My interpretation of the first statement was Keith was saying that what they were learning from others about CBM in SE Kansas was that it wasn't practical and was too expensive to try and make the CBM gas accessible but still produce the oil. That was back in 2005 (if I'm reading that right).
But since then, they have proven time and again that they can drill a well to produce the oil for revenue, but still prove up the CBM gas reserves, verify that the formations really are blanket formations covering a very wide area, and while keeping the CBM behind pipe for now, configure the oil wells in such a way that converting them to a CBM gas well would still be a much cheaper and easier option (and therefore a quick ROI) than someone having to come in, follow the conventional wisdom from long ago and drill seperate wells to get at the CBM gas.
Quite a while back there was much discussion about blanket formations under Hemi's leases. Their efforts have expanded the boundries of the Humboldt-Chanute field to the North and West. One could look at the field maps for Woodson county and see the spaces between the fields there.
Since that time, Hemi has actually done quite a bit to dispell a lot of the "conventional wisdom" or at least add to the knowledge that people in SE Kansas thought they had. It wasn't being done that companies would be drilling for oil AND gas... the CBM formations were all but ignored in decades past. Gas was often just wasted for the sake of getting at the oil.
Hemi was among the first in their area to bother to take avantage of the CBM gas. The same reasons that companies in the past didn't bother to develop those CBM zones so much were probably the same reasons that Hemi was originally given mis-information. Different areas in KS have developed in different ways, but this is what I believe was taking place in Woodson.
If one goes to the KGS site and studies the isopach maps for the bourbon arch and the coal bed formations there, even that presents a shortage of information in Woodson county. The testing and cuttings taken from Hemi's drillings and leases have already demonstrated thicker coal beds than the isopach maps and KGS reports would lead one to believe about Woodson county.
I'm just saying that in one instance Keith talking about what they were led to believe when they first were looking at SE Kansas, and in the other instance it demonstrates how Hemi has been outside the box enough to now have a HUGE advantage compared to companies in past decades, due to what they've learned and implemented in regards to CBM gas.
