Drilling hits Gardendale

GARDENDALE New oil drilling may be benefitting the area economically, but for some residents of Gardendale, it’s hitting a bit close to home.

In recent months, the northeastern Ector County community has become a major drilling site in the Wolfberry play, a combination of the Spraberry and Wolfcamp formations that extends through parts of Midland and Ector counties and northward into Andrews County.

But some express concerns as drilling companies set up rigs in residential areas in the community of around 1,200.

Since April, Irving-based Keystone Petroleum GP LLC has received at least seven permits from the Texas Railroad Commission to drill in Gardendale. Some of the company’s rigs have gone up little more than a stone’s throw from homes.

“The property values will go to (expletive),” said R.W. Hair, a Gardendale resident who said a lot directly across the street from his home is marked for drilling.

Of a homeowner who recently had a lot drilled on adjacent to her property, Hair said, “She’ll be lucky to get a third of what it’s worth.”

Carol Uranga, who lives near the Midland County line, said a drilling company has offered her $7,500 each for two lots that she owns. She said she could get $10,000 each for the lots if she sold them.

“It’s real unfair,” she said. “It’s horrible because they don’t let you say ‘no’ because they own the rights.”

Hair said he would like for Keystone to use horizontal or directional drilling to get oil from underneath Gardendale from a distance.

But Kirk Edwards, president of MacLondon Royalty Co., said that the geology of the Wolfberry doesn’t lend itself to directional drilling, meaning that companies have to drill vertically in order to get to oil.

“The technology is not there for it to be economically feasible for them to do that right now,” Edwards said.

Edwards said that companies feel they can’t afford to wait for technology to improve before drilling in the area.

“They will probably be able to drain it with current technology,” he said. “After 10 or 15 years, that reservoir is going to be drained.”

The Railroad Commission doesn’t have rules governing how close companies can drill to homes, only spacing requirements to make sure that neighboring fields aren’t drained and fields aren’t overproduced, commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye said.

While cities can make laws requiring drillers to stay away from homes, those in unincorporated communities like Gardendale may be out of luck.

Ector County Commissioner Greg Simmons, whose precinct includes Gardendale, said the only restrictions the county can put on drilling have to deal with noise. And he doesn’t see the noise the drilling rigs make as being outside the allowable thresholds.

“They’re trying to be quiet, I think,” Simmons said. “But it’s still disruptive, especially when they’re making noise and coming on to your property.”

Even after the drilling rigs are pulled up, Hair said he has concerns about tank batteries being located in residential areas.

“If you build those close to the houses, that’s a hazard to me,” he said. “It’s got gas on top of it. It’s a bomb to me.”

Hair also criticizes Keystone for initially failing to fence in its pits where hydraulic fracturing fluids are stored. He said the company only protected the pits after residents complained.

Hair said the company also risked draining water wells in Gardendale, but it recently began purchasing water from the Greater Gardendale Water Supply Corp.

“I’m sure they’re just gonna do what you can make ’em do,” Hair said. “I think Keystone’s one of those outfits that gets the property, drills it up and then sells it and moves on to the next property.”

Repeated calls to Keystone’s Irving office were not returned. Messages left in person at the company’s Midland office also were not returned.

Edwards said he hopes that homeowners and oil companies will be able to work together in the future.

“A lot of the people out there bought their places never dreaming that an oil well could be producing there in the next few years,” he said. “I know the oil companies and the service companies strive to be very safe in their operations. You just hope that they can get something worked out to both of their satisfaction.”