MAE are in a situation where they must either produce or plugged and abandon many existing wells or they will lose the lease. See page 68 http://fs.ogm.utah.gov/ogimages/007/4300730102.pdf
They are making as many wells as possible produce because it can be done quickly, is cheap, and will help the share price, and allow them to hopefully retain their lease. I can't knock them for that. If I was put in the same situation I would do the same thing.
Ridge Runner 11-17 On 11/9/2007 Doug Endsley VP Operations for Marion signed off on the official initial production report for the well. It flowed 0.563 mmcf over a 24 hour test period through a 5/16" choke.
Strangely 2 years later another initial production notice was lodged. The test was supposedly conducted the same day for 3 hours and it produced exactly the same amount of gas 0.563 mmcf through a 2" choke which is equivilent to 4.5 mmcf/day.
How did they perform a 3 hour and a 24 hour production test on the same day? Seems strange that both tests produced exactly the same amount of gas, 0.563 mmcf Neither of these figures match the number announced by the company of over 5 mmcf/day
The conflicting production tests can be found here. Page 162 and 176 http://fs.ogm.utah.gov/ogimages/015/4301530685.pdf
Anyway who really cares about a 3 hour test. Because the real proof of what the well is capable of comes from production.
In April 2008 Ridge Runner 11-17 went into production It was on production for 9 months before being shut in. Production figures over the 9 months were woeful Production peaked after 4 months, 0.044 mmcf/day
The well was produced again in 2010 for 19 Days. Production was 0.993 mmcf over the 19 days or 0.052 mmcf/day
Production figures can be found here http://oilgas.ogm.utah.gov/Data_Center/LiveData_Search/prod_lookup.htm
So now a workover is planned but no permits have been lodged. http://oilgas.ogm.utah.gov/Data_Center/LiveData_Search/APD_Recd_lookup.cfm
So this is not much of a workover or it would need a permit.
Also where is the water disposal permit. They have been approved to dispose of water by the EPA, but not yet by the Dept of Oil and Gas. No permit has even been lodged for water disposal.
So from this I must conclude they are still disposing of water by truck! There is even some flimsy circumstantial evidence to back this up.
There is a Job Advert for Marion Energy as a Truck Driver! http://www.truckdrivingcdljobs.com/CDL%20Jobs/Utah/Helper/MARION%20ENERGY%20INC.php This job appeared last week.
There is very little evidence that anything significant is actually happenning, other than the gas taps being turned on again, and a few old wells having mechanical integrity tests done, so they can produce some gas and avoid Plugging and Abandoning the wells.
They will fall way short of 5 mmcf/day by June. In 2010 they did get to around 1 mmcf/day before they shut everything in. Getting back to 1 mmcf/day at Clear Creek and Helper should be pretty easy, after that its hard work. I see no evidence of any hard work planned to date, which would show up as applications for workover permits.
MAE Price at posting:
2.7¢ Sentiment: Sell Disclosure: Not Held
