Oilfield Activity Around Pearsall Texas

Anyone who has recently traveled between the town of Pearsall (the county seat of Frio county,) and Cotulla on IH-35, may have noticed that there are dozens of new oil and gas businesses in that area. Pearsall had a population of around 7000 residents according to the 2001 census, however judging from the number of new businesses, the traffic on area roads and from all the new construction, the population of Frio county has most likely climbed in the past couple of years. The Frio county government is currently dealing with increased wear and tear on area roads. So far no per – well fee has been imposed on oil and gas companies to offset road and bridge wear in Frio County, but one may be considered if the amount of drilling activity picks up.  (Click On Maps To Enlarge)

Many of the oil wells (green dots,)  seen on the map above are old Austin Chalk wells. Most of the ones that you see on this map were drilled in the late 1980s to 1990s and have been plugged. These wells featured a very short lateral (horizontal wellbore) or two, but generally nothing in terms of the lateral length that is possible today.  The technology required to horizontally drill and hydraulically fracture the Austin chalk and Eagle Ford Shale formations simply did not exist back then in the same form that it does today. After completion, many of these wells came in as so-called “barn burners,”  since their large gas flares burned for days.  Some of the first Austin Chalk wells in Frio county produced hundreds of barrels of oil per day. Some oil company insiders referred to these high IP (initial production,)  wells as “doctor wells” because the high IP results were so good at helping lure new investors such as physicians. Sadly for both the investors and the oil companies, Frio county Austin Chalk wells did not last more than a few weeks or months before depleting to a barrel or two of oil per day. During this flurry of oil and gas production in Frio County, a number of oil and gas gathering lines and transmission pipelines were constructed to transport Austin Chalk production to market. Pipelines built for Austin Chalk production, such as the  Harvest Pipeline Company’s Pearsall Mainline, are now being used to transport Eagle Ford Shale production eastward to refineries such as Valero’s in Three Rivers.

(Click On Map To Enlarge)

What’s in store for Frio county in terms of Eagle Ford Shale drilling? Right now oil and gas companies such as Chesapeake Energy and EOG Resources are scrambling to drill high IP and high EUR wells in the volatile oil and wet gas windows of the EFS, (to keep share prices high and fund new drilling activity with high production wells,) in addition to hold leases about to expire. Oil and gas E&P companies will balance the need to drill Eagle Ford Shale wells in Frio County with their overall objectives in the greater Eagle Ford shale play. Some leases are held by production from older Austin Chalk and other oil and gas wells, therefore there is no rush to drill on those leases. Frio county is about 1,134 square miles in size, or approximately 725,760 acres. Potentially productive Eagle Ford shale lies beneath more than half of this area, so Frio county will most likely be in the game for many years to come, as hundreds more oil and gas wells are drilled over the coming decades. As natural gas prices rise, interest in drilling the Pearsall shale will return. The Pearsall shale, a large formation containing primarily dry natural gas, also lies under much of Frio County in addition to the Eagle Ford shale.

For the office of the Frio County Clerk, law enforcement, and Tax Appraisal District, see the Frio County Government Web Site

Article by Nolan Hart, Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved

Map of Zavala County Eagle Ford Shale. (Click On Any Of The Images Below To View At Full Size.)

Below, map of Petrohawk’s Red Hawk Field.

For many years Crystal City was known as the  “Spinach Capital Of The World.” “Wintergarden” vegetable farms around the area still produce much of the nation’s supply of Popeye’s favorite vegetable.   Crystal City has not completely taken on the feel of an  “oilfield town” just yet, as has Carrizo Springs, located in Dimmit  County just a few miles to the south.  There is however  a noticeable increase in the amount of  traffic on area roads  and a number of new businesses such as RV parks in southern Zavala County. One such new park is the Caza Ranch RV park, which can be seen below, located on the Big Wells Highway, just south of Crystal City.

Below is a map from the Texas Railroad Commission showing some of the drilling activity in Zavala County, south of Crystal City.

What’s in store for Zavala County in terms of Eagle Ford Shale drilling?  Although Zavala county Eagle Ford shale wells typically have lower EUR (Estimated Ultimate Recovery) and lower IP (Initial Production) rates, they are cheaper to drill, since the formation lies at around 4000′. There is no doubt that the major oil and gas companies will return to the county in earnest  at some point.  In Zavala county there exists favorable geology for “stacked pay” opportunities, with the Escondido, Olmos, San Miguel, Anacacho, Austin Chalk, Eagle Ford shale, Buda and Georgetown formations prospective for hydrocarbons. Currently some companies with leases  in Zavala County may let the primary term of the lease expire and pay landowners an additional bonus payment to hold  the acreage for a couple more years until they can shift rigs back in this direction.  Some of the Eagle Ford Shale acreage in Zavala County is held by production from older oil and gas wells. We may see more drilling activity in Zavala County in the latter part of this year as oil and gas companies drill to hold acreage on larger parcels where they may find it too costly to pay extra lease bonus payments to hold the land for a couple more years.

Article by Nolan Hart, Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved

Click On Image To Enlarge

Below is a photo of a well just inside the Bee  county line, east of Three Rivers, Texas.

Overall the Eagle Ford shale oil and gas discovery is helping to boost the economy of Bee  County, yet there are major issues that must be dealt with. One of these issues is that of wear and tear on roads and bridges in county.  Recently the Bee County Commissioner’s Court approved a $9,500 fee to  be levied against the largest oil and gas companies for each new Eagle Ford Shale well drilled. The purpose of this new fee is to help offset the county’s maintenance expenses  for repairing roads and bridges. Although this new fee may help pay for some of the road damage in Bee County being caused by Eagle Ford Shale drilling, it will not pay for all of it. The new road and bridge fee does not address the issue of companies using state and county roads to move equipment across Bee, to wells being drilled in other counties.  Below is a photo of trucks hauling frac sand near the Bee County line.  Road such as State Highway 72 are beginning to show major signs of wear and tear, as potholes appear faster than TXDOT  workers can patch them.  With the huge Texas budget deficit, TXDOT  has been slow in responding to the critical road situation in South Texas. There has so far been very little in the way of new funds for local Highway Department districts to use for road repair and expansion.

Click to View This Photo In Larger Size

What’s in store for Bee County in terms of the Eagle Ford Shale?  As long as oil prices stay high we will see more drilling occurring in the “wet gas and condensate” portion of the county. Most of the Eagle Ford shale in Bee County  is situated in the “dry gas window” of the play. Other than to  keep leases from expiring on large ranches, there has been very little activity in this portion of the Eagle Ford Shale. This will most likely change as natural gas prices eventually do rise again. Vast amounts of natural gas lie beneath Bee, as well as other counties with a footprint in the “dry gas window.”

 Click  On Any of the Images below to View at Full Size

Below, the small town of  Big Wells is living up to its name as  rigs drilling Eagle Ford Shale “gushers” can be seen from almost anywhere in town. The small town was named for large Carrizo – Wilcox  water wells, which were used to  irrigate crops such as onions  and cabbage. Now that same water is in high demand from oil companies, who use it to frac  new  Eagle Ford Shale wells in Dimmit county. Oilfield businesses in Dimmit  County are thriving and creating many new jobs for area residents. Second Photo: The new offices of  Flexpipe Systems, a new oilfield business in Big Wells Texas, which  specializes in providing water line and pipe to the oil industry.

Money from the oil and gas industry that is flowing into Dimmit  County may help to uplift some of the more impoverished areas of the county. Small  migrant worker shacks, such as this one in Big Wells Texas, are being bulldozed down to make room for new oilfield businesses, housing  and RV parks.  This oil boom is not without its problems  however. The  government of Dimmit County is finding it hard  to keep county roads maintained and keep up  with the demand for classroom space for children of oilfield workers and other issues. The population of Dimmit  County has long hovered around 10,000  people, yet according to some estimates that figure has  nearly doubled in the past three years.

Click On Photos To View At Full Size

Below, an old longhorn cow near the county line may be wondering if there will be any water left for her after Eagle Ford shale drilling in Dimmit county is done.

In the next image, an oilfield gate guard checks in visitors to a new Eagle Ford shale well location.

Below, a steady stream of traffic flows along State Hwy 85  between  Big Wells and Carrizo Springs. On the hill in the far distance is a new oilfield business specializing in saltwater disposal from Eagle Ford Shale wells in Dimmit and Zavala counties.

There will be some reduction in the amount of oil tanker traffic across the Eagle Ford Shale play as new pipelines come online this summer. However, overall oilfield traffic will  most likely continue  for many years to come as thousands more wells are drilled. Dimmit  County consists of 1,334 square miles, or about 853,760 acres. With some  oil and gas companies experimenting with  well spacing of the small  as 40 acres in the Eagle Ford Shale, there will no doubt be thousands more wells drilled in Dimmit  and surrounding counties.

 Click on the Map To View At Full Size

In the  first  photo below, (a long exposure,)  a steady stream of  oilfield traffic heads west toward Tilden in the early morning hours.  In the next photo you can see that most of  the oilfield traffic  passing the McMullen County Courthouse is turning north, heading to new wells, pipeline and construction projects in the “volatile oil” zone.

Click  On Any of the Photos Below to View It Full Size

Oilfield traffic at the intersection of  SH–72  and SH–16  in the early morning hours.  A hastily drawn sign advertises cheap housing for oilfield workers. Scores of RV parks have opened up in Tilden Texas, as residents  attempt  to cash in on the oil boom in whatever ways they can.  Several new oilfield businesses have opened on the outskirts of Tilden, including Stallion Rentals.   For many years the population of McMullen County hovered at around seven hundred souls, yet an influx of oilfield workers has  more than tripled the population in only a few short years. The influx of new residents and increase in oilfield activity has placed strains on everything from the  school system to law enforcement, EMS and area roads. Tax revenue from oil and gas activity is helping somewhat to alleviate the burden placed on county taxpayers.

Click On Any Photos Below To View At Full Size

Below, Wheeler’s  Store, just across from the McMullen County Courthouse  in Tilden Texas, is already crowded with oilfield workers at six in the morning on a weekday.

Just west of Tilden Texas, a new pipeline pumping station under construction by  Plains Pipeline L.P.

In the early morning hours an oil tanker waits at the stop sign next to the McMullen county courthouse.

An H2S flare burns brightly behind the cactus on a new Eagle Ford shale oil well in northern McMullen County.   Dark  and starry skies have long ruled at night over McMullen County, however  many residents have noticed how there is a constant glow in the night sky from natural gas flares and large outdoor lights placed around well sites during drilling and fracking operations. The nighttime glow from this oil boom being experienced by local residents is unlikely to fade anytime soon. McMullen County is comprised of approximately 731,520 acres, with some type of oil and gas bearing rock formation underlying almost of it. With some oil and gas exploration  companies examining well spacings  of as low as 40 acres, there will be thousands more oil and gas wells drilled in McMullen over the next several decades.

If you enjoyed these photos of Eagle Ford shale activity in McMullen County, please  “like us” using the Facebook icon on this page.

 Article by Nolan Hart. Copyright 2012.

For those who have been wondering what EOG Resources is up to in the Eagle Ford shale, a recent press release has shed some light on their plans.

EOG Resources has so far been hush – hush about their plans for drilling in the Eagle Ford shale.  On the company website they announced several weeks ago that they were aquiring acreage but were going to keep plans for development quiet until most of the leasing had been done. Now that it has they are letting the cat out of the bag.

Now information is surfacing, such as this from an official press release, that they are planning a major drilling program in the oil window of the Eagle Ford shale with ”significant production” coming online in 2011.

EOG declared the Eagle Ford shale a ”major oil discovery“   in this April 7 press release.  CEO of EOG, Mark Papa was quoted as saying that the Eagle Ford shale was, in his words “one of the most significant United States oil discoveries in the past 40 years”.  EOG has estimated that the Eagle Ford, as an oil discovery, will rank #6 in size of all time giant oil fields in the U.S. just after the Bakken Shale. The largest would be Prudhoe Bay.

EOG hs aquired just over a half millon acres of South Texas leases across six counties.

Sixteen dileneation wells were drilled over a 120 mile trend to determine the extent of the play.

“Based on initial drilling and production results, as well as technical and core analysis, the estimated reserve potential on EOG’s 505,000 net acre position in the oil window is approximately 900 million barrels of crude oil equivalent (MMboe), net after royalty (NAR).”

(NAR refers to how much the company keeps after giving the landowner a percentage of production.)

EOG is currently operating six rigs,  drilling more wells over a large area of the Eagle Ford shale in the upper portion known as the “oil window”. Due to depressed natural gas prices, the oil rich part of the shale may be more intensley drilled than the southern gas portion.

Many Potential Well Locations

EOG has estimated that there are 2,840 potential well locations in the 505,000 it holds in the oil window of the Eagle Ford shale.  They estimate that 75% of the acreage is drillable. They are basing all estimates of production on well spacing of 125 – 140 acres per well.

EOG has stated that there is “great rock quality with high consistency” in the play, with wells 30 miles apart showing similar porosity of between 4 – 11% and permeability of 40 – 1,300 Nd.

Leasing is underway in the upper counties including Frio, Atascosa, LaSalle, McMullen, Zavala, Dimmitt, Live Oak, Wilson, DeWitt, Gonzales, Karnes, Dimmit and Webb counties.

EOG has a good track record of drilling horizontal wells in the Barnett Shale and Bakken Shale. EOG investors as well as landowners who just signed leases should be pleased with this recent news about the Eagle Ford shale oil discovery.

Update: In a May 4 EOG webcast it was stated that the current drilling program in the Eagle Ford shale would be moderated until a major 3D seismic project was completed and the results analyzed. EOG has drilled their 17th Eagle Ford shale well, the Harper 4H, which is producing 602 Bbl of oil per day and 650 Mcf of gas. “Don’t expect a constant Eagle Ford news flow from EOG until late this year” it was stated in the webcast.
EOG expects to average only 6000 Barrels per day equivalent per day of oil from the Eagle Ford in 2010 with much more production coming online in 2011. This indicates that a major drilling program will ramp up in late 2010 when the most productive areas of the acreage are identified and targeted by 3D seismic surveying.

Update:

Despite persistent rumors of a 25 rig program, Oil and Gas Journal reported the following on August 9th, 2010:

(From Oil and Gas Journal)
HOUSTON, Aug. 9 – EOG Resources Inc., Houston, will ramp up its operated rig fleet to 12 at the end of 2010 and 14 in 2011 from five at present as it better understands the South Texas Eagle Ford shale from interpreting 3D seismic along the 120-mile oil trend in which it holds 505,000 net acres.

EOG management said it is still early days in the play, but the Eagle Ford reservoir seems to be working on expansion drive toward 3-4% estimated ultimate recovery. Unresolved are determining optimum spacing, locating wells, areas that will be productive from Upper and Lower Eagle Ford or just one, and other issues.

EOG plans to drill 245 gross Eagle Ford wells in 2011 compared with 111 this year. Even so, the formation will be a large contributor to oil production growth in the second half of 2010, as EOG has drilled and completed 31 wells and has 25 awaiting completion.

Recent company Eagle Ford wells had initial production rates of 1,033, 1,002, and 625 b/d of oil plus rich gas, and the first wells in Wilson County came on at 707 b/d and 836 b/d. EOG has 100% interest in the wells.

EOG raised its 2010 capital expenditure budget by $500 million. Of that, roughly $270 million is for Eagle Ford crude oil related production and midstream facilities the company had previously planned to contract to a third party. EOG laid the change to timing and cost issues.

EOG’s exploration staff is clamoring to test the Austin chalk and Buda formations on the company’s Eagle Ford acreage, said Mark Papa, chairman and chief executive officer. Papa said EOG also sees South Texas production contributions from the Frio and Vicksburg formations.

Update #2:

HOUSTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) – EOG Resources Inc (EOG.N) said on Friday it plans to sell about 180,000 acres in U.S. shale plays as part of the oil and gas company’s effort to increase funds for oil exploration.

EOG will sell 117,000 acres in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas; 51,000 acres in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania; in 15,000 acres in the Haynesville Shale, Mark Papa, the company’s CEO, told analysts on a conference call.

“We’re so long on acreage relative to what we can logically develop in a reasonable period of time,” Papa told analysts.

There is no word yet on where the acreage EOG is selling is located but statements from Papa indicate that because EOG will be “focusing more on oil production”, the acreage will not be part of what it holds in the oil window. It would be hard for me to imagine them giving up much acreage in the lucrative oil window. It could be this is dry gas acreage farther south and west.

Companies such as EOG Resources and Petrohawk Energy have decided to focus more on liquids than on natural gas. To do this will require a lot of capital and the company has realized that it is in way over its head when it comes to drilling up Eagle Ford shale acreage, which is mostly on three year lease agreements, before those leases expire.  To exploit what they have they will need large amounts of capital, something the latest Eagle Ford shale acreage sale aims to remedy.

Bookmark this page in your favorites to have access to the current price of crude oil and natural gas.
Current World Oil Use Ticker. Based On International Energy Agency model.

Current spot market price for crude oil:

Crude Oil Price History Ticker:

Current Natural Gas Price Ticker:

Natural Gas Price History Ticker:

Five Year Natural Gas Price Chart:

The size of an oil or gas play may be only a few hundred acres or as is the case with the Eagle Ford shale, Haynesville shale, Barnett shale and Marcellus shale, cover hundreds of thousands of acres over a wide region.

A shale gas play, such as the ones mentioned above, is simply a discovery of oil or gas in shale rock that is significant enough for oil and gas companies to launch a campaign of leasing and subsequent exploration. In the case of the Eagle Ford shale it is turning out to be both a shale gas play and and oil play.

What Is Shale Gas?

Shale is a sedimentary rock that is generally formed as particles of sediment settle out in calm water. Shale can be formed in shallow inland waters or deep ocean basins. Many of the shale formations in the United States, such as the Marcellus shale, were formed during the Devonian period, around 390 million years ago.

The rock found in the Eagle Ford shale, which is the focus of this blog, was formed in a marine environment during the Cretaceous period, approximately 145 to 65 million years ago. It was during the Cretaceous period, following the Jurassic period, that many of the worlds limestone formations were laid down. Cretaceous literally means “chalky”, taken from the German word for chalk,  Kreide. The Cretaceous period was a time of warm climate and high seas. During the Cretaceous period billions of tons of CO2 were “sequestered” by marine organisms and eventually returned to the earth in the form of sediments.

Shale rock is generally high in organic content. Once covered up by other sediments and buried over millions of years, heat and pressure begin to work on these sediments and oil and gas are formed. Some of the oil and gas may begin to migrate upwards, to layers of sandstone and porous limestone where it becomes trapped. These are considered conventional oil and gas reservoirs and shale is often the “source rock” or original source of the hydrocarbons. In some cases, as in the Eagle Ford shale play, a significant quantity of oil and gas remain in the shale rock. Natural gas and oil that occur in shale are called “unconventional”.  Now with new horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing methods it is possible to extract that oil and gas. “Unconventional” gas is quickly becoming the new norm.

The illustration below shows how South Texas looked during the Cretaceous. It was covered by shallow warm seas. It was during this period that the Eagle Ford shale was deposited.

Below is an illustration of what a shale formation looks like underground and how a horizontal well is drilled.

Shale gas, from rock formations such as the Marcellus shale, Haynesville shale, Barnett shale and now the Eagle Ford shale, is an important energy resource for the United States. Now thanks to these “discoveries” or moreover the advances in technology that make recovery of oil and gas from shale possible, we have over 100 years worth (and growing) of natural gas supply in North America. Hopefully our elected officials will wake up to this new reality and quit wasting our tax dollars on things like corn ethanol and “clean coal” and instead focus on converting our vehicles and power plants to use abundant natural gas.

Article by Nolan Hart

Here is a good book to get if you are considering leasing your land for oil and gas exploration. It’s not cheap but could save you thousands in the long run.

The name of the oil and gas play is frequently misspelled as “Eagleford”. The correct spelling is what is seen on this website.   The Eagle Ford shale takes it’s name from the small town of Eagle Ford Texas, where it outcrops in North Texas near Dallas.

The following map is from Ross Smith Energy Group . They do not sell maps to the public.  It appears here with their permission.   This Eagle Ford shale map shows the trend from Mexico (where it obviously continues across the border as well) to East Texas. It shows the low pressure, oily section in the northern region, the condensate section in the middle and the dry gas section at the lower half. Although it is difficult to read the gray areas are Austin Chalk producing areas. Wherever you find Austin Chalk production you are likely to find Eagle Ford oil as well.

Here is a map from EOG Resources showing the oil, gas and condensate zones of the Eagle Ford Shale as well as some initial production rates. (Note, IP, or initial production rates should not be confused with long term production rates). You can click on the map for full size.

Below is a map from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The map is a little out of date when it comes to showing well locations, since dozens of new Eagle Ford shale wells have been drilled since it was made. It does however provide a good picture of Eagle Ford shale thickness and extent.

The following Eagle Ford shale map from the Texas Railroad Commission shows counties with permitted and completed wells as of August, 1, 2011.

Below is an Eagle Ford shale map showing the depth of the top of the formation.

Below, Eagle Ford shale thickness maps from Petrohawk Energy. Thickness in feet of the Eagle Ford shale in Atascosa, Gonzales, Wilson, Karnes and DeWitt counties is shown.

The map below, from Marathon Oil, shows the Eagle Ford shale divided into four zones, dry gas, wet gas, volatile oil and black oil. While the distinctions between “black oil” “volatile oil”, condensate and “wet gas” are something even petroleum engineers can’t seem to agree on, basically “volatile oil” is lighter oil that evaporates faster than heavier crude. Lighter crude oil (higher API gravity) typically trades at premium prices since it is more easily refined into gasoline, etc. Marathon Oil purchased the acreage shown in blue from Hilcorp Resources Holdings for approximately $20,000 an acre.

The Carrizo Wilcox aquifer is an important source of water for much of the area where the Eagle Ford shale lies, and a primary source of frac water used in completing wells. Below is a map of the Carrizo water sand.

Below is a chart showing the Cretaceous geology of South Texas, including the Eagle Ford shale formation. The Pearsall shale is located deeper than the Glen Rose formation at the bottom of the chart.

Below, The first Eagle Ford shale well near Fowlerton in the old Naylor and Jones Survey.

The Naylor and Jones Unit 86, #1H is the first permitted Eagle Ford shale well within 10 miles of Fowlerton Texas..

A Brief History Of Fowlerton Texas.

At the turn of the twentieth century a couple of shrewd businessmen, the Fowler brothers, decided to form a land company and promote the dry, cactus and mesquite covered country along the Frio river in LaSalle and McMullen counties as the “Wintergarden”. They attracted well over two thousand buyers, many of whom migrated from the East Coast for the chance to own a plot of fertile farmland for a few dollars. A farm could be had for as little as twenty five dollars down and ten dollars a month. Many have called the brothers “swindlers” but some historians maintain that they did have a vision of the area as a farming utopia. The Fowler Brothers happened to tour the  country just prior to their development plans, during one of the “wet” cycles, when almost any crop could grow there.

Below is an advertisement that appeared in a 1913 edition of the “Fowlerton Reporter” for the First State Bank Of Fowlerton Texas. Like most of the buildings in the town of Fowlerton, nothing remains today.

Photo Of The First State Bank Of Fowlerton Texas

History of Fowlerton Texas And The Naylor And Jones Land Company

Two brothers with the surname of Dull, who had made their fortunes in Pittsburgh, PA, once owned the vast 400,000 acre Dull Ranch. The Dull brothers later sold 240,000 acres to B.L. Naylor and Judge A.H. Jones.  Naylor died in 1910 and Jones in 1912. Jones had contracted with the Fowler Brothers to develop 100,000 acres around what would eventually become the town of Fowlerton, Texas. Growth of the town really took off in the years between 1913-1915.

The Fowler Brothers, in conjunction with Naylor and Jones Land Company, laid out the town  they named after themselves on a grid system and over two hundred miles of roads were built. Lots were divided up, some as small as a sixteenth of an acre in the town-site,  as well as numerous farm plots of anywhere from an acre to a hundred acres or more. When someone bought a ten to 160  acre tract of farm land, they automatically were given a lot in the townsite of Fowlerton.

A cotton gin, large rail depot, hotel, two banks, department stores and schools were all built. There was even a seafood restaurant featuring fresh oysters and shrimp that were brought in on ice from the coast by rail car.  Fowlerton Texas featured several paved streets, sidewalks, fire hydrants and free flowing artesian water wells, (which unfortunately contained some salt.)  The “Artesian Route” as described on the SaU&G railroad advertisement, referred to the areas numerous flowing wells.

The San Antonio, Uvalde & Gulf Railroad Company, nicknamed the “Sausage” connected the new farming center with faraway markets for produce such as onions, cabbage, spinach and other vegetables that were grown by the farmers. The following flyer is from Fowlerton’s newspaper, the Fowlerton Reporter. You will notice many town names, such as Prince and New California that exist in no form today.

old flyer from SAU&G railroad in South Texas

At the height of Fowlerton’s heyday, somewhere between 2000 to 4000 people called the town and immediate vicinity home. Over the years a series of droughts, combined with the negative effect of watering the farms with saline artesian well water, forced almost all the farmers to leave the country. A few remained and switched to ranching but by the 1960′s the town of Fowlerton Texas was down to about two hundred residents. Now census figures show that only about a hundred hardy souls remain.

What does remain in great number are hundreds of small lots, many of which have dubious ownership. Because of the “buy ten acres, get a town lot” system, many farmers never used or even claimed ownership of their town lots from the very beginning of the subdivision, starting in the 1900′s. Over the years many of these lots were sold for back taxes or claimed under the “quit claim deed” law, that enables one to claim ownership simply by occupying the land and paying taxes. Other owners kept up their taxes, though those parcels have no  road access and have been used for generations by local ranchers as their own. Another issue is that the town was incorporated, with official roads and streets, which still  may be legally opened up and which run right through tracts of land, next to (and even through) existing houses and barns, etc. There is no city government so who get any oil and gas royalties from the land occupied by the dozens of active and abandoned streets?

All of this is an attorney or landman’s nightmare  and when it comes to tracking down the owners of these lots it won’t be easy especially since the records are many, are kept in two different county courthouses (LaSalle County and McMullen County). For this reason the township of Fowlerton, as well as a similar Wintergarden community, Los Angeles, will likely be the last acreage to be leased by major oil companies.

Below is a recent photo of Fowlerton as it appears today.  Of all the buildings that were built in the once prosperous town only a handful of non-residences remain standing. The old Red Store, (rear left), which was once owned by Mr. O.W. Herman and sons, now serves as the post office.  (Ironically and sadly,  as the biggest economic boom in Fowlerton’s history arrives, the government is considering closing down the post office there.) The Baptist church is located two blocks off of highway 97 and the old Catholic church, now boarded up, sits surround by cactus and mesquite just off of Texas street.

Fowlerton Texas U.S. Post Office

One thing is for certain, and that is the little community is about to experience the biggest “land rush” since the days of the Fowler Brothers. Most of the interest will be in mineral rights of property outside of the town.  The vast number of owners of the town site lots may make drilling in the Fowlerton town site prohibitive since it may be difficult to get all of the thousands of owners  to lease enough land for wells to be drilled.  Whether this oil boom will lead to any real population growth for Fowlerton remains to be seen.  For those with fond memories of  towns like Fowlerton and Los Angeles Texas, there is hope that these historic towns may be revived from “ghost town” status.

Update: 09/02/2011

Reliable sources have indicated  that EOG Resources has assembled a team at the Cotulla, TX office to begin tracking down the owners of mineral rights in the old Fowlerton Texas townsite. Initially the company, which has leased up most of the land around the 2000 acre townsite, had decided to avoid the area, due to the difficulties involved.  As production figures began to come in from new wells on either side of Fowlerton over the past few weeks, things apparently changed. The fact that EOG Resources already has contact information for many of the townsite lot mineral rights owners, (due to the fact that they have already leased many of the associated 10 acre+ parcels in the old Fowler Brothers development), is a plus.  Still, the process of tracking down all of the remaining owners may take months, but may be worthwhile for EOG in the long run. Fowlerton is apparently is situated at a “sweet spot” in the Eagle Ford shale play, which could potentially contain millions of dollars worth of oil and natural gas.  Currently EOG Resources is in the process of either drilling or planning to drill several new wells in the River Lowe Ranch lease, located about 2.6 miles northeast of  Fowlerton, and  in the Naylor and Jones Unit 43, about 3 miles to the southeast of town. See map below:

Article by Nolan Hart.