Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on October 24, 2010 at 5:07

Jeff I think you added one too many zeros. Things slow way down with extreme depth.

Permalink Reply by jeff boler on October 25, 2010 at 12:43

no sir, 1000ft per hour is a good average tripping speed whether your tripping from 1,000 ft or 30,000 ft. It's the drilling that slows down significantly with depth, while tripping speeds, for the most part, remain constant.

Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on October 25, 2010 at 12:58

Sorry Jeff, though you were talking about drilling. When I read back up the thread it made better since.

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on October 24, 2010 at 12:54

Ray, considering that Mainland stock is currently hanging around $0.30/share, 600,000 shares is all of $180,000, as opposed to the normal volume of $36,000.

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on October 26, 2010 at 2:28

jeff, I leave the log analysis to Jay (Shale Geo). I am a landman. He is a geologist. And I trust his opinion.

Permalink Reply by jffree1 on October 26, 2010 at 3:25

Mainland Resources starts final drilling phase at Buena Vista Haynesville Shale well

October 26, 2010

Source: Mainland Resources

Mainland Resources, Inc. (OTC:MNLU) updated the progress of drilling operations at its Burkley-Phillips No.1 well on its Buena Vista Prospect located in Jefferson County Mississippi.

As of October 25, 2010, the Burkley-Phillips No.1 well was drilled and cased to a depth of 17,872 feet. Wireline logs and mud logs have identified potential gas productive intervals in the Hosston formation. The Company cautions that a determination of commercial reserves in the Hosston formation will require a further analysis of porosity within these gas-bearing zones.

To date, the well has encountered numerous mud log derived gas hydrocarbon shows of various qualities suggesting the presence of an active hydrocarbon source and effective migration into hydrocarbon bearing intervals within the Buena Vista structure.

The Burkley-Phillips No.1 well is currently drilling at 17,900 feet and the forward plan calls for the drilling operations to proceed through the Cotton Valley and Haynesville intervals to the programmed total depth of 22,000 feet.

http://www.pennenergy.com/index/petroleum/display/4982514385/articl...

Permalink Reply by Dennis Dion on October 26, 2010 at 7:35

Commercial reserves???? Have a look at the documents filed for Bruxoil gas well API 2306320474 on MSOGB web site. This well is located close to Mainland's well and was drilled in 2004, spud date 08/07/2004 total depth date (17300ft) 11/20/2004 and later plugged and abandoned. Maybe one of our geologists can comment on their poor drilling results for shallow targets

Permalink Reply by jeff boler on October 26, 2010 at 23:48

I'm no Geologist, but out of curiosity I took a look at the well you mentioned above. The thing that stands out to me is that Petrosearch {the original Operator) drilled a 17,300 ft [MD] well to produce from the Lower Tuscaloosa Sandstone which is only about 12,500 ft [TVD] deep. This is understandable, they drilled where they could penetrate a shallow, primary target (Tuscaloosa) and then they just continued drilling looking for a nice clean Hosston/Travis-Peak Sand. This was a good strategy, The returns from their Lower-Tuscaloosa Production coupled with any profits made from selling the property to Bruxoil would offset the risks associated with exploring.

I also Noticed that they stopped drilling at 17,300ft [MD] because they only left themselves the ability to set 1 casing string below the 12,864ft [MD] Casing Point. At this point the hole would have become too narrow for reliable tools to get to bottom. Mainland just announced that they were unable to reach the target for their intermediate casing shoe, which was programmed for 19,200 ft [TVD], but they couldn't make it much past Petrosearch's efforts and set casing at 17,872ft [MD]. Mainland utilized larger casing on the surface hole so now they have more options should they encounter abnormal pressures. These casing points indicate that there is a pore pressure increase somewhere around these depths, and an active petroleum source-rock somewhere below producing the gas and contributing to the increased pressure. The mud weight required to hold back the formation fluids the bottom of the hole was exceeding the fracture gradient of the weakest part of the exposed well-bore (likely just below the 7.625" casing). When this takes place it is wise to stop and set casing, then raise the mud weight and resume drilling. The Deepwater Horizon continued drilling when it would have been wise to run casing an didn't have favorable results.

The interesting thing about the well that you brought up is that though I understand their reasoning for drilling to 17,300ft [MD], I don't understand their reason for running liner (casing that doesn't extend back to the surface, but cases the hole none-the-less). Petrosearch probably invested $500,000 in lining the entire well-bore to 17,300ft [MD] when they could have simply pumped cement and set a bridge plug. I believe that this indicates one of two scenarios taking place: 1) Petrosearch attempted to complete the tight gas sands of the Hosston/Travis Peak formation and was unsuccessful in recovering profitable hydrocarbons, or 2) Petrosearch thought that the technology to complete such wells was right around the corner and cased the hole in anticipation of future completions. One thing is for certain, they didn't buy all that casing and bury it for no reason.

If they had attempted the completion, but were unsuccessful at recovering profitable quantities of gas, they would have still produced something. At this point, rather than setting a bridge plug to produce the Tuscaloosa alone, they would have petitioned the MSOandGB for permission to commingle the gas that was produced from the Hosston/Travis-Peak with the Lower-Tuscaloosa stream. I can find no record of such a petition, nor any more detailed records for this well, as scout cards and well logs are not available. For this reason, my best guess would be that Petrosearch planned for a future completion, which suggest that they saw potential in the basin-centered gas accumulations of the Hosston/Travis-Peak formation.

When the well rights were sold to Bruxoil, all of this knowledge was lost and when production from the Buena Vista, Lower Tuscaloosa Field dropped too low the MSOandGB had Bruxoil Plug & Abandon a well. Bruxoil might have Plugged and abandoned this well never knowing that there was 5,000 ft of cased-hole below the Lower-Tuscaloosa.

Permalink Reply by Dennis Dion on October 27, 2010 at 3:10

Thanks Jeff for your comment. Possibly their drill rig lacked the power to go any deeper but there is still hope for these guys, Bruxoil's petition for extension of inactive well status for that particular well has just been approved by MSOGB.

Permalink Reply by rusell shleby on October 27, 2010 at 4:56

Very intresting information from the MSOGB filing yesterday. 15 wells have been requested to the MSOGB board to approve the extention of inactive wells in the same counties as the Buena Vista well... Wonder Why?

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on October 27, 2010 at 5:05

rusell, maybe we should wonder how much it costs to extend inactive status? If anything. I would guess it's as a precaution just in case Mainland turns up something of value. I was personally hoping for some shallow oil or wet gas shows. I think we would have heard about it by now if that had been the case.

Permalink Reply by Paul M. Hess on October 27, 2010 at 5:22

While I agree with Skip regarding "precautionary" requests, Many operators will not release "all" the data they have thus far acquired while drilling. Some will totally "tite hole" it while others will release just enough to wet our curiosity and/or to hopefully sell stock! However, there may be some info they are willing to share with some industry insiders. As there has been no insider trading reported on MNLU since 10/8/10, I remain "cautionary", but hopeful! Wet gas would be nice with dry gas prices as they are. Some liquid reward will help recover costs of the well. But that will depend on the thermal maturity of that part of the basin and the timing of hydrocarbon migration and entrapment.

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