Queen City Sand
The Queen City Sand play is seeing a renaissance in some areas of the Gulf Coast of Texas. The trend has long been a prolific oil and gas production fairway. The normal portion of the trend is characterized by sand rich deltaic deposits in south Texas. Recently, a new play has developed in the shale prone, down-dip areas of the Gulf Coast.
The newer tite gas play has been dominated by one player – Mestena at Mestena Grande field. Their story serves as a guide to success, and it is surprising that more companies are not attempting to emulate their success. Early players in the Gulf Coast did not focus on tite sands. This is because so many sands have bottom-water drives, and it is easy to frac into the water “leg” below the gas “cap.” This problem can be managed with good completion practices.
The play has a positive aspect by having many old well bores that are available to capture and work over. These re-completions are less expensive than new grass-roots drilling and provide a nice canvas to paint a profitable picture.