Citing a recent decline in natural gas prices, Williams Production withdrew its application Friday for up to 15 wells in Double Oak near FM 407 and Simmons.
In a letter to Double Oak leaseholders, the driller said that “geologic information revealed that our drilling laterals (the length that a drill bit travels horizontally) needed to be shorter than planned due to faults (or breaks) in the natural gas formation near Double Oak. Longer laterals can produce more gas than shorter ones. In a stronger commodity price environment, shorter laterals can still produce attractive returns. However, the price of natural gas has been quickly declining as we’ve gone through the permitting process, making the nature of our project uneconomic at this time.”
Williams also announced that it has elected to allow leases to expire as their terms runs out.
On August 16th, despite some public opposition, the Double Oak Planning & Zoning Commission unanimously recommended that the Town Council approve their permit request to enlarge the Meece pad site and place up to 15 wells on the site, which sits just south of Lantana.
The future of the site remains uncertain, as drilling operations had previously taken place on the land by Red Oak Gas Operating Company.
Whatever the case, local citizen groups who were against the project are taking a moment to recognize their efforts in fighting the project.
“What Williams’ letter fails to recognize is that there was a significant amount of pressure put on them by grass roots organizations such as Double Oak Cares, Flower Mound Cares, Corinth Cares and others for safer industry practices,” said Double Oak resident Will Evans. “And to the credit of our Town Council, they listened to our concerns and insisted on accountability.”
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