The good old Mississippi.
This isn’t the famous river, but the Mississippian oil and gas play, which has produced since the 1960s and now is producing new finds again. Horizontal drilling has made the Mississippian structure the center of new activity that has helped bring more oil business to Enid.
“There is a new growth in oil and gas in the Enid area that has companies like Rite Way doing it,” said Brent Kisling, president of Enid Regional Development Alliance. Kisling said he plans to announce a new oil and gas company locating here soon.
“There’s a ton of those moving to the area, and one other office that isn’t here but is locating in Hennessey,” Kisling said.
Kisling said the activity is all driven by the Mississippian play north and west of Enid. Enid is becoming a cluster city of oil and gas companies that help support the rig companies. ERDA is trying to recruit service companies to locate here and help support the drilling.
“It appears this will be long-lasting, and it’s the reason we have under 5 percent unemployment now,” Kisling said.
Pete Dinsmore, of Rite Way Construction of Enid, said his company is active in the oil play, which he thinks will grow.
“It will be a lot bigger play if it all pans out. It will be everything from Enid west and Enid north,” Dinsmore said.
The hottest areas currently are in Alfalfa, Woods, Grant, Kay and Garfield counties, and some leasing is being done in Logan, Kingfisher and Blaine counties. Dinsmore said other areas also are being worked.
“It’s a redrilling of the old Mississippian structure that has supported northwest Oklahoma all these years. It has pumped billions of dollars into northwest Oklahoma in the last year,” Dinsmore said.
There has been drilling in the Mississippian structure since the 1960s, he said. Horizontal drilling technology has made it possible to do the additional drilling. Dinsmore said the technology never would have been developed at $50 a barrel oil, but at $100 a barrel, it is feasible. The life of the Mississippian play is not indefinite and will deplete somewhat rapidly, but it will take many years to actually stop producing.
“It depends on the price of oil. You have to produce water with it, which makes it more expensive,” he said.
Dinsmore agreed there are a lot of companies coming to the area. They settle in Enid, Alva, Cherokee and there also are Tulsa oil companies doing leasing here. Shell has purchased an acreage block in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas, he said.
The play is at a relatively shallow depth of approximately 5,000 to 6,000 feet, and consists of carbonate rocks that have high permeability. The industry is developing the area using horizontal drilling, which has proven effective in shale plays across North America, according to the Investopedia website.
SandRidge Energy is one of the largest operators involved with the Mississippian play, with 900,000 net acres under lease. SandRidge Energy drilled 61 horizontal wells during the first six months of 2011, and has budgeted for a total of 172 wells for the year.
SandRidge Energy has grown production rapidly along with that development and reported production of 8,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day during the second quarter of 2011. The company has plans to accelerate activity next year and will increase its operated rig count from the current level of 14 rigs to an average of 24 rigs in 2012.
Chesapeake Energy has a presence in nearly every onshore basin in the United States and has been at work developing the Mississippian play. The company recently reported a completed well here with an initial production rate of 770 BOE per day.
Devon Energy includes the company’s Mississippian acreage in its New Ventures group, and is acquiring seismic information and conducting initial drilling in the play in 2011, according to Investopedia.