Oil
Coal Fields Of Pennsylvania
Valuation Issues in the Marcellus Shale Play
Geology I Pennsylvania GeologyGeology I Pennsylvania GeologyGrabbing the LeaseGrabbing the Lease
The Gas Industry’s Footprints The Gas Industry’s Footprints What’s a person to Do?What’s a person to Do?
Boom & BustBoom & Bust
Current Boom & Bust• The Marcellus has been identified since the mid
1920’s. At 5000 feet in depth, it was unavailable to the drilling techniques at the time. When technology advanced significantly to economically drill to this depth, conventional (vertical bore) wells extracted gas only in the immediate area; horizontal (unconventional) techniques were adopted to extract product from a narrow band of gas bearing shale.
• An overview of Pennsylvania’s Second Petroleum An overview of Pennsylvania’s Second Petroleum RushRush
Geology I: What’s underground
• Oil (Western PA: Quaker State, Pennzoil, Kendall-Still shipping PA crude!)
• Shallow Gas and mid range gas (conventional)• Soft Coal(Bituminous) West PA,• Hard Coal (Anthracite) Eastern PA• Shale Gas (Marcellus, Utica)
Legal Possession of the Lease
Fee Simple DeedMineral (Non-Coal) Deed
Non-Participating Royalty InterestRoyalty Interest
Acquiring Leasehold
Bonus Money: An inducement to transfer the rights from the lessee to a lessor for a undisclosed sum of money
NOT an indicator of the market value of gas rights being sought!
Bonus Money ≠ Value
Bonus Money is the inducement paid to a landowner to do something based on the amount of value given to him/her by the landman. The acquisition of lands by companies is dependant issues such as::– Unitization needs– Check-checkmate other lessees– Acquire blocks for future trade off
BONUS MONEY ≠ VALUE
PRICE ≠ VALUE
VIP Definitions• Differences Between Conventional/Unconventional Drilling• Long before interest grew in developing Appalachian shale formations, there was a healthy
oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania. The world’s first commercial oil well was drilled near Titusville, Venango County, in 1859. An estimated 350,000 oil and gas wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania over the years, with about 70,000 currently in production; by contrast, an estimated 6,100 unconventional wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania since 2008.
• Conventional oil and gas wells can be found in parks and on public land, along highways, even in residential neighborhoods. A 2008 study showed the conventional industry supported more than 27,000 jobs and generated more than $7 billion in annual economic activity – much of it in the state’s rural areas, supporting local businesses with revenue, farmers with royalty income and workers with excellent wages.
• An important distinction of the conventional industry focuses on the cost to develop those wells, their reduced production and the smaller return on investment they usually achieve, in comparison to shale wells. This translates into reduced profitability from these wells, and the influence that oil and natural gas commodity prices and other market forces have on their viability. If either the cost to drill these wells increases, or if the cost of oil and gas decreases, to certain levels, conventional wells become less viable.
VIP DEFINITIONS 2• A well pad cleared for a conventional oil or natural gas well is
smaller than that of a deep well and requires a smaller drilling rig to drill vertically and reach the targeted formation. It typically takes less than two weeks to drill these wells, with a few additional days required to stimulate and complete the well. Since the number of fractures into the rock are fewer than those of a horizontal well, the scope of the well stimulation operation is not as significant and does not require as much equipment or water.
• Conventional wells in Pennsylvania are also not limited to just producing natural gas. These vertical, wells can produce oil, natural gas and both forms of energy. There are many uses for “Pennsylvania Grade” crude oil due to its high quality, including refining into gasoline, motor oil, lubricants and white oil. It is also further processed and used in cosmetics and topical ointments
Conventional vs. Unconventional• Conventional: straight down • Unconventional: Twists-turns
Fracking IThe Compressor
Truck
Fracking SiteProcess
Well Site: 2H
Gas Interstate-Intrastate Lines
Abandoned Wells: PADeveloped in the 1940s, the process of
hydraulic fracturing has become increasingly important in oil/gas
drilling. It comes in handy with "tight" reservoirs -- where the rocks
containing the oil/gas don’t have large pores. This means that the oil flow
from the rocks is weak, and drilling a simple well into the rock won’t get
much of the oil out. To help stimulate the well and drive out the trapped oil, drillers employ hydraulic fracturing. In this process,
they inject water combined with chemicals into the well with enough
pressure to create fractures in the rock formations -- fractures that can extend
hundreds of feet long. To keep the fractures from closing again, drillers send down a proppant, which is a mixture of fluids, sand and pellets.
These fractures allow oil to flow more freely from the rock.
According to the American Petroleum Institute, in the United States alone,
hydraulic fracturing has helped pump an extra 7 billion barrels of oil from
the ground.
Average & Median Values
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LEASE FLOW CHART
Bonus Money Ups and Down
Royalty Calculator
Schematic Flow of Gas
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