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Permalink Reply by Oil Neophyte on August 12, 2008 at 11:16

My family owns acreage in Jackson Parish but it is right on the parish line between Jackson and Caldwell (100 acres off of Hwy 4). My brother-in-law is a geologist in Houston who works offshore projects for Shell.

I asked him about the Haynesville Shale in regards to our family acreage. He said that he checked with some geologist friends who work for Petro Hawk. They told him that based upon the data that they had reviewed (old seismic, etc.), they felt that there was a strong possibility that the Haynesville Shale did not extend to where our property is located and even if it did, it would be at a depth of around 19,000 feet or so. Not a condusive depth for the drilling of a well. My brother-in-law said that the Haynesville Shale tapers off as it extends eastward from Caddo Parish, etc. Bummer for us because I was hoping that we would be able to cash in on some of the craziness happening in the NW parishes.

We has leased this acreage about 5 years ago to Devon Energy but they drilled a dry hole about 2 miles away from our property and it killed any further drilling. I believe that they were looking for Hosston/Cotton Valley sands.

I know that if someone approaches us about leasing, we will want a fair deal but will not be so naive as to hold out for the crazy money being paid in Caddo, etc. As my brother-in-law told me, you make way more money off of the royalty than you off of the leasing. I'd be willing to lease for less money in order to get a well drilled because no company is going to come in and pay crazy money right off of the bat for something not proven to be in the area. If I lease for $200/ac and 1/5th and my neighbor leases for $2,000/ac and 1/6th, my 1/5th royalty will bring in more money down the road than his 1/6th will.

Just my 2 cents.

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