Expert: James H. McConnell, CPL
Date: 8/2/2008
Subject: Haynesville Shale play in DeSoto Parish,LA

Question
Mr. McConnell, a couple of years ago, our family leased our property in Desoto Parish,LA (Section 13, T14N-R13W) to Winchester Production (now EXCO Resources). The leases and bonuses were fair for the time and wells are producing nicely (we like the "mailbox money"). I realize we are already locked in on the lease we have as it is held by production, but I'm wondering what the Haynesville shale will do for production. In your opinion, will it affect production at all? Can vertical wells be re-completed as horizontal wells? Is this feasible for a company to do so? How does EXCO shape up with the big companies like Cheasapeake? Also, the horizontal wells seem to be very expensive to drill but the possible production seems to be worth it, but their depths are about 10,000 to 11,000 ft. much the same as the vertical wells there already. How much more production can be accomplished from a horizontal? Is the increased production from the increased surface area from the lateral? By the way,not too far from our property there is land owned by someone with your last name. Any relations? Thanks for your help responding to my rambling post, Cannie


Answer
You have read a lot of information, but you don't really get the overall picture yet. The Haynesville shale in 14n-13W is probably 11000-12000 feet. When they drill a horizontal well they add a lateral of about 4000-6000 feet, making total depth around 15,000 to 17,000 feet.

The wells cost about $6.5mm to drill and complete and they should average 6-6.5 BCF per well. The completions from the horizontal wells are from 6.5mmcfd to 18.5mmcfd. At $10.00 per mcf that's $60-65mm revenue per well or close to $600mm per unit. Yeah, it will affect the production in the unit. If you like those Cotton Valley wells, you will love the Haynesville wells.

The Haynesville Shale has porosity but no permeability, so a vertical well will do very little after initial completion. They are drilling vertical wells to test the rock, because this is a whole new ball game and they are learning while drilling. Once they have the data they need to understand the reservoir rock under their lease block and can plan the multi stage frac jobs accordingly, they will commence their drilling program in earnest. As of now, they are looking at 8 wells per unit or 80 acre spacing. This can change over time and experience. As far as reentering a vertical wellbore and drilling a horizontal leg, they will do that. They will drill several laterals at one time from the same pad and frac them at the same time to consolidate costs.

For the first time in my career, this business has thirty to forty years of work laid out for itself in developing these shale plays. They will run these things with real efficiency.

McConnell is the 26th most common name in America. I have family in Shreveport and Red River Parish.


Buck

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I'm overwhelmed by the negativity of the site. I need to take a break from it.
Glad to see you back MOM. The break I took was a little longer then yours(1:57 to my 3 days) HA!HA! I hope you have better results then I had.
By Occam's powerful razor the snake cuts it's own head off. Censorship is intolerable,live in a bigger world. Jim Mcconnell is the razor personified. Short, to the point and vastly knowledgable, does'nt need a tirade to get it over. Everyone make your own decisions.I would like to see Jim back on the board.I'd like to see Jay stay on the board.Jim will tell you it's poker, You're at the table deal with it.
Sorry to dissapoint cha simba , Snake is till here!
Censorship is intolerable
Dont bring a razor to a cannon battle!
Dont look directly into the sun!
Look both ways before you cross the street!

Have a great day Simba!
P.S. Who in the heck is Occam ?
Hey, Snake. My 33rd bday is coming up on the 23rd. Will you jump out of my cake? lol =)
Snake....were glad to have you back.....I have been having to pick on right wing liberals since you have been gone! LOL
a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham. The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. The principle is often expressed in Latin as the lex parsimoniae ("law of parsimony" or "law of succinctness"): "entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem", roughly translated as "entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity".

This is often paraphrased as "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best." In other words, when multiple competing theories are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selecting the theory that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest entities. It is in this sense that Occam's razor is usually understood.

Originally a tenet of the reductionist philosophy of nominalism, it is more often taken today as an heuristic maxim (rule of thumb) that advises economy, parsimony, or simplicity, often or especially in scientific theories.

Your eloquent responses would envy Sam Houston (he was rather long-winded)!
Cookie,
Let me think on this one Cookie I'll get back to you.
Cookie you win,
Please translate into Red Neck for me.
Amen! I don't know about you, but this southern gal got lost in all that English mumbo jumbo. I might have to pull out the dictionary or google some of them there terms.
Indeed. I think the definition of Occam's razor is rather ironic...essentially the simple solution is usually the best one (especially in a complex problem)

Example: the bush admin has ruined our country....simply vote their party out of office and let the other side of the spectrum take a whack at it....or we could outsource to India (like other jobs we don't feel like doing anymore)...lol!
Thanks. Now that, I understood. =)

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