STW Resources Holding Corp. (fka STWSQ)

[rdragon]

The following article appeared in the Fort Stockton Pioneer newspaper.

MPGCD is the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District in Texas. STW Resources is mentioned near the end of the article (highlights added).



MPGCD OKs big water deal

Posted: Wednesday, March 18, 2015 3:30 am
By Bob Beal [e-mail]
The Fort Stockton Pioneer
Falcón resigns from board
Seven of the ten members of the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District (MPGCD) board of directors met for five hours in their monthly meeting Tuesday. The board authorized Pecos SS, LLC, to export from Pecos County brackish water for use in oil-and-gas operations. The consolidated MPGCD drilling and production permits will be for 10,000 acre-feet annually, enough to supply a few hundred fracking rigs.
The permitting and export authorization obligates Pecos SS to have pipeline facilities and out-of-county water sales contracts in place within 18 months. The company’s industrial water customers will likely be in the Crane County area. The company would be exporting on an as-needed basis to their customers.
At $0.50 per barrel (42 gallons), 10,000 acre-feet of brackish water is worth about $40 million. MPGCD will collect an export fee of up to $0.0249 (its ad valorem tax rate) per 1000 gallons as allowed by the Texas water code. At the export limit, MPGCD would collect about $83,000 annually. The district would use the revenue to enhance monitoring of county groundwater levels and quality.
Pecos SS will produce the water from wells on a 10,000-acre tract in the northeast part of the county.
The water coming from the Edwards aquifer in that area contains up to 7000 parts per million of total dissolved solids. Water at that level of salinity should be avoided for livestock use.
The Pecos SS, LLC, principals are Gary Harrell, Steve Chapman and Scotty Hart.
John Dorris, board vice president, cast the only dissenting vote. He said, “I believe that is what my constituency would want me to do.” Dorris is one of the two directors who represent Pecos County Precinct 3, which includes Iraan and Sheffield.
MPGCD has two other export authorizations in place. One is for the Upton County Freshwater District to supply the City of McCamey with potable water. That water is coming from three wells, and the well field has been in operation for about 40 years. The other export authorization is for an investor-owned project exporting Capitan Reef water from the Coyanosa area for washing out salt domes used to store natural gas. That authorization originated several years ago.
MPGCD General Manager Paul Weatherby told the board that another company, STW Water Resources, could seek an export authorization in the near future. STW has a lease agreement to drill at the City of Fort Stockton well field along Old Alpine Highway in the Belding area. STW is currently trying to complete an exploration/production well into the Capitan Reef complex there. The company hopes to find a large supply of potable water in that section of the Capitan aquifer.
STW and another consortium of water experts are each studying the feasibility of capturing artesian flows of brackish water from old oil test wells north of the intersection of highways 1053 and 1450. That water is coming from the San Andres aquifer, which largely underlies the Capitan. Any such projects in that area would also likely involve export.
Board vacancy
Ruben Falcón, elected to the 11-member MPGCD board last November, had resigned prior to Tuesday’s meeting. He vacates one of the two positions on the board that represent county Precinct 2, which includes Comanche Creek and Rooney Park. Falcón acquired detailed experience with groundwater issues as a previous mayor of Fort Stockton. The board will fill the vacancy by appointment. Falcón will be sworn in as a City of Fort Stockton council member in May.
LINK: http://www.fortstocktonpioneer.com/community/article_a78e435a-cd9b-11e4-ac2f-0747d67eda94.html