You could seriously charge people like us money to ride around in your truck all day and listen to you pitch wisdom about the oil business. I have so many questions you’d probably get sick of me by noon. 😂
As a retired petroleum engineer (Texas A&M, M.S. D.E), your RU-vid channel fascinates me with all the ins and outs of lease owning. You are making your living off of strippers, yes? I happen to like strippers; they are fun to figure out and make economical, but they are a lot of work, but fun. Was in the Austin chalk a lot during my summers at A&M. I am a Montana boy School of mines form B.S. (in the 70's dad owned a drilling company and production company in Montana and North Dakota did a lot of 16K to 23K wells). Did a lot of offshore been in almost every country that has oil in it? love to see what formations you drawing out of most of my other Texas time was in south and far west Texas I guess you are up in panhandle from what I can tell don't know much about up there. Never the less your fun to watch and put out interesting stuff
Totally know what you mean! I'm also a P.E, and have worked the majority of my career in offshore wells (platforms & sub-sea; mostly advanced multilaterals)... many of which produce 20,000+ BPD... I still find it pretty neat to see the other end of the industry - these wells might be small, but the sheer number of these smaller wells and their operators definitely add up to a country's production! Much respect to Zach for keeping these things running.
How about Venezuela? Have you been to the Boscon Field? Man Dad spent 17 years there for Richmond Exploration which was Standard Oil of California and now Chevron.
We had an injection well that failed an H5 two years ago and we contemplated plugging it. The lease is a water flood and makes a HUGE amount of water with very little oil. Ultimately we decided to slim hole it. You can use some kind of polymer/gel to make them pass H5 tests, but you have to locate the casing leak pretty accurately. We just didn’t think it would be worth trying that since it was a high pressure leak, likely a pinhole you’d never find. You should do a video regarding casing leaks on producing and disposal wells. I’ve got two production wells with casing leaks and I’m hoping they can be fixed but I’m not holding my breath.
worked well service . when we did a lot of casing work in one field. i could guess the depth of the leak by the injection rate. you know not to the foot but there were 3 depths where most the leaks were .the injection rate was pretty distinct for each depth . there was one old disposal well the casing would not hold 1,000 psi but would hold 800 psi they tried to get the state to let them dispose as long as the psi was below 800 psi . that didn't go over. i think we finally lost that well.
Would it be worthwhile to make a testing trailer for pumps that are unproven well before dumping the money into it? The trailer would have a generator for power and a tank for fluids.
Zach I think you said you pay a company to plug the wells that don’t produce etc. will you kinda explain the process they use etc? Maybe mention it with another video? Thanks for another video!
Gamma ray neutron logs......those were the days. Are you going back and reviewing these logs before buying the leases? Or do these historical logs not correlate well with actual production in your experience, for these particular zones?
The information about assessing formations and individual wells is enlightening Thank You for the efforts You spend to share this with us. Best Wishes to You and Your Family Zach.
Love watching your videos brother I do the same thing up here in Nebraska but my company is owned by a Texas company and yes I've learned a couple things from you
Gday Zach Couple of questions that have probably been asked before Do you get any gas from your well ? Do you get the lease from the property owner ? I think here in Australia the Crown ( government) owns all the mineral rights I believe. And finally do the capped wells refill from surrounding fields or once there dine there done
Would I’d make sense for you to buy a ex utility truck so you can drill and set poles? It could also double as a well truck possibly or at least carry all the big tools and parts.
Another awesome video, Zach!! I love the ride along and your explaining your new leases. I am 2 videos behind in comments, sorry about that. I so love looking at the new ZachLife additions. Keep up the great work on presenting these. I learn so much from them and they are a pleasure to view. Thanks for all you do for us oil patch folks.
Another video full of fascinating stuff. Thanks for sharing a look into your world & a way of life that I had never seen before. And as a fellow American, and someone who appreciates the multitude of incredibly useful products crude oil makes possible, I thank you for the serious amounts of time, money, blood, sweat, brains, and tears, you put in to keep the stuff flowing. I sincerely hope your wells, both the old ones and the new, continue to produce profitably for many decades to come!
I'm sure to you it's just a job but to us chickens it's pretty fascinating stuff. What's a gun sight well? Does that mean it's drilled very straight? What is washing out a well?
Hey Zach hope you’re doing good buddy. Long time subscriber you’re one my favorite channels. Nothing better than to see a good old boy on the tube putting in work. Anyways hoping you could answer a question I’ve heard you say you need to flush out a whell multiple times what exactly does that do and how does it work
Can it be less expensive to run a test pump by an oil field engine instead of running electricity until a well proves itself? How much work is it to reel in your wiring and tubing from wells you plug?
Lots of people use trucks just like he does or harder. You never know what your truck your buying may have done in its past life. Some of these folks can clean them up well. Lots of trucks out there with many many hard off road miles on them. I know plenty of folks putting 25-50k miles a year on their pickups.
You the best Zach! Such a knowledgeable person. I enjoy learning about the true raw oil industry and appreciate your time and energy into putting these videos out. Side note can I bow hunt on any of your leases for $? 😂😂 🦃 🦌 🐷
This shallow/deep well stuff bottles my mind as back here it's all deep. The only shallow wells are cedar hills disposals or Dakota water support wells. The fact you have a 1600' well and a 4600' well next to each other is really funny.
I enjoy watching your videos man! I love how you explain everything and go in depth and take time out of your life to make these vids! I live up here in the Texas panhandle and the town I’m in there are ALOT of pump jacks around my area.
Well the gas engine spins the shaft flywheel and the pulley is on it and had belts run to it that ran the well instead of the electric motors he has doing it.
Could you do a video of öilfield art¨ like what tweakers spray paint on the tanks late at night..... and do you have any problems with spray paint vandals?
Very much enjoy your content. Been a welder mechanic equipment operator all my life . I can relate to what you have to do. I drive around really tied things together. Good deal. Best of luck and success. Thanks
With the "deep well" that only produced water... assuming it's cased and cemented (I remember you saying it didn't have tubing?), have you considered perforating slightly higher than the existing production interval? Perhaps their logging/drilling depths were off (ie. not correlated correctly), and you're well below the OWC. You could also then consider isolating the lower zones with a bridge plug / swell packer.... A basic slickline/wireline unit could do this... food for thought....
Excellent!! Really enjoyed this video and the information you've provided. There is a lot to this business!! Sorry to hear about the large expenditure and no oil or profit in return on those two wells. Hope that last well you showed us turns out great and makes up for it.
Zach I would really like to know what happened to and the current status of the "Arrow Oil Field Engine" where you started up a well with an old hit and miss engine that was running on propane gas. Would really like to know the current status of the old engine and pump assembly. I would really like a short video showing that old engine working on an oil well. Would really be great if you could put one of those engines on one of your wells. thanks for the videos, Sam.
The injection well is a water flood stimulation but is there anything else worth doing? Fracking is really expensive if it’s even technically feasible on a shallow well.
It’s pretty cool Zach that you got 34k folks that are interested in your business/hobby’s etc and not one infomercial LoL I pay my $16 a month not to watch the RU-vid adds and then someone spends 10 minutes talking about their free flashlight,reminds me of politicians and lobbyists
So I'm curious as to the feasibility of a 'portable well support system'... By that I mean - A totally self contained trailer or truck (or both) which would could provide necessary support systems to test a well's production before running a bunch of pipe, poles, power, etc. It would be a pretty hefty investment, but seems to me that it could help avoid the losses when a well is fixed and found to be non-productive. Maybe more trouble than its worth... I dunno. Just a thought! These are great videos Zach!
He takes and re uses all that stuff. So his stuff is portable it just doesn't sit on a truck frame and have to be driven to the next site. It travels there on a trailer and is unloaded
Do the cows ever cause damage? We have to fence off our pivot wheels and the center throughout the winter when we graze corn stalks, because cows cause damage to them.
Have you considered getting a big battery to power prospective wells without having to run electricity all the way to it? That way you wouldn't have to fork out a bunch of cash for wires without knowing how much the well would produce.
When you give a barrel amount is that the daily yield and is that just the oil or oil and water? What is the depth of a shallow vs deep well? Is there something in-between?
Instead of running power ($15K) of running power when trying to revive these wells , would it be easier and more economical to rent or buy a used portable genset?
Before spending money to bring electric power out , can you put a generator or a propane / Diesel engine on it to test??? Also solar panels are cheap now can some of these marginal units only pump when the sun is out ?
Solar is mostly useless, especially in his part of the world. Overcast half the year, tornadoes 3 months of the year. You would cover 1/4 the lease with panels to power it some of the time.
Someday could you talk about how you were able to understand how much oil is under that new lease? Do you get a petroleum geologist or some such? Great video!
So interesting. I wonder how much one well affects another. How far apart when it doesn't make any difference and wells can be considered independent and not drawing on the same source? Probably not easy to answer but still curious about how people figure out how far to drill a well away from a successful well. No doubt an art and no doubt there are vertical and lateral sources. It is interesting. Can you dig past a decent spot and miss a productive level and wish you had just stopped rather than drilling further? The decision making is fascinating to me as a person that has nothing to do with it.
Interesting how these well sites are laid out-there doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason the way they are organized. Thanks for the video and a graphic representation to help it make sense to the outsider.
Very good video as usual. It did raise some questions though. How are the roads to the oil wells maintained? These look rough as do the ones where I grew up. When I was young, oil was dumped on them. I suspect this is not allowed now. Also, in my youth, open drilling mud pits existed. I got into one up to my knees(no long term effects). Also, how often do you change vehicles? The oil roads are hard on them. My dad worked for over forty years in the workover rig industry. He brought the truck home that was used to carry the crew. It became nasty with oil in a short time. Rust was also an issue as the tank trucks that hauled salt water from the wells around would leak on the oil roads. One final question is about electricity to the wells. There is an oil well(still running with an electric motor) behind the house I grew up in. In the old days it was powered by some sort of internal combustion engine-it would go pop----pop---pop--pop-pop--pop---pop when running. Are the old IC engines obsolete now? As to the disposal well casing leak, there have been ground water wells ruined by just such a problem near where I grew up. I completely understand why these must be fixed.
The engine is called a hit and skip engine. Very cool motors, they have a governor that only lets fuel into the engine when the RPM gets low. They use a big flywheel to store the momentum. So when it hits, the flywheel speeds up, and then skips until it slows down again. They can run for days on a gallon of fuel, and often where run off the raw oil.
Thanks for all the info on all the stuff you've gotta know about, accumulated thru the years in the family business. I'd hate to invest so much knowledge & time & $$$ on all the HOPE/HOPING you're taking a chance on, just couldn't do it, couldn't get any sleep at night. Best wishes to you of health & luck. Also, I hate the OPEC bastards even though I see their point and their actions are what makes your stuff viable.
I have a well and injection pump on my property in abilene that the well operator hasn't done anything with for 4 or 5 years. They have been reporting the well has been pulling 1 or 2 barrels a month. Even though the well is in front of my house and never runs. What do I do? I own some mineral rights as well.
@@tallbadger it's pretty common to post a barrel a month on non- producing wells, to keep the RRC off our back. But it doesn't negate the lease terms. You would have to go look at the lease and see if the terms have been broken. Then you could get with the other mineral owners and terminate the lease. I operate around Abilene, so I'm curious which lease this is
@caseymitchell5477 they've recently came out and capped the injection well. The operators have also said they are looking for someone to buy the lease. Also, the tubin is wrecked and needs to be pulled and replaced.
One more question. The running oil well on my grandfather's former farm uses an underground pump. Only some pipes above ground. I think these are called Reda Pumps. Do you use any of these?
This may be an ignorant question, but why not use a propane tank and a generator before you run electricity to a well to "prove" it first .....rather than spend all that money to run overhead? That way if it it a bust you can pull the genset and the propane tank and have no real losses or sunk cost.
Hey Zach do you ever swab evaluate your wells with a workover rig or dedicated swab unit prior to committing to running power, flow lines and a pump jack etc