info on o & ng reserves in and around the giddings field:
Reserves in Horizontal and Vertical Wells in Faulted Areas (1973-Present).
In areas in southern Lee County, to maximize oil recovered, wells should drill as many faults as possible laterally and two or three laterals into each fault. These horizontal wells can be re-entered upon depletion so other isolated fractures can be penetrated by the horizontal hole above and below the shale barriers that divide the reservoir. Some areas may average one fault every 500 feet (horizontally), while other areas may average one fault per 1,000 feet. Thus, reserves are more related to the number of faults penetrated laterally instead of the length of the horizontal hole. It is easy to conclude a short radius well penetrating a fault by three, four or more short laterals will usually cause large reserves to be developed. Multiple laterals may have less validity when attempting to develop large faults. In such cases one fault may be sufficient. Drilling of long new horizontal holes in some areas may not be advisable because one or more faults may be totally depleted, due to production from vertical wells causing the fluids to interflow between faults which inhibit production to the surface.
Reserves in Horizontal and Vertical Wells in Un-faulted Areas (1973-Present). Reserves in vertical wells in Pearsall Field have historically averaged only slightly more than 30,000 barrels per well in the better producing areas. To this date, these better areas have generally occurred in un-faulted areas. Horizontal wells exceeding 3,000 feet laterally areas in the Pearsall Field may exceed 100,000 barrels of oil per well if depletion has not occurred by the drilling of many offsetting horizontal laterals in the interval being drilled. Southern Burleson County is an area lacking faults where vertical wells regularly attain cumulative production exceeding 100,000 barrels per well. Interestingly, this area in Burleson County is so extensively drained by vertical wells that horizontal wells are often poor producers. In contrast, vertical wells located in eastern Burleson County, adjoining to Brazos County, Texas, in an un-faulted area, average less than 20,000 barrels of oil per vertical well. Horizontal wells in this same area average over 100,000 barrels of oil per well, provided wells are not drilled too close to each other to cause depletion.
More than One Billion Barrels of Oil Remaining to be Developed. The Austin Chalk covers a very large geographic area with over one million acres yet to be developed. The single most important factor controlling the total amount of oil to be found and produced in the Austin Chalk is related to the price of oil and gas. For example, if the price of oil is $50.00 per barrel, then the amount of oil to be produced from the Austin Chalk might exceed 10 billion barrels. Conversely, if the price of oil is $15.00 per barrel, then the amount of additional oil to be produced from the Austin Chalk might be only slightly more than one billion barrels of oil. A substantial part of the shallow Austin Chalk trend south of the Giddings field requires oil prices exceeding $50.00 per barrel.
More than One Trillion Cubic Feet of Gas Remaining to be Developed. Gas oil ratios greatly increase at greater depths. Fayette, Washington, Grimes and numerous additional counties located towards the Louisiana/Texas border yield huge amounts of gas at depths exceeding 10,000-15,000 feet. This development drilling is sensitive to the price of gas. The deep Austin Chalk Trend becomes one of the largest sources of natural gas for Texas when gas exceeds $5.00 per mcf.
