Category Archives: Big Injun Formation

Ohio’s Clinton Sandstone Produces Oil From Horizontal Fracturing

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EnerVest is drilling horizontal wells down to the Clinton formation in Ohio.  The Clinton produces oil, but not in huge quantities.  It’s enough to make a profit though, even in today’s bad oil market.  The wells cost just under $2 million, and return between $7 million and $10 million.  That’s a pretty good ROI.

Cunningham Energy is doing something similar with the Big Injun and the Weir Sand formations here in West Virginia.  They’re not drilling a lot right now, and the market isn’t good for oil right now, but if they’re able to keep the lights on until oil prices start to come back up they should be in a really good position.

Speaking of oil prices, they’re back over $41/bbl today.  We don’t see those prices being sustainable over the long term but if the Saudis are able to get Iran to agree to a production freeze at any level, maybe they will be.  Maybe.

More Horizontal Oil Drilling in West Virginia

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We’ve talked about drilling for oil in West Virginia before.  The same folks who brought drilling to the Big Injun formation are introducing us to drilling to the Weir Sand formation.

Cunningham Energy has announced that it’s drilling for oil in Kanawha County, WV.  It’s currently working on another site in Clay County, WV.

It doesn’t seem like a really good time to be drilling for oil.  The Saudis have said they will produce enough to keep up with demand, and American frackers will follow the dictates of the market, so it’s impossible to tell how low oil prices will go.

Cunningham seems to think that their oil will be marketable.  They may be right.  Getting leases in that part of West Virginia will be cheap, probably in the $100-$300 per acre range when they’re dealing with knowledgeable mineral owners.  They’ll be able to pick up leases for $5-$10 per acre from people who don’t take the time to educate themselves about oil and gas.  Drilling only 2000 feet down and 4000 feet out will not present any kind of technology challenge.  The real trick will be putting systems in place to be efficient.

Yet Another Producible Formation in West Virginia

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6169611171_c9d38cbcb6_oCunningham Energy has announced in a report that it has gotten good oil production from some wells to the Big Injun formation in Clay County, WV.  Reported numbers are 26,000 barrels of oil (total) over eleven months for the Cochran #5H and 26,000 barrels of oil (total) over eight months for the Cochran #6Ha.  Those are pretty decent numbers, and the fact that the second well has produced better than the first means that Cunningham has improved their techniques to recover more oil from the same formation.

Readers of this blog will know that there are multiple formations down there, and that when you sign a standard lease you give up rights to all of them for as long as the lease is paid for (the primary term) or producing.  It’s extremely important to draft around that issue, or you’ll sign a lease that could last for decades without giving you the chance to ever change it in any way.