Western Haynesville Play (Texas) - Robertson, Leon, and Freestone Counties

The following is a lightly edited cut-and-paste from another main page discussion.  I think this topic is interesting and deserves its own discussion thread.  I've assumed that the members posting in that discussion will not object to my moving their replies to this discussion as there was good detail concerning this emerging play.  I will remove any of those replies upon request.

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Western Haynesville Play (Texas) - Robertson, Leon, and Freestone Counties.  

Reply by Alan Herrington on December 3, 2022 at 18:36

Comstock also is busy extending the Haynesville play deeper into East Texas.  Actually, it should be considered Haynesville "equivalent", as the target formation appears to be Lower Bossier.

Based on a review of lease and assignment filings in the counties, it appears that Comstock has established a leasehold approaching 125,000 gross acres, located primarily in Robertson, Leon, and Freestone Counties.  

To date, Comstock has permitted six horizontal wells in Robertson County.  They have publicized their first well in the play, the Circle M Allocation 1H.  That well has produced 4.8 BCF of gas in its first 167 days of production and has not yet exhibited any significant monthly decline.  Comstock reported that they expected to bring their second well into production during November.  They are now in the process of drilling the remaining four wells in Robertson County, and just submitted a permit request for their first well in Leon County.  They have two rigs working.

In addition to Comstock, other companies appear to be pursuing Lower Bossier as well (but I'm not certain yet).  Thorp Petroleum has recorded lease memos covering more than 7,000 acres in Leon and Freestone Counties.  Vanna Production LLC (leasing entity associated with Vanna Oil and Gas) has recorded lease memos covering more than 12,000 acres, primarily in Leon with some in Freestone.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.  Here's an image showing the surveys in which acreage has been leased by the listed firms.  Note that the distance on the map from Oakwood down to Franklin is 53 miles.

 

Thanks for posting this, Alan.  Rock Man and I have followed this but haven't started any dedicated GHS sub groups because a)  It's outside of our traditional geographic foot print for HA/BO, and  b)  the Bald Prairie Field may not be directly related to the Haynesville/Bossier play in NW LA & E TX but certainly might be a depth equivalent which I will leave for Rock Man to weigh in on.  No doubt, there are some impressive early wells in that footprint.

 Rock Man on December 4, 2022 at 13:10

This Comstock play in Robertson and Leon County area is stratigraphically equivalent to Bossier / Haynesville section seen in NW La / NE Tx.

Same age rocks - just the other side of the basin (i.e., on the western side of the E Tx embayment)

 w.r. frank on December 5, 2022 at 14:07

What is vertical depth and what is the length of lateral perforations?

  Alan Herrington on December 5, 2022 at 14:27

The completion report for the Circle M Allocation 1H shows a TVD of 15,981 feet and a producing interval of 7,861 feet.

For the other five Robertson County wells and the one Leon County well, we only have the estimates provided in the W-1 permit submissions:

Cazey Black A:  16,000 TVD  8,365 PI

McCullough Ingram A:  16,500 TVD  10,000 PI

McCullough Ingram C:  16,300 TVD  8,315 PI

Campbell B:  16,000 TVD  13,280 PI

Campbell C:  16,000 TVD  13,000 PI

Dinkins:  18,000 TVD  10,023 PI

 Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on December 5, 2022 at 14:32

 

Thanks, Alan.  Those TVDs seem exceptionally deep.  Are pressure readings available for these wells?

 

Rock Man on December 5, 2022 at 14:36

In excess of 0.85# per foot pressure gradient

Expensive wells

 

Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on December 5, 2022 at 14:40

 

So, > 15,000 psi for a 18K TVD.  Expensive and dangerous.  The bottom hole temps must be crazy also.

Bottom of Form

 Alan Herrington on December 5, 2022 at 15:42

For the Circle M well:

Bottom Hole Temp:  320 degrees

Shut In Wellhead Pressure:  11,900 PSI and 100 degrees

Test Run Wellhead Pressure:  9,488 PSI and 213 degrees with 28 choke

 

 Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on December 5, 2022 at 16:14

Thanks, Alan.  I would have suspected a temp closer to 400 at that depth.  Good pressures make good wells.

 Alan Herrington on December 7, 2022 at 9:49

So there's a new twist in the story of this new play...

I mentioned above that Vanna Production had recorded some leases in Leon County (60 to be exact).  Vanna immediately assigned those leases to Sabana Royalty Partners, which I thought seemed a little odd.  An internet search didn't turn up much about Sabana, but it did find the officers:  Dan and Farris Wilks.  These two brothers got into hydraulic fracturing when by starting the company Frac Tech back in 2002.  In 2011, they sold their 70% share for $3.5 billion, becoming billionaires in the process.

If they are indeed chasing Lower Bossier like Jerry Jones is, we now have three billionaires involved!

 Rock Man on December 7, 2022 at 10:03 

Interesting playing field for sure

 

Alan Herrington on December 20, 2022 at 18:41

Comstock filed a completion report today on their second Lower Bossier well in Robertson County, the Cazey Black A 1H.  Here are some stats:

TVD:  15,927 feet

Producing Interval:  7,912 feet

24-Hour Test Gas Volume:  42,215 MCF with choke at 30 (this production is about 15% higher than for their first well)

Shut In Pressure:  12,150 PSI

Test Run Pressure:  10,097 PSI

Shut In Temp:  100 degrees

Test Run Temp:  259 degrees

Bottom Hole Temp:  320 degrees

 

 Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on December 20, 2022 at 18:48

Good well. Impressive.  Thanks, Alan.

 Alan Herrington on January 11, 2023 at 13:24

Cazey Black A production during its first 24 days:  711,908 MCF.  

29,663 MCF per day.

 Rock Man on January 11, 2023 at 13:30

Any way to find out if Comstock is hedging gas out here?

Big drop in gas prices since they started producing up here / big impact on economics

Side comment - I have seen D&C costs for horizontal drilling really take off over the past few months

Cost of diesel, steel, crews, etc.

Rig rates running over $35,000 per day

Good crews at a premium

For both drilling as well as frac jobs and other operations 

An example is D&C on 12,500' laterals (TVD 7500') in the Eagle Ford - over $12,5 Millon

These deeper and higher-pressure wells will have higher costs too - and with dropping gas prices, what is the bottom price threshold for drilling?

Just putting this out there / open for all comments as usual

Niel Loeb on January 23, 2023 at 9:30

Are these good numbers, i.e. is it producing a large amount?

 Rock Man on January 23, 2023 at 9:38

Great numbers in my opinion - especially when one considers the minimal apparent production decline.

Basically, no decline for first 6 months of production. 30 MMCF per day.

EUR's here may be larger than the HV in NE Tx / NW La.

Niel Loeb on January 23, 2023 at 16:28

Thanks

 Joshua S. Huckaby on January 23, 2023 at 15:11

Rumor mill that I’ve been hearing deep bossier is 6bcf per 1,000’ of lateral.  No matter I still believe both Comstock and Aethon are going way over their capex for these wells.

 

 Rock Man on January 23, 2023 at 15:44

As a geologist, I believe that this is Lower Bossier target around 16,500' TVD. Some others think Haynesville section. Really a moot point - deep, high pressure, dry gas with huge volumes post frac.

I am sure their D&C numbers have changed dramatically since they started drilling out here.

Wonder if they are hedging their gas??

 Alan Herrington on January 23, 2023 at 16:18

According to their Q3 2022 report, they have natural gas collar contracts in place for calendar year 2023:

Volume(MMBtu):  128,925,000

Average Price Per MMBtu:

   Ceiling  $9.85


   Floor  $2.98

 

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Replies to This Discussion

Alan--Can you please repost the image you referenced to this thread?  "It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.  Here's an image showing the surveys in which acreage has been leased by the listed firms.  Note that the distance on the map from Oakwood down to Franklin is 53 miles."

Here's a recent mapping of all the surveys in which leasing has occurred for this developing LowerBossier/Haynesville play in Robertson, Leon, and Freestone Counties:

Attachments:

Here are some excerpts from Comstock's Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript:

"Now we increased our Haynesville/Bossier shale budget shelf footprint by almost 100,000 net acres in 2022 without paying billions and billions of dollars for an M&A transaction. Thus, we avoided issuing millions and millions of shares of stock or incurring debt to acquire additional drilling inventory. Instead, we paid $550 per acre to grow our Haynesville/Bossier shale footprint to 470,000 net acres, which provides us with thousands of future drilling locations."
 
"We drilled two very successful exploratory wells in our Western Haynesville play. The results so far on both wells put them among the best wells ever drilled in the Haynesville. We increased the average lateral length of the wells we drilled by 14% compared to 2021 to almost 10,000 feet. The wells we put on sales had an average IP rate of 26 million cubic feet per day, and our drilling activity added 1.1 Tcfe approved reserve additions at a low finding cost of $0.95 per Mcfe."
 

"Included in the fourth quarter wells was our second well completed in our Western Haynesville area. The KZ Black number 1H well was completed in the Bossier with a 7,912 foot long lateral, and it was turned to sales in November. The well was tested with an IP rate of 42 million a day. After we got the KZ well tested, our total field production exceeded the existing treating capacity in the field and the wells were curtailed to slightly below our treating capacity.

Prior to being curtail, our first well completed in the field, our Circle M well was producing at a flat rate of 30 million a day since we turned it to sales back in April of last year with the exception of being shut in for the month of October, while the KZ Black well was being completed. The existing treater is currently being expanded. We expect to have additional treating capacity available basically by the beginning of the second quarter.

We're currently completing the third well on our Western Haynesville acreage, which is the Campbell B #2H well. This well was drilled in the Bossier formation with a 12,700-foot long lateral. We anticipate turning this well to sales by the end of next month. We also have two rigs currently running on the Western Haynesville acreage that are drilling our fourth and fifth well."
"I look at that, you guys - as Derrick pointed out, a great job as you guys picked up this almost 100,000 acres. But it looks to me like you guys - if I look at that you don't want to show map, but you're also guiding to, I think, about $30 million of lease acquisition on the - no, I'm sorry, more closer to 100. So that suggests to me you're not done building that position, but you're probably more than half done building that position. Is that a fair way to characterize it or how would you characterize it?

Roland Burns

I think that we kind of - we talked about spending roughly the $30 million was the right number for lease acquisition in '23. I think you're looking at the infrastructure..."
"Bertrand Donnes

All right, so the first one came on at 37 a day and then the next one came out even higher at 42. And it sounds like that you surprised your midstream guide a little bit. Were you guys expecting that level of consistency? I know it's only two wells, but when you look at your core position, there's kind of a much larger variation. So I'm just trying to find out if that was also a surprise to you guys or if there's something different geologically that you knew this was going to happen?

Daniel Harrison

No I think the geology - I mean we, as far as variability, we expected the same out of both wells. We did both of these wells initially. We typically do flow our well completions of the casing for quite some time before we'll tube them up down here in the Western Haynesville, both of these wells were basically tubed up from the get-go. We did run - we have two and 78s we ran in the Circle M. We ran 3.5-inch tubing in the KZ well.

We wanted to run through 3.5-inch tubing in the Circle M well. We just basically couldn't get our hands on a stream when we needed to. And so that's one of the reasons why we didn't really probably go to a higher IP rate on the Circle M was just - we're just basically trying to manage technically critical velocities, erosional rates and all that. So that did let us - so the KZ with a bigger tube and allowed us to basically test at a little bit higher rate."

The "KZ" well referenced in the transcript is actually the Cazey Black. A 1H.  It produced more than 1.1 BCF of gas during its first full month of production, and that was during a period of time when Comstock had to throttle back production because of an overloaded treatment plant.

Thank you for this information Alan!

Thought I would provide a July 2023 update on the status of the emerging Western Haynesville (Lower Bossier) play>

Total leasing in Freestone, Leon, and Robertson Counties so far:  242,000 gross acres plus whatever the gross equivalent is of the 60,000 net acres that Comstock acquired in their deal with Legacy Reserves.  Here's a breakout by player:

Comstock:  131,000 gross acres plus the 60,000 net acres

Sabana Royalty Partners/Vanna Production:  68,000

Aethon:  26,000

Others (leasing entities that haven't made assignments yet):  17,000

Of the 242,000 acres, about 60% are in Leon, 26% on Robertson, 12% in Freestone, and 2% in tracts that cross county boundaries.  Here's the latest map of the county surveys that contain leased acreage:

Well data so far:

Aethon - Robertson County

Currie 2H

Date of first production:  9/29/2022
Pad location:  7.7 miles SW of Marquez
TVD:  15,624
Producing interval length:  6,561
Production through  April 2023:  4.5 BCF (21,000 MCF/Day)

River Ranch GU 1H
Pad location:  7.0 miles SW of Marquez
Date of first production:  1/24/2023
TVD:  17,547
Producing interval length:  6,421
Production through  April 2023:  2.2 BCF (22,000 MCF/Day)

Koda 1H
Pad location:  11.8 miles SW of Marquez
Drilling completed:  1/28/2023
TVD:  16,713

Topsy 1HB
Pad location:  5.3 miles SW of Marquez
Spud:  2/4/2023

Topsy 2HB
Pad location:  5.3 miles SW of Marquez
Spud:  2/6/2023

Vivian 1HB
Pad location:  2.0 miles NW of Ridge
Spud:  4/24/2023

Vivian 2HB
Pad location:  2.0 miles NW of Ridge
Spud:  4/22/2023

More well data:

Comstock - Robertson County

Circle M Allocation 1H
Pad location:  7.8 miles NE of Franklin
Date of first production:  4/17/2022
TVD:  15,981
Producing interval length:  7,861
Production through April 2023:  9.0 BCF (22,000 MCF/Day)

Cazey Black A 1H
Pad location:  6.5 miles NE of Franklin
Date of first production:  11/7/2022
TVD:  15,927
Producing interval length:  7,912
Production through April 2023:  4.5 BCF (22,000 MCF/Day)

Campbell EO B 2H
Pad location:  3.9 miles NE of Franklin
Date of first production:  3/19/2023
TVD:  15,701
Producing interval length:  12,763
Production through April 2023:  2.1 BCF (29,000 MCF/Day)

McCullough Ingram C 1H
Pad location:  11.4 miles NE of Franklin

Drilling completed:  1/20/2023
Drilled vertical section, then temporarily abandoned

McCullough Ingram A 1H
Pad location:  11.4 miles NE of Franklin

Spud:  41/21/2023

Cazey MS 1H
Pad location:  5.3 miles NE of Franklin

Spud:  4/13/2023

Campbell EO C 3H
Pad location:  3.9 miles NE of Franklin

Permit approved:  6/27/2022
No additional info

More well data:

Comstock - Leon County

JG Dinkins 1H

Pad location:  1.3 miles S of Marquez

Spud:  1/10/2023

Date of first production: not known
Production:  small amount of gas (105,000 MCF) reported for May 2023

CW Lanier 1H

Pad location:  1.3 miles SE of Marquez

Spud:  4/17/2023

Neyland HRM 1H

Pad location:  2.8 miles NE of Marquez

Permit approved:  5/12/2023
To be replaced by Neyland MMM 1H

RT Glass 1H

Pad location:  4.3 miles SW of Marquez

Permit approved:  4/18/2023

Farley GD 1H

Pad location:  3.1 miles SW of Marquez

Permit approved:  6/26/2023

Alan, thanks for the very comprehensive report.  I especially like the map to define the fairway.  That's a lot of impressive wells.  Do they produce any liquids?

Dry gas. Zero liquids. High temperature reservoir- close to or over 400 degrees F depending on area. Very highly pressure.

Thanks, Rock Man.  It sounds like the Haynesville in Angelina County.  Very challenging drilling and completion ops.

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