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About David Traugott
Expertise
I can answer questions related to the technical issues associated with the drilling and completing of oil and gas wells; very familiar with the cementing process and LWD tools. Limited knowledge of mineral rights and/or royalties.

Experience
Twelve years working as an engineer in the industry both in the field and in the office. Field locations include offshore, land, and overseas. Office locations include Lafayette, LA and Houston, TX.

Organizations
SPE, AADE, IADC, API, IEEE

Publications
SPE Drilling and Completion Magazine

Education/Credentials
-Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, 1995 -Currently working on MBA, 2010 (anticipated)

Past/Present Clients
Major and Independent Oil and Gas Companies.

You are here: Experts > Industry > Oil/Gas > Oil/Gas > Longevity of a well

Oil/Gas - Longevity of a well

Expert: David Traugott - 11/3/2009

Question
Mr. Traugott,

I have mineral rights, I inherited, on some land in McClain County, Oklahoma. An oil company began drilling and they struck oil. Each month the production in the number of barrels has gone up. It began at 800 barrels for May, 1200 in June, and 1900 August. This is an increase to approx. 90 barrels per day (August).

I'm trying to figure out how to estimate an approximate length of time this one well will continue to produce. I have been searching online for information as to how this type of estimate is generated, assuming an oil production company would not dig in a particular location unless they had enough evidence that it would be worth the financial risk... right? So, how do they figure this out? Is there any information online that explains this?

I'm also trying to understand if there is someway I can learn about the productivity of the well and look up the previous month's number of barrels produced. I was paid for August, and I am now waiting for September's check royality check and am wondering what the rate of production was for both September and October. The production company will not give me this information. They say to wait until the check arrives. Is this typical or is there some other means by which I can access the reported amounts online?

Last night I spent a considerable amount of time on the following two websites: occ.state.ok.us and occeweb.com. Neither gave me a reporting of the production since May. I am curious about documents that I found on the later website. There are terms used that I do not understand. Could you define them for me? Here they are:

sureity of 25,000 barrels
Oil Gravity: 44
Gas MCF / Day: 50
Gas Oil Ratio CU / FT /BBL: 793.65
Water BBl / Day: 180 (Load)
Completion Report

Thank you so much for considering my question. I am very new to all of this. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. I'll be waiting for your response.

K.

Answer
The data that the oil companies use to research areas for potential exploration activities is proprietary and they usually pay large fees to obtain access to those datasets; that is why you couldn't find anything online.

You can research the production history of other wells in the area (on the occeweb.com website) and this should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect with your well. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to obtain the production data until you get your check stub.

Here are the definitions you requested:
sureity of 25,000 barrels - sorry, don't know this one.

Oil Gravity: 44 - this represents the density of the oil being produced, the units are in "degrees API"; the higher the number the lower the oil density and the higher the quality (30 is considered a standard benchmark).

Gas MCF / Day: 50 - this is the rate of the gas flow; 50 MCF represents 50,000 cu-ft per day.

Gas Oil Ratio CU / FT /BBL: 793.65 - this is the ratio of gas volume to water in cu-ft/bbl.

Water BBl / Day: 180 (Load) - this is the water production per day.

Completion Report - this is a detailed report outlining the procedures and equipment used to "complete" the well (i.e. provide a flow path from the reservoir to the surface).

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