Recent oil well permits sparks hope of more oil lease activity

While it is certainly not a new “oil rush,” there has been a renewed oil-related activity in the parish recently.

Two new oil well permits have been issued in the parish in the past two months. That doubles the number issued for all of 2016.

One is for a typical shallow well, 1,680 feet, in the Saline Lake area to Wilcox Energy of Natchez, Miss. The other targets the untapped mineral-rich shale deep below Avoyelles.

This is the third wave of exploration of the vein in the last 40 years. This time, it is hoped that new technology will make the expensive processes needed for that depth more feasible.

The well will reach below the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale and the Austin Chalk, both of which have made some landowners rich in other areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. However, such luck has evaded central Louisiana and Avoyelles because the shale beneath Avoyelles is harder to extract oil from than those other areas.

The low cost of oil has made it unprofitable to use high-cost "fracking" and other methods necessary to coax or coerce the oil from those deep formations.

After four lackluster or capped deep wells a few years ago, the search was called off in Avoyelles. Two wells were in Brouillette, one was in Ward 1 and one was near Odenburg, south of Simmesport.

Now, all eyes in Avoyelles will be on a deep well, 21,900 feet, in the Bayou Jack area, permitted to Sentry Energy of Opelousas.

Clerk of Court Connie Couvillon said her office has had visitors over the past four months doing research on possible oil leases, “but they have not recorded any leases yet. However, there is definitely some activity going on.”

Bayou Jack area land owners reported they received $175 per acre for royalty rights. That is down from the $500 per acre paid by the last army of mineral/land men who scoured those courthouse records 10 years ago.

If the Bayou Jack well is successful, observers are hoping that both the leasing activity and the price per acre paid for those leases increases.

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