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Drilling is a cooperative effort
THE BATTALION Paqe 7
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1978
Local residents profit from oil
By LAURA HENDERSON
Special to The Battalion
The drilling for natural resources,
such as oil and gas in the Kurten
area, has had great economic signifi
cance for Brazos County and the
communities within.
Alvin Wooten, spokesman for the
Texas A&M University Real Estate
Research Center said the drilling
around the Kurten community has
provided a lot of income into the
area.
“The drilling has brought a lot of
money into the area,” said Wooten.
“However, it has had little to do
with the upward wing of land prices
since they (the drilling companies)
lease the land instead of buy.”
Brock Faulkner, a Kurten land-
owner, said the presence of oil in
the area has been a known fact for
quite a while.
“It just wasn’t economically feasi
ble to drill until just now,” he said.
Delvin Barrett, president of
Feather Crest Farms Inc. in Kur
ten, said there have been many at
tempts in the past to drill, but no
thing has come from the efforts.
Jerry Russell of the Texas Railroad
Commission in Austin explained
that even if company members
know oil is in an area, they cannot
enter the area and begin drilling.
The men must fill out several ap
plication forms and send a map of
the area to the Railroad Commis
sion’s office in Houston. The leases
are checked for any discrepancies
and then sent to Austin where they
are rechecked, said Russell.
“Each field has regulations which
must be checked out and followed,”
he said. “For instance, a well must
be at least 467 feet from a pipe line
and only one well can be drilled toe
very 40 acres. ’
we’ve been lucky and haven’t come
up with any dry wells.”
Ed Wesson, supervisor for
Cayuga Exploration Co. (a smaller
company in the area), says they are
now maintaining seven wells, each
producing about 50 barrels of oil per
day.
“Mine aren’t big wells, but some
is better than none,” he said.
Ramby explained that his wells
individually produce anywhere from
50 to 400 barrels of oil each day with
■VVv -'.f . .....
There have been drilling opera
tions set over the county; however,
throughtb the majorty have been located along
the Navasota River near Kurten.
Along with the wells have come a
number of large and small drilling
companies. The largest in the area is
a Canadian company. Amalgamated
Bonanza Petroleum Ltd.
One area landowner expressed
concern over the fact that it took a
Canadian company to really begin
the operation.
“I just wish they could have been
;from the United States,” he said.
R. L. Ramby, production super-
fessedtoA visor for Bonanza, says the firm now
has 62 producing wells. “So far
is supems
her, wauii
kftown to
decision!
Milk open 1
total oil production running about
4,800 - 5,000 barrels.
Ramby said the surge in drilling
in the area actually started with one
“wildcat well” located just out of
Kurten. A wildcat well is one drilled
in an area where there may be oil.
Oil was struck and the drilling and
pumping rigs began moving in.
Wesson projected the cost for a
single well to be around a half mil
lion dollars. Ramby, on the other
hand, estimated the cost to be
around $2 million per well.
The cost of leasing land for drill
ing in the area is $60 - 4100 per acre.
Each vyell is usually allowed two to
three acres for the actual drilling
site.
The actual depth of wells drilled
in the Kurten area ranges from
8,400 to 10,000 feet. Wesson said
Cayuga’s average depth is about
9,500 feet.
Gordon Van Eaton, of ATCO
Drilling Co. in Bryan said depths in
the area have been between 5,000
and 12,000 feet.
Ramby commented that most of
the landowners in the area have
been more than cooperative in al
lowing the oil companies to drill on
their land.
Barrett said the companies actu
ally began leasing up a large portion
of the land about two years ago.
According to a spokesman for
Bonanza, oil was first struck in the
Kurten area in late 1975 or early
1976.
Barrett said the drilling com
panies have been very respectful to
wishes of landowners.
Barrett explained that before the
companies can drill they must lease
the land from the landowners. Roy
alty interests and any specifications
the landowners feels need to be
negotiated are discussed. After the
lease is signed each party must con
sider it to be legally binding just like
any formal contract.
Barrett cited as an example that
he had requested in his contract that
no well be drilled closer than 600
feet to his chicken houses. He said
the company has respected this
clause and made no attempt to drill
any closer.
“It is a wonderful thing which has
happened to our community,” he
said. “It is great for county and for
the individuals within the county. I
do not look at it as any type of a
hindrance.”
W. W. Humphries, a landowner
in Reliance, has two wells on his
property.
He said the only problem he has
had is finding his gates open and the
stripping half and acre of topsoil all
the way around the wells which will
render the land useless for a few
years.
But he agreed with Barrett that
“the benefits far out weight the de
triments.”
The majority of the landowners
seem to feel the same way, although
a few do have mixed emotions.
One landowner said, “I wish I had
a hundred. I like the money I’m get-
tin K- ”
Another said, “In one way it’s
bad. They tear up the roads and the
Violence concern increasing
United Press International
NEW YORK — Concern over in-
Supervi# creasing violence has grown sharply
ifter a se« since 1975, according to the latest
ion centert Harris Survey, but half of those pol
led still deny Americans are “violent
mcies on tli
it and tkif by nature.”
The survey of 1,201 adults na-
iddle-olb tionwide revealed a hefty majority
was the fit
istory
supervim
ir to a ci!
1969, i
ctive
7 served a
commiW
res
iem
ter
of 77 percent who felt the nation is
slow to find ways of controlling vio
lence and 71 percent felt the United
States is an easy place to commit as
sassinations.
The poll said in 1975 a similar
survey turned up 34 percent who at
tributed violence to the American
PREVENT
nature, with a clear majority of 59
percent who did not hold that view.
In the new survey, only 50 percent
denied Americans are violent by na
ture, while 43 percent took the op
posite view.
Of those interviewed, 72 percent
said violence is played up too much
by the news media — an increase in
that view from 64 percent in 1975.
“While most people are averse to
invoking censorship oyer the display
of violence on TV or in newspapers
or magazines, there is a growing
sense that the showing of violence
begets more violence,” the survey
reported.
The poll also indicated increased
doubts about the assassinations of
President John F. Kennedy, his
brother, Robert Kennedy and of
Martin Luther King, with more
people than ever now convinced of a
conspiracy in their deaths.
DEFECT
Battalion
Classified
Call 845-2611
LAKEVIEW CLUB
3 Miles N. on Tabor Road
Saturday Night: Johnny Lyons & The
Country NuNotes
From 9-1 p.m.
" STAMPEDE DANCE “
Every Thursday Night
$2.00 per person
All Brands, Cold Beer 45 Cents 8-12
AT THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PANCAKES
MIDNIGHT MADNESS
WED.,
ALL THE
PANCAKES
YOU CAN
EAT!!!
-| 49
Just
Inttmatbnal
And while you’re stowing
’em away. . . Meet the new
owner, Mike.
International House of Pancakes
103 N. College Ave.
College Station
-for many good reasons
rial house ot Pancakes’ IWIur)
TM
land. But, if they find anything, I
guess it will be worthwhile.”
One landowner found that having
a well on her property did not quite
live up to her expectations. She ex
plained that the drilling company
left large piles of dirt and boards.
She said she had spoken to them,
but had gotten no repsonse.
“I guess I made them mad be
cause they were hauling my dirt off
my and and I told them not to, ” she
said.
Ramby stated that in most cases
the wells are a benefit to the land.
“We try to leave it in better shape
than we found it,” he said. He
added that many of the chemcials
used while drilling are beneficial to
the land. While those of the county
with wells on their land are “raking
in the profits”, those without pro
ducing wells are also joining in with
high spirits.
Said one landowner with a well,
“I’m still hoping. ”
French's
Schools
NIGHT CARE
French's
Care-a-Lot
Every Thurs., Fri.
and Sat.
900 UNIVERSITY
(Behind Beef & Brew)
RESERVATIONS
693-1987 or 693-9900
SELL
YOUR
BOOKS
If you have
money to invest . . .
Optional Retirement Plan
Tax Sheltered Annuity
Deferred Compensation
Financial Planning
Call Hays Glover
GUGGENHEIM GLOVER,
ASSOCIATES
779-5555
: Yi
3733 E. 29th ST.
TOWN & COUNTRY CENTER
846-0201
| 1705 TEXAS AVE. S.
L CULPEPPER PLAZA
693-9395
‘Where
Everybody
Meets”
813 Wellborn Rd.
Bryan-College Station*s
Big City Disco
846-1100
WEDNESDAY NIGHT
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