QUESTION: The Ragersville/Troyer well may be the closest and most recent shale well. Now we hear it may need to be redrilled and/or refractured to become productive. Why? Is it a drilling issue, or finishing issue, or perhaps shale issue? All of the above? Some of above? Or perhaps another issue? Or production issue(s) not known?
The Devon well near Ashland is too shallow at 3400 feet with too little gas pressure to make it productive? Is there a correlation between depth of well and gas pressure needed for production after fracturing?
Interesting this so-called glitch has not dampened the interest of oil/gas companies to lease acreage.
ANSWER: All information from individual wells is kept confidential for a period of time following the drilling. A lot of rumors have been spread, but actual information is hard to come by. I do not know what problem may have occurred on the Troyer well, but because of the highly technical nature of horizontal drilling, many things could have occurred, most of which are correctable, but at much higher costs.
As far as I know, the Ashland County well has not yet been fractured. It is my opinion that the shallow depth of this well could have an effect on its ability to return the frac water and, therefore, its productivity. This is just my opinion, and we will not know for sure until the well is completed and production reported.
During all oil and gas plays, many lease brokerage companies lease in areas surrounding what is currently being drilled. Their hopes are that the play will extend in that area and they can resell the leases at a profit. The only drilling company that I know of leasing in the Knox, Ashland, western Holmes and Western Coshocton County area is Devon. The majority of the other companies leasing in these areas are lease brokers.
