WorldWide Drilling Resource

37 FEBRUARY 2022 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Star Wars in Texas: The Rise of SpaceX Compiled by the Editorial Staff of WorldWide Drilling Resource®® It’s no secret Elon Musk recently moved to Texas, where he launches some of his rockets and is building a battery factory. SpaceX has been using its Boca Chica launch facility to test prototypes of its Starship vehicle, a novel spacecraft the company hopes will one day ferry passengers and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars. Starship will be propelled by SpaceX’s Raptor rockets, which are fueled by methane, a natural gas. But a recent surprise was the billionaire’s intent to drill a well for natural gas close to the company’s Boca Chica launchpad. Almost immediately, this embroiled SpaceX in a legal battle over the right to drill for natural gas in reserves close to the company’s launch facility. Earlier this year, details of behind-the-scenes negotiations and plans for SpaceX to acquire a natural gas well were revealed during a land dispute hearing at the Texas agency regulating drilling. SpaceX subsidiary Lone Star Mineral Development, formed in June 2020, bought the 806-acre La Pita oil lease from Houston-based Sanchez Energy, later renamed Mesquite Energy Inc. after exiting bankruptcy. Within months, the drilling plans were called into question amid a dispute with Dallas Petroleum Group, which claimed ownership of part of the land and some inactive wells sitting on the property. In August 2020, Dallas Petroleum took the dispute to the Texas Railroad Commission. Two months later, it sued three companies - Sanchez Midstream Partners LP, Sanchez Midstream Partners GP LLC, and Sanchez Oil & Gas Corp. - in Brownsville, Texas, state court. As a result, SpaceX’s land-acquisition arm Dogleg Park LLC intervened in November, filing the claim Dallas Petroleum locked SpaceX out of the property and asserted ownership claims for the “sole purpose of extorting money from SpaceX.” Dallas Petroleum Group denied the allegations and maintained its ownership of the 24 acres and the wells, saying it had plans for them. In January 2021, contractors for Lone Star appeared at an administrative law hearing at the Texas Railroad Commission to discuss an ongoing dispute between Dallas Petroleum Group and Lone Star Mineral Development, and other parties. At the hearing, Tim George, an attorney representing Lone Star, said SpaceX planned to use the methane it extracted from the ground “in connection with their rocket facility operations.” Kerry Pollard, a consultant and president of Pollard Petroleum Consulting which is working with Lone Star said, “They want to put these wells back in service and use the, basically, methane they were producing as fuel for the rockets.” At the same hearing, Dallas Petroleum CEO Matt Williams showed aerial photos of company equipment near the wells which had been disconnected, while drilling and hydraulic fracturing gear it didn’t own had been moved onto the property. He added his company was also given a trespass warning. According to Williams, “Our signs are all over these tanks and the well head. Any operation that went on there, we were very much liable for any problems that could have happened.” Railroad Commission Administrative Law Judge Jennifer Cook will likely take months to propose a decision, which will later be voted on by the agency’s three commissioners in a public hearing. Cook is expected to scrutinize Dallas Petroleum’s claims against property and tax records, which list Sanchez as owner of the disputed land. The area around the SpaceX facility has seen limited gas and oil development, and according to Railroad Commission records, there are almost a dozen nearby wells classified as either abandoned or dry holes. SpaceX will need to determine if enough natural gas can be produced, so a feasibility analysis will be completed to determine the viability of the La Pita wells. Meanwhile, SpaceX is ramping up production and testing of the Starship rocket. Last December, SpaceX completed its first launch of Starship SN8, and SN9 is now on the pad undergoing testing. Other models are also in production at the Boca Chica build facility. Musk plans to donate $100 million toward a prize for the best carbon-capture technology. His past comments suggested he wants to use the technology to produce synthetic carbon-neutral rocket fuel. Until then, he must depend on fossil fuels to power SpaceX rockets. Photo courtesy of SpaceX-Imagery/Pixabay. G&O For more information call: (270) 786-3010 or visit us online: www.geothermalsupply.com Alll New! e Atlantis-Pro VVaauulltt • Traffic-Rated Capable • Simple installation • Trouble-free operation Time for a Little Fun! January Puzzle Solution: THREADBARE BAREFOOT FOOTBALL BALLROOM ROOMMATE Win a prize! Send completed puzzle to: WWDR PO Box 660 Bonifay, FL 32425 fax: 850-547-0329 or e-mail: michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com Insert the missing vowels in the following words: L _ NT _ L T _ M _ T _ P _ T _ T _ _XT_ _ L T _ RK _ Y Now, what are they? ________

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