American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015 - 135

ConventionSection: Indiana Oil & Gas Association
are some things that need to be changed
and updated, mainly to keep outside influences from disrupting everything," he
says. "InOGA wants a new set of rules
passed also, just begrudgingly."

Annual Meeting
Hoy says the theme of InOGA's annual
meeting, "Another Downturn: How Can
We Make Money Now?" reflects ongoing
market conditions. Speakers will be discussing how operators can maximize
profits from their properties, and reap
the biggest benefits from refracturing and

reacidizing wells, he says.
"Then there will be presentations from
industry vendors, showing how you can
spend a little bit of money and increase
production," Hoy says. "Even at $40 oil,
if your wells make only two or three barrels a day and you spend a little bit of
money to get production up to five barrels
a day for a couple months, that pays for
the job. Then, perhaps, you have a barrel
or two left over that you were not making
before. Therein lies the profit. You spent
two months' worth of money, but now
you are ahead of where you were."

He says he plans to schedule a workshop for the afternoon on IDNR's proposed
regulations. Agency officials will join
several industry members who have
worked on the changes. Hoy adds he
will serve as moderator.
Because of the industry downturn, the
2015 convention is not likely to draw the
same number of attendees or exhibitors,
but Hoy points out InOGA membership
numbers remain about the same as over
the past several years.
❒

Indiana Making Plans For New Albany
MT. VERNON, IN.-Like their peers
in other states, Indiana operators have
cut back their drilling programs to match
the declines in commodity prices. For
the Hoosier State, the setback means
most company plans to introduce new
technologies and develop the New Albany
Shale have been put on hold.
Speaking in advance of the Indiana
Oil & Gas Association's annual convention, set for Oct. 8 in Evansville, In., association President Jeffrey Hoy says when
the market revives, companies will be
targeting that shale formation. The
Maquoketa may become a target as well,
but he notes he has not heard of any
completion attempts in the deeper regions
of the Illinois Basin. The Maquoketa
may not have the right total organic
content or richness to produce oil, he
poses, adding more test wells need to be
drilled and additional data collected.
"If there is 90 percent interest in the
New Albany, there is 10 percent interest
in the Maquoketa," assesses Hoy, a petroleum geologist who owns JLH Geologic
Consulting LLC in Mt. Vernon. "That is
how insignificant it is right now. Through
August this year, there had been only
one New Albany Shale well drilled in
the state that I am aware of."
The Maquoketa Shale has been sampled in the Indiana counties of Pike, Gibson and Washington, published reports
indicate. While the New Albany remains
a top target because of its organic content
and correlations with other hydrocarbonproducing shales, studies say the Maquoketa Shale is attracting attention because of
its considerable thermal maturity.
Several companies, including Woolsey
Energy LLC, had been drilling deep test
wells in Indiana and Illinois, Hoy reports.

Woolsey Energy says it has leased 73,000
net acres in Indiana, and has shot or acquired 2-D and 3-D seismic over more
than 1,500 square miles in the Illinois
Basin this year. Woolsey Energy also
has conducted stimulation operations on
at least one of its deep wells in Posey
County, in Indiana's southwest corner,
but Hoy says he has not yet heard any
production results.
"The well site is by a major highway,
so people drive past it all the time," he
says. "When there is not much going on
at a site, such as no flaring or a block of
tank batteries, then you know not much
is happening. That activity pretty much
died the first time the prices fell. A couple
of the new wells were completed, but
there has not been much drilling in the
New Albany."
At least two companies have drilled
horizontal wells and used hydraulic fracturing technology in what Indiana considers a large fracture operation, but so
far the operators of those Posey County
wells have not released any production
data, Hoy adds.

Middle Mississippian
A lot of activity has occurred in the
Middle Mississippian carbonates in Indiana, Hoy reports. Several out-of-state
operators have been active in the formation, and a few local operators as well,
although on a smaller scale, he says. Citation Oil and Gas of Houston was very
active in the southwest corner of Gibson
County until oil prices collapsed, he
says, adding Campbell Energy of Carmi,
Il, also has been very active in both Indiana and Illinois. Hoy notes production
records show varying amounts of success
in those projects.

Hoy reports most Indiana operators
remain focused on shallower formations
and wells. Most of the activity taking
place now is by operators who have
worked in the state for years, he remarks.
With many of Indiana's wells on waterfloods, the state continues to rely on
injection wells for fluid disposal, Hoy
says. Unlike other states, he says there
have been no seismic issues related to
disposal operations.
Indiana's oil and gas producers are
slowing field work while trying to retain
as many employees as possible, Hoy
says. "Obviously, that is one of a company's largest assets, and trying to keep
their people is pretty much what everyone
has been trying to do," he says. "Service
companies and vendors are trying to drop
their prices to keep the business they
have, so they can keep their people on
the payroll."
What sets Indiana apart from most of
its neighbors is a relatively low level of
public opposition to oil and gas operations,
Hoy assesses. While Illinois operators
have encountered hurdles at the state and
local levels, he says InOGA members
continue to work with the support-if not
always the encouragement-of many Indiana residents.
There have been some efforts by
county leaders to impose themselves into
oil and gas regulation, and some cities
are seeking similar powers over permitting.
State Representative Eric Koch, R-Bedford, sponsored HB 1321, which would
have barred local governments from seeking to regulate or prohibit oil and gas activities. Introduced in January, the bill
failed to advance, Hoy reports.
SEE NEW ALBANY PAGE 141

SEPTEMBER 2015 135

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