Athens Review, Athens, Texas

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June 26, 2008

Company wants to drill for oil beneath CCL

By Art Lawler/Cedar Creek Pilot

GUN BARREL CITY — A San Antonio Oil Company plans to apply for a drilling permit for a Smackover zone well under and around Cedar Creek Lake.

Black Brush Oil & Gas wants to drill both vertically and horizontally.

A Smackover zone is an area that contains high levels of hydrogen sulfide, also known as H2S or sour gas.

County Judge David Holstein has some concerns about it because of the high volume of hydrogen sulfide in the area, but he wants to know more.

An Irving consultant with Chemical Analysis, Inc. has a lot of concerns about it, and a Texas Railroad Commission representative says the area’s safety will be the top priority, if and when such a well is drilled.

A spokesperson with the oil company confirmed the company’s plans Tuesday afternoon.

“We are planning on boring 7,000 feet under the lake,” the spokesperson said. “There are seven to 10 million barrels of oil down there. ... We’ve met with the Railroad Commission and County Judge (David) Holstein and the mayor of Payne Springs (J.T. Noble), and we’ve met with some of the residents about it.”

The Cedar Creek Oil Field was discovered in 1987 by Crown Central Oil Company in Dallas.

Holstein said he recently received a letter from Black Brush Oil and Gas Co. telling him it intended to begin construction of an oil-drilling rig in June in the Cedar Creek Smackover area, located east of the lake near Highway 198.

An official with Black Brush said the company wants to be a good neighbor, and that this project would help the country find oil instead of constantly being held captive by the high prices of foreign oil.

But Galen Hartman, laboratory director for Chemical Analysis, Inc. in Irving, expressed serious reservations about the plan.

“They are planning to drill a Smackover zone well, which will be laden with high concentration hydrogen sulfide gas,” he said.

The sour gas currently exists at the plant in Eustace and is made safer through the use of flaring, which Hartman says still leaves the toxic fumes about 70 percent as lethal as they are at full strength.

Hartman also said, as he understands it, the spud site for the new well will be very close to State Highway 198 and the Enchanted Oaks area.

His concern, he said, is that if there was a catastrophic event, those in proximity to the spud site could be exposed to potentially deadly fumes before they had a chance to get out.

“The only way out of those areas for those people is the small road from the subdivision to 198,” he said. “The radius around the drilling site for hazardous exposure would be miles in all directions of the well site if a catastrophic event occurred.”

Charles Ross, Director of Compliance with the Texas Railroad Commission, said the agency had received no permit request from the oil company as of late Tuesday afternoon.

“This will be reviewed by our technical staff in our Kilgore office,” Ross said, “and here in Austin, also.”

As for a catastrophic event, Ross said, “It would be so far under the lake that the chances of a leak occurring would be quite remote.

“Certainly, anytime gas would come to a surface it would present a hazard.”

As for the contingency plan, he said the oil company would have to notify and educate the public, not to mention an acceptable plan for leaving the area in all four directions.

Asked if that meant public meetings, Ross said those weren’t specified in under state rules.

At the same time, he said the RRC could call such meetings if it deemed them necessary.

Holstein, who also serves as the emergency management coordinator for the county, said his top priority will be the safety of the residents.

However, the final say rests with the state, not the county.

“I’m concerned about the safety and well being of anyone living in proximity to a Smackover well, in proximity to Cedar Creek Lake,” Holstein said. “I just want to make sure we are not imposing any unacceptable risks for them.

“But right now I m reluctant to say too much. We just don’t know enough yet.”

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