Where there is smoke, there has been fire....Illinois Basin News, meantime to productivity ...longer than it should have been......be sure to view the contributors...correlated and distribution function confirmed within post # 942 and previously on 6-28-2011.
| From: Dennis Roth | 3/18/2013 4:17:22 PM | | | 1 Recommendation of 177288 | | Ill. lawmakers close to approving 'fracking' bill
By Len Wells Posted March 16, 2013 at 2:28 p.m.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/mar/16/len-wells-ill-lawmakers-close-to-approving-bill/
Illinois lawmakers are close to approving legislation to regulate the practice of high volume hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). Oil industry officials believe the use of horizontal drilling techniques along with “fracking” will spark a major oil boom in Southern Illinois.
One of the major stumbling blocks of the legislation was removed last week when lawmakers established drilling fees and a special severance tax on the oil and gas produced. If approved by the legislature, the bill would require oil companies to pay the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) an $11,000 fee for each well drilled, along with a $2,500 fee to the Illinois EPA. An additional $300 per well drilling permit will also have to be purchased.
Additionally, producers would be required to pay a 3 percent severance tax on every barrel of oil produced for the first two years. The tax goes up to as much as 6 percent per barrel, depending upon how much the well produces in subsequent years...
...The proposed legislation will only affect oil companies who utilize horizontal drilling techniques to drill their wells. The severance tax, DNR and EPA fees would not apply to standard vertically drilled wells...
...In anticipation of the bill’s passage, some oil companies have already started drilling wells that would eventually utilize horizontal drilling technology. “A vertical well has already been drilled in Washington County,” Richards said. “The company is now collecting scientific data. Another company will be ready to drill a well near Johnsonville in northern Wayne County, Ill. very soon. Another company plans to drill a well in Clay County by April.” Richards said these firms can complete the vertical portion of their drilling activity without the “fracking” legislation in place and then turn their efforts to the horizontal drilling aspect of exploration later.
Industry officials have estimated that oil companies have already spent more than $250 million in land leasing activities in roughly 12 Southern Illinois Counties. Officials said one company has already spent more than $50 million in securing mineral rights in advance of drilling activity...
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Illinois: Horizontal well eyed in dolomite below New Albany - Oil & Gas Journal
http://www.ogj.com/articles/2013/03/illinois--horizontal-well-eyed-in-dolomite-below-new-albany.html
Strata-X Energy Ltd., Golden, Colo., plans to drill a horizontal well in the Illinois basin to test for oil in an undisclosed dolomitic formation below the Devonian New Albany shale.
The company doesn’t reveal the precise location of its Vail oil project for competitive reasons but said it holds 100% interest in 46,300 net acres in what it interprets as an unconventional continuous oil accumulation. If an application to drill is approved, it would spud the well in the second quarter of 2013.
The company described the proposed well as to have a 4,300-ft horizontal leg at 4,500 ft true vertical depth and said it is acquiring seismic to help with geosteering.
The dolomitic reservoir is interpreted to extend over 500 sq miles at 3,500-5,000 ft based on an in-house analysis of 120 historic wells that intersected the reservoir, the company said. It cited geologic studies that indicate that the New Albany shale has expelled more than 300 billion bbl of oil, of which more than 4 billion bbl have been produced from shallower formations.
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