have approved a grant to provide re-employment services to dislocated workers in the state’s oil and gas industry.

The initial funds to be awarded to the Texas Workforce Commission will be $13,293,207, with a total approved amount of $16,309,807. The funds will serve approximately 4,191 workers.

“Since 2014, the Texas oil and gas industry has been in decline as oil prices continue to fall which, in turn, has led to layoffs for workers employed by oil and gas extraction companies and related industries. One area of focus for this project will be small rural communities whose economies rely heavily on income of oil and gas industry workers.”

— United States Labor Department statement

Dislocated worker grants are a part of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which was signed into law on July 22, 2014 by President Barack Obama. The WIOA is designed to help job seekers access employment, education, training, and support services to succeed in the labor market and to match employers with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy.

Shale Task Force to Study Texas Industry

October 4, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

A new Shale Task Force will study the impact of shale oil and gas development in Texas.

The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) has created a new Shale Task Force to help Texans better understand the impacts of shale oil and gas development in Texas, and offer advice for future research topics and priorities.

The Shale Task Force will review existing scientific research on the effects of shale oil and gas development in Texas in order to offer advice for future research topics and priorities. Over the next year, the task force will work to draft a comprehensive, peer-reviewed report to be published in mid-2017. The group’s work will focus on six areas:

Seismicity
Land resources
Water
Air
Transportation
Community impacts

“The development of vast deposits of oil and gas in the Lone Star State has had a tremendous impact on the state’s economy and the lives of everyday Texans, and provides an opportunity to learn. This task force will report findings from studies in Texas, and identify the missing gaps in our knowledge. This will help improve practices for the industry, inform our society and improve policies for the regulators and lawmakers that oversee it.”

— Task Force Chair Dr. Christine Economides

The TAMEST Shale Task Force will hold a public meeting on October 5, 2016 in Austin that will include presentations and discussion with numerous invited expert speakers.

Find out more at TAMEST.org

Venado and KKR to Develop Eagle Ford

October 3, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

Deals are still happening in the Eagle Ford as analysts report up to 100,000 wells can still be drilled.

In a joint announcement, Venado Oil and Gas, LLC and global investment firm KKR announced this week that they are joining together to develop assets in the Eagle Ford Shale.

“We are excited to partner with KKR in the Eagle Ford, where we both see the opportunity to build a large scale, long-term business. Both Venado’s management and KKR have been active in the Eagle Ford since the early phase of development, and we share the same vision of the next phase of its evolution. This provides an ideal foundation for a strong partnership.”

— Scott Garrick, CEO of Venado

Activity in the Eagle Ford has slowed to its lowest point since 2010 with the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) reporting reporting that they issued 4,830 original drilling permits throughout the state of Texas from January-August. 642 of those permits are for operations in the Eagle Ford Shale. If the trend continues, the Eagle Ford will have fewer permits issued by the end of the year since before 2010.

Despite the decline, the Eagle Ford is still a prized space in the industry with many productive years ahead. Researchers from the UT’s Bureau of Economic Geology say that the 400-mile field has seen just a fraction of its ultimate activity and their new study predicts that another 100,000 wells can still be drilled.

Houston-based KKR manages oil and gas assets in numerous unconventional and conventional resource areas across the United States and has made more than ten investments in the Eagle Ford to date. Venado is a private company focused on the acquisition and exploitation of upstream oil and gas assets and is primarily focused on drilling locations in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Eagle Ford Shale Rig Count Falls to 41

September 30, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

The Eagle Ford Shale rig count loses ground this week ending with41 rigs running across our coverage area.

In recent Eagle Ford news, a former gate guard at BHP’s Dilworth Ranch in McMullen County, filed a class action lawsuit against Chapa Gate Guard Service, BHP Billion and BHP Billiton Petroleum. Cox alleges that the three companies violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 by paying her less than the minimum wage in addition to not paying overtime penalties and failing to record all of the time she worked.

A total of 521 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, an increase of 11 from last week of two. 96 rigs targeted natural gas (four more than the previous week) and 425 were targeting oil in the U.S. (seven more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 245 of the rigs active in the U.S. were running in Texas.

Baker Hughes reports its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties. The rig count published on EagleFordShale.com includes a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table below.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

Five rigs in the Eagle Ford region targeted natural gas this week with the commodity trading at $2.90/mmbtu.

36 Eagle Ford rigs were targeting oil with WTI oil prices gaining $3.76 to $48.24 .

A total of 39 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, zero is drilling directional wells and two are vertical.

LaSalle leads production this week with seven rigs in production. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Shale News

Noble energy Plans for Job Cuts

Newfield Exits the Eagle Ford

Fracking in Mexico’s Eagle Ford Could Begin Next Year

BHP Accused of Not Paying Minimum Wage

What is the Rig Count?

The Eagle Ford Shale Rig Count is an index of the total number of oil & gas drilling rigs running across a 30 county area in South Texas. The South Texas rigs referred to in this article are for ALL drilling reported by Baker Hughes and not solely wells targeting the Eagle Ford formation. All land rigs and onshore rig data shown here are based upon industry estimates provided by the Baker Hughes Rig Count.