Projects

Mission River Project, Texas Gulf Coast

The McFuel properties are located at the south end of the town of Refugio. They are bound to the north by State Highway 77 and to the south and west by the Mission River. McFuel bought the producing leases in 1999 from Slack Oil Company. The properties are comprised of three (3) tracts of land totaling 620 acres, which are contiguous with one another, and are known as the "J.N. Mitchell", and "J. Isabella Shelton" blocks. The net revenue interests of the leases are 75% of 100%. The properties are considered part of the Mission River Oil and Gas Field ( discovered in 1930 ), which area currently has produced over 944,000,000 million barrels of oil, and, eventually, will produce another 500,000,000 barrels, plus at least a trillion cubic feet of natural gas. A string of large oil and gas fields runs from the Oden and Pertillo Fields, southwest, through Woodsboro and Refugio Fields, and trends northeastward through the giant Tom O'Connor, Greta, Lake Pasture and McFaddin Fields. All of these fields produce from less than 6,500 feet. Oil and gas were trapped in broad, rollover anticlines on the down-thrown side of a regional growth fault system known as the "Vicksburg Flexure", or "Fault". The biggest oil producing pay zone in all these fields is the uppermost Vicksburg Sand ("Textularia warreni"), also referred to as the "Tom O'Connor Sand", which produces from 5900 to 6400 feet.

Production on the McFuel leases began in 1938, and, to date, 32 wells have been drilled as oil and gas producers. Significant oil and gas reserves have also been produced from overlying Oligocene-Age Frio sands, which pinched-out on the flanks of the anticlines. The initial discoveries in these fields were shallow gas of Micoene Age fluvial sands located from 2,400' to 4,000" ("Lagarto, Oakville and Catahoula) that were deposited as river and delta channels and barrier bars. Miocene and Frio pay sands are frequently lenicular, often irregular, in distribution, and, characteristically, less than 20 feet thick.

Producing Zones:

Vicksburg and Frio:

The Texas Railroad Commission of Texas began the uniform collection of production data in 1955, and, since 1970, the Mission River Oil Field has produced 45 million barrels cubic feet of gas. Additional oil and gas production on the leases also has come from other wells classified as being in the Woodsboro Field. Most of the oil production on the leases has been from 6,400' and the overlying "G-3/G-4" (6,300 feet) Frio zones. Some wells in the Field were re-completed to shallower pays (all deeper than 5,000 feet), but the pattern for the efficient drainage is haphazard. For the purposes of this report, McFuel estimates that significant gas and oil continues to exist and is unproduced today in the Frio, based on log analysis, cores (conventional and sidewall), drillstem tests and production drainage patterns. It is apparent that many oil and gas pay zones, located between 5,000 feet and 6,400 feet have been overlooked, and/or have been bypassed due to mechanical problems. In addition two (2) wells of the 32 producing wells on the McFuel's acreage have produced from Vicksburg Sands located below 8,000 feet.

Discorbis:

A very significant shallow oil pay exists from 4,150 to 4,200 feet. Less than two miles south of the subject McFuel properties, the uppermost Oligocene-Aged Discorbis Sands have produced 2.3 million barrels of oil and 8.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas from 70 shallow wells in the Woodsboro South, (4,200') Field. This Field is fault-separated from the Mission River Field and is more than 100 feet down-dip from McFuel's leases. This Discorbis zone produces in several wells immediately south of McFuel's lease boundaries. These wells have "potentialled" for over 100 barrels of oil per day and have individually produced from 40,000 to 100,000 barrels of oil each. These producers occupy lower structural positions, and reveal significant up-dip potential on offsetting McFuel's leases to the west. Logs, cores and formation test data pressure tests indicate porosities to be 20% range. Permeabilities in Lower Discorbis Sands are over 100 millidaries, and are highly oil-stained. Recent prototype cased hole test data indicates no pressure depletion in the Discorbis. Two engineering/geological studies conducted on the Mission River and Woodsboro areas (1955, 1986) concluded that significant untapped oil and gas potential exists in these Discorbis intervals.

Miocene Sands:

Cased-hole Gamma Ray-Neutron logs, Thermal Decay Time-Potassium (TDT-K) logs and a cased-hole RFT (repeat formation tester) tool which is in the development stage by Schlumberger, reveal considerable shallow gas pay occurring above 3,000 feet under McFuel's lease. These zones have never been produced on the McFuel leases, or from the leases in the immediate vicinity. RFT pressure tests in the 2,350' and 1,900 feet sands indicate no drainage has occurred. Recent shallow gas discoveries in the Refugio and Tom O'Connor Fields also reveal gas production from sands present above 1,500 feet.