I know that I have said this before way back when and it may be time to say it again....lol.

What you are seeing happen in the NW/Central Louisiana, East Texas and SW Arkansas area being talked about here is very simple to understand and easy to follow if you will keep a few things in mind.

In most all cases, these are not "new" formations that are being drilled. They are formations that have been drilled and produced from for many many years. Some as far back as the original field's discovery.

Most of the productive formations in this area all the way to the "Lower Smackover Brown Dense" have been drilled to with mixed results. Some of these bad results in the early wells where due to lack of technology to deal with what was found at the time the wells were drilled. That same lack of technology is still effecting some of the deeper wells in formations like the  LSBD and Tuscaloosa Shale today. Give this time...it's might still come!!

The fact that technology is still lacking for these formations has not deterred some operators from using new horizontal and completion technology to breath new life into other profitable and productive formations like the Cotton Valley, Travis Peak, Pettit and Rodessa formations that have been long time vertical producers across many parts of the region. 

The trick is finding where this new approach will be effective and where it will not.

That said. A little refresher. Vertical wells only allow the well bore to be exposed to the formation for the vertical thickness of the formation itself. In some cases the entire formation is not productive. Some part of a formation may contain salt water or nothing at all. In some formations the entire formation has some form of productive hydrocarbons. Well logs and core samples tell these secretes from the deep. 

Practical example: A formation is 100 ft thick. If the log and cores show only the bottom 10 feet holds oil or gas then, a vertical well would be completed in the last 10 feet of the pay zone. That ten feet would be all that is exposed to the well bore and thus whatever the porosity (how easy gas or liquids can move through it) of the formation would determine how large an area the well would drain.

In much of the surrounding areas I mentioned at the start, many once productive vertical wells eventually quit producing what was considered an amount of hydrocarbons to make the well economical to keep. Thus they were P&A'ed.  This decline in production in many cases was due to the single vertical well bore had depleted everything within the reach...which depended on the porosity of the formation (either natural or frac induced). With state mandated spacing of wells and just the shear impossibility of putting a well "everywhere"...there is still a lot of oil left out there between the gaps so to speak.

Just a thought...ever tried to drink a thick milkshake through a straw? Remember the hollow spots created in the cup around the straw......lol. How about an Icee? ever have to tamp the cup to get those cavities to close up or re-insert the straw in a different place? What if you had a straw you could steer all around in the cup until it was all gone! LOL!

Today, we have horizontal drilling capabilities of several thousand feet. We have mud motors that can stay within inches of the path they are set on to drill and can steer well beyond the flexibility of the drill stem. One well can expose thousands of feet of formation and within that formation the well bore can be kept within what is known to be the most productive area of the formation.

Take that 100 ft. thick formation I mentioned earlier. Using a mud motor to stay inside the 10 ft pay zone and drill 4,000 ft horizontally into that formation. What do you think happens!!  

All said. When an operator gets it right.....welcome mail box money! LOL

Not every mineral owner will have productive minerals. There are some areas that just don't have and never have had hydrocarbons. However, If you have ever been leased, had productive wells in your area in the past or are currently being solicited to lease....Keep the faith!

I hope this has helped someone out there understand in a little simpler and better way what is going on. Merry Christmas and God Bless!!