Large Rig on Rockefeller Refuge in Grand Chenier

It's a Chevron rig. Largest land rig in North America.

State government. I am pretty the only wrench thrown into the equation was the permitting required to allow drilling in the refuge.

My mistake. Someone in our morning meeting said it was the largest and I took their word for it.

LINK

Its one of the largest still, but I'm splitting hairs. Lol.

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I wonder about this as well. The United States has to be the biggest landowner in the country, so the chances are the government has the most natural resources and income from them. Should'nt there be enough income to make the government self sufficient?

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Standard BLM leases include royalties of 12.5%. While the federal government is making royalties on all offshore production outside of state waters (US Federal Waters) this is far from enough money to fuel the spending of the US Federal government. Most of the BLM lands are in the western US and many areas of heavy government ownership are fairly limited in oil and gas (Nevada, parts of Utah, Arizona, etc).

According to this 2011 totaled about 11 Billion in government royalty income.

2011 Royalty

need pics guys

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would they invest that kind of rig if they were not sure there was oil/gas down there?

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Chevron believes they will find the mother-load down there and they needed a rig capable of drilling 30,000 ft plus. So yes, they would pay a higher rig rate if they had to.

Oil or Natural gas?

If I were to guess - it's deep Wilcox.

The royalties go to the landowner(s) in the unitized sand. Rockefeller is either state or fed owned (the land), I'm not sure. The navigable waterways are state owned and the gulf is state out to 3 miles. If the well is drilling near the border of the refuge there could be some pvt mineral owners included in the unit.

ETA: Just looked up the rig on Rigdata - they're drilling on the NW border of the refuge.

ETA2: Found this tidbit online - I was right, deep Wilcox:

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MMR 2012 "Mind-Blowing" Plans

I've been pondering what Jim Flores may have been alluding to when he stated on PXP's Q3 conference call that MMR had "mind-blowing" plans for 2012. It should be noted that this statement was made before the latest electric logs were obtained from the Lafitte well in the Cris R sand and logs and core data from the BBE well in the Sparta zone. Thus, I surmise that the 2012 plans in question probably relate mainly to the Davy Jones strategic area. We also now know that Chevron has permitted a 29,000-foot Wilcox/Tuscaloosa test in the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge area of Cameron Parish. Rumor has it that MMR and EXXI may participate in this exploratory test. A successful test of Davy Jones #1 would obviously be significant in confirming the commercial potential of the ultra-deep GOM play, but I doubt it rises to mind-blowing status since it is the expected outcome (a lot of capital has been spent on that premise). What might qualify as mind-blowing would be a successful test of Davy Jones #1 that quickly leads to MMR bringing in a partner with deep pockets and an operating capability (Chevron?) to not only accelerate Davy Jones development but the drilling of a number of the other exploratory prospects (N. Davy Jones, John Paul Jones, England) that have been mapped in the Davy Jones strategic area and its extension onshore in South Louisiana. Stay tuned.

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Yes, of course.

Sand = sandstone, not actual loose sand.

Parker is building largest in Alaska for BP.