Indie oil hunter strikes ‘a screamer’
In Oklahoma, a smalltime oil makes the play of his life. What do you think of Mark Herndon ’s venture?
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DiggThere seems to be a hitch here however, the land the directional drilling paying royalties was purchased from long time Stillwater homeowners and landlords unwillingly and whom did not even know anything about the upcoming wells being drilled. They were not advised of their rights to keep their mineral rights and therefore this has become a rather unfair and ill gotten deal.
Excellent article, it kept me engaged in events and technology of their effort and the industry. The article kept my full attention, and I found the oil patch industry fascinating. I worked in engineering, developing control schemes the power, chemical, and refinery industries. I think that I would have enjoyed getting involved in the oil patch world.
As a 30 year plus oil patch veteran and a Directional Driller, you guys just have no idea what it takes to bend the wellbore from vertical to 90 degrees and also change direction at the same time! But now technology can make this happen in a matter of days or even hours compared to the good ole days of a protractor and a string and a prayer. Good on you fellas and keep on drilling!
Bravo!! Good for the little guy. There needs to be more like him or at least he needs to do more of it because of his spirit and experince. Good ol’ American know how wins again.
Keep it up.
God bless ‘em. Those guys rock! American ingenuity wins the day again. Forget about bailouts of the big guys – just get out of the way of every day Americans and watch what happens.
GREAT JOB. I HOPE THE DEADBEAT LIBERALS WILL NOT TAKE HIS PROFITS AND GIVE IT TO THE NO GOOD BASTARDS WHO ARE TO LAZY TO WORK .
Gotta love the determination???????
Kudos to the “team”.
A nice story–and I appreciate a petroleum engineer’s assessment that his big strike will fuel America for maybe 30 minutes. Add to that the effects of CO2 from burning that petroleum, and the whole story speaks to me of alternative energy–particularly wind energy.
Not to take away anything from his accomplishment…I’ll tell you in a second, if I had a degree in Pet. E. an idea, and an opportunity like that–I’d take it in a heartbeat! But I don’t. Guess I’ll have to settle for some wind turbines. Nevertheless–CONGRATULATIONS on your achievement!
great article but i am confused about herndon. He seems smart yet he smokes and drinks caffeine. He will never live long enough to enjoy his work. At the seemingly indestructible age of 47 he will have a hard time making it to 52 without a heart attack.
Lol
I drink your milkshake. Thats funny.
New oil is nice but every car out there is a portable pollution machine. Lets put some money in solar and hydrogen so I can break down water with solar power and use the hydrogen to power my car. That would truly be amazing.
It’s true ingenuity at its finest. Great to see the risk and reward of the people doing this. I’m sure some will talk about the amount of money being made by the people behind the project, but I think it is great. Now think about what will happen if Obama is elected and these guys are taxed into oblivion. We need these people to have the freedom to go out and find these big paydays.
So great to see new oil in America!
God love this guy. This is the kind of guts, determination and brains that distinguishes American entreprenurialism from all else. Fact is, there’s a lot more oil out there than most people think. As an oil-patch guy myself with 30 years in the business, I am very grateful to see this story told.
Great story.
Every business professor should use this story as an example of what can be accomplished in a free market economy.
Sweet and well told
The idea of horizontal drilling is not new. In the late 1980s I made several drawings for my father, Joe Rusk of Geotech of Tulsa, proposing horizontal drilling for oil. Another geologist at the time claimed that he had already done it and we had in hand a video of drilling in the Soviet Union in which they were horizontal drilling as early as the late 1970s. Its a great concept but its been around awhile.
Mike Rusk
Tulsa, Ok
Anyone with a brain would see the heart in the story. Inspiring endeavours and new ways of reaching reserves give rise to the next level of solutions. So I say well done and hooray. Go America you good thing!!
Yes, what America does best, indeed! Find more ways to keep polluting as fast as possible, and pat ourselves on the back for doing so. Something to really be proud of …
Our country has turned into a Simpsons episode.
Excellent article! I’ve worked a lifetime in the oil and gas industry, and while the author DID mis-apply some of the terminology and jargot, he did a superb job of reporting on the thrill of the search…
Focusing on supply is fine and certainly part of the answer. Herndon rightly pointed out just the demand growth alone will gobble this strike up in a half hour. If we hit oil off the coast of alaska in a major oil strike, as is possible, that would last three months. How about stories that redirect our demand toward alternatives.
A truly inspiring story to help put America back on track as first in the world is GM CHEVY VOLT story. Or the Tesla Roadster. When America wins, we win.
This is great! 1.5 more hours of oil!!! Proves all that liberal commie B.S. that “oil is limited” is just that – BS !! I bet they even find some safe plutonium down there.
Long live G.W. Bush and Reganomics!
Screw those with poor stupid slobs with less than $7M and fewer than 7 houses!!!
This is a very interesting story. It appears that this oil is a result of all the sorry OSU football teams that died on the field and decomposed over the years. Leave it to a Sooner to figure this out. Perhaps they should drill under other stadiums that have fielded sorry teams for years.
Well Done All
Let this be a lesson to all of America, if we supported all the different types of energy development then we not BIG OIL would win vast profits!
I say develop all oil leases or lose them, (so folks that want to develop them can); remove BIG OIL’s strangle hold on the USA.
I know the area well. I’m happy for all you guys. Just to think I sat on all that oil.
It may be a small strike, but it didn’t take ten years to explore and exploit. So more for all the B.S. coming from the environmentalists and liberals. Drill now in a thousand other places in the U.S. and the Nations benefits and reduces the impact of foreign petroleum sources.
The media always shows a drum filling line with a viscous stain running down the side when the coverage is about crude oil. I think this feeds the misconception that industry can manage current demand. If pictures were taken of tanker transfers, crude oil storage tanks, and refinery finished product terminals and pipelines in mass, then maybe the general population would begin to see just how much juice we waste.
A little old lady, born under the Light of the Flares of Turner Valley and watched Leduc #1 blow in, I am fascinated that “wildcatting” still thrives. Kudos! I have watched this “style” since I saw a rig on top of a mountain, and learned they were taking the “baby steps” and the excitement was tangible in the air. Thank you for the inside look! I have a daughter, field clerk with siesmograph and her significant other a crew chief, so I have minimal knowledge Of Bakken Basin and Williston as well.
“Peek oil, carbon footprint, ect are BS” Well put rp! And don’t forget dinosaurs are BS(large bones were planted by Satan to confuse us) and the Apollo moonwalks were BS, and for that matter all other science that interferes with our nationalistic/religious fantasies is BS too.
Nice deal to be in on! Congratulations!!
This story is about Americans doing what America does best. Innovate, grab the bull and take the ride.
NOTHING stands in the way of Americans who are willing to risk it all for the big payoff.
A previous comment said to make a movie about this. Damn right!
Make a movie out of this story. In a time when hope is needed here is a story to celebrate.
Great story, real American innovation and some outside the box thinking. Now if we could just get the government on board with inventors of renewable energy. Great work.
I appreciate this man’s touch of reality–he’s found about an hour and half’s worth of oil. Not that it shouldn’t be found and utilized, but we’ve got start investing in other industry that stretches that oil out to say, 5 hours of consumption. Anyone who thinks production is the only answer is missing the iceberg that sank the Titanic…
This is the proof, that given the freedom from government regulation and intervention to pursue ideas and hunches, the American Entrepreneur can accomplish anything! This is what our country was founded on. We need to return to the free market capitalism society we once were. That is the only way American’s and America can survive in the long run.
I am an avid environmentalist who also supports the domestic oil and gas exploration business. This article gave a concise look into the planning, expertise, and sometimes luck that accompanies successful independent oil and gas drilling. I was also intrigued because Stillwater, OK is my hometown and Oklahoma State is my alma mater. The new technology that allowed Herndon to drill horizontally and find this pocket is amazing!
To Chris: An oil reservoir is very much like your car battery, which will produce 100 amps to start, but 10 amps over the long haul. A well like this should produce in the hundreds of barrels a day for maybe ten years.
Great story, nice coverage. Glad to here some positives in our existing times. Mountain Dew owe’s this guy for the free ad’s Good luck to them all !!
And nobody in the entire article uttered the phrase (and let me be the first here) “I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE”…
Only in America baby!!!! Only in America
So an unusually productive well only gives us an hour and a half? Seems to me that what he’s saying is that we need to cut our consumption so that these finds last more than an hour and a half.
Good Glory. Straight out of
Upton Sinclair’s “Oil.”
Oil is out there. Let us go get it.
All comments about Peek oil, carbon footprint, ect are BS.
GO GET IT!
Terrific..we need more of this.
GREAT! Thanks. Nice to have a little excitement in your magz where real folks that get real dirty, make real serious money. Instead of some wacky techi or worse yet, a Wall Street greed-monger.
This great country is FULL of such stories. Get off your duffs go find them & get dirty! It’ll do YOU good in ways you can’t imagine.
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Mark Herndon is exceptional at what he does! Evaluating risk then mitigation of the risk for profit! As a hotshot precision skydiver in the mid/late 80s, with a depressed oil economy, Mark Set his goal; to use his infinite precision energy with his exceptional team skills along wih educational skills and risk management/mitigation training (BASE) coupled with formal training to support his love of Geology. Mark is an asset! period. thats all, period.
Its ironic that a huge portion of the group/people he grouped with are financially “fit”.
Mark, why are you always taking “things” two to three levels beyond the norm?
BSBD
Matt Mais