otter
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Post by otter on Feb 27, 2013 15:24:46 GMT -6
Can any of you geologist, engineers or other oil field related business men or women give any insight on talk of another shale which stretches from just north of Orange Grove area to the King Ranch? Thanks
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Post by OCCNH on Feb 27, 2013 15:54:30 GMT -6
There are several that are being looked at. The ones you might be talking about are the Jackson Shale which is closest to the Yegua Sand. The other is the Reklaw Shale which is associated to the Queen City Sand. It appears some of the horizontal drilling is still targeting the sands. I don't know if either will produce the oil the Eagle Ford has but it's great the oil companies are looking in other places again.
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Post by 278ibewfb on Feb 27, 2013 16:11:58 GMT -6
Can any of you geologist, engineers or other oil field related business men or women give any insight on talk of another shale which stretches from just north of Orange Grove area to the King Ranch? Thanks Yep thats the scuttle butt
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2013 16:13:09 GMT -6
Can any of you geologist, engineers or other oil field related business men or women give any insight on talk of another shale which stretches from just north of Orange Grove area to the King Ranch? Thanks Eagle Ford touches the northern part of Jim Wells County which isn't too far from what you are describing although much of the production is north of there. I wouldn't be surprised if there are additional formations close by and with the technology at hand, some of those areas like OCCNH noted get re opened for exploration. The bigger ticket item would be the eventual export LNG terminals if the get approval from the Feds. We get those babies going along with an expanding oil/gas refining and production here, we will catch up big time and then some with the rest of the state as far as new school facilities, quality of life things we currently have to leave the area to enjoy like entertainment, shopping, restaurants, etc.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2013 16:16:05 GMT -6
Oh, and Flour Bluff and Calallen might get new scoreboards!
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otter
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Post by otter on Feb 28, 2013 8:00:43 GMT -6
Thank you guys for the timely responses and especially toward what I wanted to hear. May we all get new scoreboards (ones that light up like pin ball machines).
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CatFan4Ever
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Post by CatFan4Ever on Apr 9, 2013 7:53:55 GMT -6
I have heard rumors of a potential shale from Kenedy County through King Ranch to Chapman Ranch. Just rumors so far...
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Post by 278ibewfb on Apr 9, 2013 10:38:13 GMT -6
I have heard rumors of a potential shale from Kenedy County through King Ranch to Chapman Ranch. Just rumors so far... damn happen to have a little property in the chapman ranch area.............
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2013 12:46:48 GMT -6
I have heard rumors of a potential shale from Kenedy County through King Ranch to Chapman Ranch. Just rumors so far... Makes sense. Recall as a kid traveling those back roads out there with all the oil pump rigs. You couldn't look to your left or right without seeing one. Let's get to work!
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Post by CC_Varmints on Jun 6, 2013 7:46:20 GMT -6
www.eenews.net/stories/1059982306ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Port city boom town Corpus Christi looks for life after a Texas bust CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Fortune is beginning to smile on this laid-back coastal city, but community and business leaders here say they are not taking it for granted. While the explosion of oil and gas activity in the Eagle Ford Shale region has transformed much of south Texas, sleepy Corpus Christi has mostly watched from afar, unaffected. Towns in the Eagle Ford are experiencing mini population booms and a flood of new tax revenues. San Antonio is giddy, having established itself as the main staging area and organizing point for Eagle Ford drilling. During all of this, Corpus Christi had for the most part seen simply a boost in tourism, but little else. But in the past year, things have begun to change quickly, and all signs suggest this city might in fact turn out to be the biggest long-term beneficiary of the Eagle Ford's oil wealth. Unlike some towns around here, Corpus Christi is eyeing the opportunities with caution, even suspicion. While the 1980s oil bust hit Houston badly, people who remember say that Corpus Christi felt it even worse. Traffic at its port dried up, businesses closed, scores of homes went up for sale, and the city was left mired in an economic stagnation that lingered until as late as 2010, according to Jim Lee, an economics professor at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi. The Eagle Ford started a turnaround, and now it's accelerating. But having been burned in the past by the oil industry's boom-and-bust cycles, the people struggling to build this city's economy are determined to not let that happen again. When drillers migrateInvestment is being courted. But the city is employing some strategy this time around, targeting companies interested in establishing long-term manufacturing that will be here long after the drillers have packed up and left. And the city is starting a serious conversation about how to invest new tax receipts in projects that will be good for the long-term development of Corpus Christi, officials here say. Tourism has dominated that conversation: new resorts, downtown plazas, water parks and even cruise ship terminals. Lee, the Texas A&M economist, said the Eagle Ford communities can't sit and wait for the economic boom to end. Corpus Christi, San Antonio and the others have a lot to gain from the money flowing in, he acknowledged, but their investments should generate economic activity strong enough to survive another Texas oil bust. "It's about time for them to start worrying about what they're going to do when [drillers] migrate to some other area," Lee said. "Things didn't get started until the oil price went above $80 in 2008. ... f it goes below $80, then we'll be in big trouble."
It's an unusually pessimistic approach toward what's shaping up to be an economic miracle. More than 1,000 new homes were built in this region last year, and this after decades of very slow or no population growth. Roland Mower, CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation, said he expects higher numbers this year.
A handful of companies, mostly foreign-owned entities, are planning developments along the port that together are valued at about $20 billion. The city's unemployment is about 1 percent under the state average. "We've seen over the last year and a half a real increase in employment, principally driven by Eagle Ford, in three areas," Mower said.
"You see a lot of people who are actually doing the drilling," he added. "You see a lot of truck drivers to move materials and product in and out, and you've seen the hospitality industry pick up because of all these people who have moved to the region."
Sales tax receipts, one sign of growth, are rising quickly for municipalities in the region. According to the Texas comptroller's office, sales tax collections for Corpus Christi's government rose from $56 million in 2010 to $72.6 million on 2012.
Mower thinks the total boon to the city could approach $17 billion as investments and jobs continue to roll in. "This is just about unheard of," he said.
John LaRue, executive director of the Port of Corpus Christi, confirmed the trend.
He said nearly all of the industrial park land that the port has to offer to potential partners is spoken for, after sitting empty for years. Projects planned or proposed include two liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects: a $10 billion project that Cheniere Energy Corp. wants to build and a smaller, $5 billion proposal by a consortium called Pangea LNG.
Port city luck
Even more manufacturing, petrochemical processing and terminals are planned for the area around the port. Austrian firm Voestalpine aims to spend around $700 million building a facility at Corpus Christi's port. Swiss energy firm Trafigura wants to invest around $250 million for a terminal there. And Corpus Christi will soon be home to one of the largest single overseas investments by a Chinese state-owned company, a $1 billion steel casing and pipe manufacturing plant by TPCO America Corp.
Recently, however, shifting tides in the oil business have also changed the business going through Corpus Christi's bustling port. Oil imports from overseas have been down as domestic crude oil supplies have displaced them. And lost imports are being offset by rising barge exports of crude oil from Corpus Christi to other parts of the United States.
"We're expecting a significant increase in revenue in the next three years," LaRue said. "By 2016, we should be on the plus side."
J.J. Johnston, director of administration at TPCO America, the pipe manufacturer, said his company's decision to locate the plant near Corpus Christi was pure luck. When it began, TPCO's focus had been on selling throughout North America and, perhaps, Latin America. Now it sees the bulk of its customers coming from the Eagle Ford region.
"Eagle Ford Shale was just kind of a theoretical model back in '07 and '08," Johnston recalled. "The first drilling started after we had made a decision to put a production facility here."
Business development interests here say they are spending less time courting oil field service companies. Instead, they're looking for manufacturers of steel, pipe, plastics and petrochemicals. The city is already home to large refining operations.
These companies, they explain, are more likely to make big investments designed to last several decades, 30 years or more. Drilling activity could dry up, but natural gas supplies across the United States are expected to be abundant for decades out. Drilling or no drilling, Corpus Christi can still sell manufacturers on the prospect of decades of cheap, abundant energy or feedstock supplies, along with the deep-water port, excellent rail systems and ready access to the nation's interstate freeway system.
"We've got land, water, power and people adjacent to the Eagle Ford oil shale," Mower said. "We've caught lightning in a bottle, and it's really important for us to make sure that, as we work on these projects, that we do it in a thoughtful, mindful way, to make sure that at the end of the day, we benefit from this opportunity."
Johnston, who previously worked at the Economic Development Corporation, says that teamwork approach helped to land the TPCO plant, though the Chinese firm was considering dozens of other possible locations. TPCO hired him after he and many others successfully wooed it to Corpus Christi.
People in Corpus Christi say it's not resting on its laurels. Tourism in this sunny seaside resort town helped lessen the impact of the previous economic bust, and the city sees it doing the same when the next one comes, something many here view as inevitable.
Trailing off
New ideas include "Destination Bayfront," a $60 million plan to revitalize the city's struggling downtown. Outside investors are also seriously considering a $500 million resort complex on North Padre Island and a $75 million water park. The Texas State Aquarium is planning an expansion. Developers are starting talks on infrastructure improvements to make Corpus Christi a port of call for cruise ships, going head-to-head with Galveston for that business.
Bill Cone, director of the Coastal Bend Business Innovation Center, a business incubator at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, said his group is hunting for startup companies and technologies with applications far beyond oil and gas. Arana Water Technologies LLC, for example, sells technologies for cleaning oil field wastewater that can also be applied to car washes or meat processing plants.
He said Corpus Christi, Midland and other smaller Texas cities have felt the sting of past failures to capitalize on oil and gas rushes. There can be no repeat of that experience, he and several others said.
"We want to be able to diversify our manufacturing as quickly as possible," Cone said, "for when the day comes that [drilling] does trail off -- and it will."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2013 14:06:38 GMT -6
Good find Varm! It will be very interesting to see how the new growth will show up in our school districts in the next 5 to 10 years and beyond. I like the focus on the new industry being brought in, but we should focus on something like an auto plant to go along with it. Especially since the Germans and South Koreans are wanting to build more vehicles in the US and Latin America loves the German brands (like VW) even more than we do here in the states.
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