Union Parish, LA

Is there any geological evidence for the presence of HS in
any part of Union parish?

The jurassic play is in UP but no known Haynesville shale. There has been some drilling for the Haynesville sands in Point, LA within the last year.

Thanks for the info.We have several hundred acres near Bernice so I'm gathering data if an opportunity presents
itself.

An update to Union parish activity. There is rumored leasing south of Downsville close to the Boy Scout camp at $1500/acre. I don't know if this is 100% true nor do I know any of the details.

North LA,
If they are drilling Haynesville Sand wells, then the Haynesville Shale is not there. They are the same interval, it is more of a "shaley sand" in that area. But there could be some "Jurrasic" activity in the area. That includes the Cotton Valley, Bossier, Haynesville, and Smackover (gray sand). Could be some good money to be made.

I know the shale and sand are different but thanks for pointing it out. In my opinion this whole play is more of a Jurrasic play than just the Haynesville Shale. If you look at the deep bossier play in East Tx you'll see what some of these Jurrasic formations can produce. If the Bossier Shale/Buckner/Smackover/Haynesville sand/Deep Bossier sands have a high hydrocarbon load then they will be just as good if not better than the Haynesville Shale. I'm hoping the resource formations beneath NELA are just as good as in NWLA. I have a funny fealing they will be. The gas from the Monroe gas rock came from one of these sources and I think sooner or later they will be looking for that source formation and try to tap it.

I have about 20 acres close to Lillie. I think it will be awhile before anything comes up our way so it's a good time to learn as much as possible. If you want to help speed things along then write your representatives and ask them to implement CNG or some other form of natural gas for a transportation fuel.

We have 7 1/2 acres in Downsville and 4 acres in Spearsville. We have heard of any leasing in our area of $1500. per acre, If anyone knows anything
about this please share the info.
My sister in Desoto parish just leased for $22,500. an acre. She hired an atty.
to go over the lease, he made several changes. She was only charged $100. and has a lease that states her property cannot be drilled on are used as access to the well.

Hey, guys. This is Bill Lynn, formerly of Bernice. Until we moved to SW Missouri, I ran the winery in Bernice. Anyway, the man who has leased the winery building from me called a couple of days ago to let me know that a gas well is being drilled on the far west side of the parish just south of Hwy 2 about half a mile from the Claiborne/Union parish line. I don't think drilling has commenced yet, but it won't be long. I have a high school classmate who has property near the chip mill and she was contacted about a lease, but the offering was not all that great, so she has passed for now. I have property that straddles the parish line on both sides of Hwy 2, so this new gas well about a .30-06 shot to the east has really caught my interest. Will keep you updated as I get info from the old home town.

JT....it's a bit south of Lillie, but Greystone has been making inquiries in close to the west side of Bernice.
According to a friend of mine, she had an offer that she thought was low and has not taken action on it yet. She was thinking about a counter. Will have to see how that turns out. Do you know if anyone has countered a low lease offer with an acceptance of the bonus, but countering with a higher royalty figure, i.e. 30% versus the going rate of 25%. With leases in west Union now
apparently getting offers of $350 per acre compared to the bank busting per acre money that was/is being offered over in Bossier Parish, I was wondering if the long term royalties might outweigh the quick cash of the lease bonus. Comments or ideas????

All excellent ideas, especially the environmental cleanup. I have spent many days cleaning up after timber crews cut marketable pines. If there is ever another round of timber sales, there will be an agreement in writing that when they leave, the pine stumps go with them and the holes will be bulldozed over. I have never seen a timber operation that was not an environmental disaster, especially the clearcutting that is favored in north Louisiana.
While we don't have any kind of formal group to work with landmen and the O/G companies, we do have several people who stay in touch. Because of my last experience with a landman, I have become very leery of anything they say. I'm sure there are a number of them who are honest and forthwright, but my personal experience with them has been less than one would expect in an above board business relationship.
Our family group has agreed that (1)all of us agree on
any leasing offer or none of us agree and (2)because of
the actions of Chesapeake on reneging on signed agreements, we will not accept a company draft for any payments. If they cannot provide a certified check, then we assume they don't have the funds to back up
their offer. (3)If the landman wants any type of option, we will consider it but it will be very costly, and it must be prepaid with certified funds. That should go a long way toward reducing the BS that is getting deeper and deeper in this little game being played.

JT.....I was off the mark on lease offerings near Bernice.
I re-read my email and the offer was $150 and 20%.
Not much there, and it won't get me off the couch to turn it down. Our mineral rights are a five way split among two brothers and three adult children of ours.
I own most of the land and my brother and I jointly own a few acres in Union Parish. I don't see this going anywhere for a while, but once the economy settles down, and/or a colder than normal winter hits the north east, somebody is going to need all this gas we have. I just hope I don't die of old age before it happens.

Let us hope that the O&G companies are like the Tigers. Last week they really stunk up the place, but this week made a great comeback and moved up a couple of spots in the polls.......perhaps the O&G folks have stepped back to take a breath, then will come back with renewed focus, renewed energy and refilled leasing coffers......nahhhh, probably not. There have been some "inquiries" around Bernice, but I don't know that any offers have been accepted lately. Bad economy or no bad economy, the offers I heard were down around the level of five or six years ago. I doubt they got many takers. Better to let it sit in the ground than to give it away. You can bet the product won't be sold at giveaway prices to the consumer, so why should we lease at giveaway prices?

I am new to this forum and found you looking for information on leases in Union Parish. My sisiter and I inherited 65 acres in Union Parish from Harper and Katheryn Colvin 20 or more years ago.

Last week I was approached by a landman from Manna Aquisiitons in Monroe, representing Greystone in Houston. They are offering $200 per acre and 20%. The contract looks a lot like ones we have been seeing here in DFW for Barnett Shale. It includes a restoration clasue.

Commnets or suggestions?

Jim, I have the "other" half of the acreage Harper and my father, Beverly Colvin, bought and later split. I have been approached by the same company with the same offer. I will probably be ok with this as I would really like to see some activity again in this Mt. Olive oil field. There was a bit of production in this field about 20 years ago. You say here in DFW in your comment, I also live in the Dallas area. I am from Bernice but I try to keep informed of all activity in Union Parish.

JT, you are correct as to "here we are"...I do not mind saying that I am very disturbed with the way the election turned out, but not surprised. As to any speculation on my part, well, that is out of my league. At this point I am in a quandry as to what may happen in regard to the drilling of hydrocarbons anywhere. On a positive note there does seem to be some interest in west Union Parish and I did go ahead and sign the lease. If Greystone does drill and it is a good well, maybe there will be a renewed interest in our area. I have been told there is a well being drilled around Weldon and one south of Hwy 2, west of Bernice. This well south of Hwy 2 is in the Middlefork field and I have been told others have leased in this field. I do hope for the best in this area, not just for me, but for all of Union Parish.

No use crying over spilt milk.....the president elect says that energy independence is high on his list of priorities.
Now if he will put some money where his mouth has been, we might see some progress. Natural gas is the perfect transition fuel to get away from coal and heavy hydrocarbons, but there's going to be a great need for better technology to fully exploit both the recover and the ultimate use for "our" gas. I am going to sit back and see just what the incoming administration is going to do to back up all the big words of the campaign.
Ms. Stewart and I are high school classmates.....and we can remember back when LBJ became president and
created something called "The Great Society", which has led to what we have today. I talked to a man in the natural gas business today and they had purchased spot gas for just over 3 bucks.....and that is not where
we need to be in order for the leasing and drilling to get hot again. I don't know what the magical number might be, but for sure it's not three dollars.
Bill Lynn

I have heard through the grapevine that the well south of La. 2 near the Union/Claiborne parish line has gone into production. I don't really know what that means, but perhaps my little corner of paradise will be in the section and we'll see a couple of bucks a month out of it.....or perhaps not. Anyway, a producing well in that area is a good sign for those of us with unleased land down the road....literally and in the passage of time sense.

I see seven wells permitted in Union this year. Can yoou give me a little mor epsecific location? Here are the seven locations:
015-21N-03E
010-21N-03E (two here)
022-21N-03E
012-20N-01W
035-21N-03W
008-19N-02E

Jim....sorry I don't have a section map of Union Parish, but I am reasonably certain that the Union Parish section butts up against Section 22 in Claiborne Parish.
I have property on both sides of the line, so this is of some interest to me.

Information on the well in section 22 can be found at this web address:
http://sonlite.dnr.state.la.us/sundown/cart_prod/cart_con_wellinfo2?p_wsn=237493

It doesn't show production yet, but that could have changed.

union.TIF

Proof that Haynesville formation goes at least to Mississippi.

Go to "Work Resume" page and look at the formations the O&G companies drilled through.

JT,

Don't know if the hydrocarbons are there or not but at the very least we know the formations are there so no one can tell you the Bossier shale isn't in Union parish. On one of the wells in the Mount Olive field just south of Lillie you can see that they produced from the Haynesville formation getting up to 1,000 barrels of oil a day at one point. I guess we'll just sit and wait :)

I read or heard that Chesapeake had experienced a jump in their stock, so eventually the big players will be back in the leasing game. As JT Green noted, thanks to this website and a lot of savvy contributors, us po' boys and girls from out in the sticks are now a lot more sophisticated and wise to the tricks of the O&G companies and their landmen agents. The next round of leasing, when it finally arrives, should equal or exceed what Bossier Parish experienced this past year.
I can wait!

Scroll down to company strategy. We need some wildcats over here :)

http://www.columbiapetroleum.com/sabine-uplift-development

Thanks to JT, I got up from my cup of fresh hot coffe and went to the LSU site. That is some amazing information, although I'm not able to decipher much of it. As I interpret the listed pages (and some earlier ones as well), a reader can sift through all the various formations and increasing depths and come up with a sort of 3D side view of north Louisiana as if you were looking at a slice of the earth from the surface to down past 14,000 feet. Since I need to do something to contribute around here, I have taken the liberty of going through the formation list and pulling out the data on Union and Claiborne parishes only. I am not sharp as a marble like I used to be, but I think I got the vast majority of the available (and useful) information. While looking at the chart below, keep in mind that just because a formation appears in one or both parishes, it does not mean that the formation can be found everywhere in the parish/parishes. However, I hope this will provide landowners and potential leasees some "ammunition" in the form of information to squeeze the last dollar out to their benefit. I am dumber than a box of rocks when it comes to interpreting geological information, but I would think that the thicker a given formation is, the better chance a driller would have of hitting it without going through, and the more porus a formation is, the better chance it would have of holding fossil fuels. OK, boys and girls, here goes:
Formation name Depth Thickness Porosity Minerals
______________________________________________________________
Navarro Gas Rock 2000 - 2500 10 - 70 ft 5 - 25% gas only
(Union Parish only)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Navarro Arkadelphia 2200 to top 10 ft 14%
(Union & Claiborne)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Navarro Nacatoch 800 - 2700 15 - 50 ft 28%
(Union & Claiborne)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Taylor Saratoga,Marlbrook 1250-3100 10-60 20-30% gas &
Annona, Ozan condensate
(Claiborne only)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Austin Tokio 2700 -3100 10-12 20-25% gas & cond.
(Union & Claiborne)
______________________________________________________________
Trinity Rodessa 4100-6000 10-30 10-26% gas & cond.
(Claiborne only)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trinity James 4700 - 6000 30-60 10-15% gas & cond.
(Claiborne only)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trinity Pine Island 4000 - 7000 30-60 10-15% Cond to gas
(Union only)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sligo Pettet 5000 - 9000 10 - 140 16 -20% Gas & cond
(Claiborne only)
_____________________________________________________________
Hosston Travis Peak Texas 5000 - 12000 20-80 10-26% Gas & cond
(Union & Claiborne)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cotton Valley Schuler 7200 - 14500 10-60 9 - 18% Gas & cond
(Union and Claiborne)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Louark/Haynesville Buckner 9700 - 10500 30-45 9 - 16% Gas & cond
(Claiborne only)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Louark Smackover 10000 - 12500 20-120 11 - 22% Gas & cond
(Claiborne only)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After looking at the way things lined up, the transition from my email format to this narrower format did not work well, but I think you will be able to figure this out.

lilliemud.tif

J.T.
Here is a mud log on page 18 of the above link. It was taken from a Smackover well in the Lillie field about 1 mile from my land. The mud log shows that it is unlikely that the HS is beneath our land. Where the shale should be you have listed "Red shale, lime, sand streaks". I don't know what that means but I know the HS around NWLA is dark black. I'm going to start a new thread on the main board titled mud logs so I can try to learn more.

I don't know JT but I'm trying to find out. I'll try to find some other logs in the area and post them for you to look at.

junctioncity.tif

JT,

Here is a driller's log from a well 2 miles south of Junciton City from the 50s. Go to page 5

lilliemud2.tif

JT,

Go to page 7 on this one.

You're right. They are both conventional plays with the target formation being the Smackover. Of these wells, the one's that were productive produced both oil and gas. The Haynesville formation in our area is described as a red shale. I don't know what that means and I don't know if it's productive. The bossier shale is there and there is a cotton valley shale. Those may both be productive but who knows?

Have been approaached by Manna---offer is $250 per acre with 25% royality. I would appreciate any information from anybody relative to the current market in Union Parish---thanks, Callie Minter Sexton

Hey, Callie....when I saw your name, I wondered if it might be Callie Minter. It's been many, many years since I last saw you. Glad you are checking in here. It's a good place to keep up with the current goings on.
Right now it looks like two and a half per acre might be the going price, but compared to the huge lease offerings of this past spring and summer for leases just west of us, it seems pretty pitiful. If you are like me and wondering where your next Big Mac is coming from, you might take the money and run. If you can afford to hold out until the next round of leasing, which many of us think will happen, then chances are pretty good that you might get a much better offer. Sometimes it seems like this leasing game is like going to the casino....do you hold at 17 or tell the dealer to hit you with another card???? You should probably look through the archive postings and try to get some idea of how each side is positioning themselves. Then ask questions....lots of questions. Then be very cautious of who answers those questions and be aware of which side of the discussion they are one. It's good to hear from another of the old BHS crowd....seems like there's not that many of us left any more.
William W. Lynn
BHS 64