Matador Resources Co., Dallas, has been granted 14 drilling permits for its Stateline asset area in southern Eddy County, NM, from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The company now has 24 permits to drill oil and natural gas wells on federal leasehold acquired by Matador from the BLM in the New Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale in September 2018.
Stateline
The Stateline asset area consists of 2,800 gross and net acres and is one of the key tracts acquired by Matador in the BLM acquisition with as many as 74 additional drilling locations. The company plans to move two of its operated drilling rigs to the area to initiate a multi-year drilling program, with the two rigs anticipated to begin drilling operations in late December 2019 and January 2020, respectively. Matador currently plans to develop the acreage block drilling 2-mi laterals on the eastern side of the leasehold and 2.5-mi laterals on the western side of the leasehold. Applications to the BLM for permits to drill have been submitted.
Of the 14 permits the company received, Matador initially expects to drill nine wells from two pads on the acreage, including five wells on one pad and four wells on an adjacent pad. The five-well pad is expected to test the Avalon, Second Bone Spring, Wolfcamp A-XY, Wolfcamp A-Lower, and Wolfcamp B formations, while the second pad is expected to test these same intervals except for the Avalon formation. Both initial drilling pads will be on the eastern side of the Stateline asset area. These nine wells are expected to be completed and turned to sales late in third-quarter 2020 in conjunction with the expected completion of the expansion of a cryogenic natural gas processing plant in Eddy County, NM, by San Mateo Midstream, the company’s 51%-owned midstream joint venture.
Rodney Robinson
Additionally, as reported by the company Sept. 23, Matador obtained six initial drilling permits from the BLM on its 1,200 net acre Rodney Robinson tract in western Antelope Ridge in this year’s third quarter. Since then, the company received four additional permits on the Rodney Robinson acreage in December. Drilling and completion operations are in progress on the tract, and Matador anticipates drilling six initial wells from two separate three-well pads. These six wells, which are all permitted as 2-mi laterals, are scheduled to be completed and turned to sales late in first-quarter 2020. Matador has submitted 29 applications to the BLM for permits to drill wells on the tract, all of which are 2-mi laterals. Ten of these permits, including those permits on the six wells currently in progress, have already been received, and the remainder are in various stages of review with the BLM.
