Official report to the House of Representatives of the 58th Legislature of Texas Page: 22 of 94
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leases have gone to water the advantage of recovering the value of all the oil under
their lease without the expense of lifting or producing that oil. ) Thus, the Brett
Lease curved out at 12,000 barrels and was sold on the open market for approximately
$30,000.
In October, 1960 Logan was told by L. D. Murphy to test for curve-out wells
#20 and #43 on the Starnes Lease. He went to the lease and there met E. W. (Jelly)
Scates. He put the wells on test and when he returned both had run about 11 barrels.
He wasn't satisfied with that
0 . because I checked the well and it was making clear salt
water. There was truck tracks backed up to the test tanks
like there had been a tank truck in there and dumped some
oil into these test tanks, so I went back to the Kilgore office
and told Mr. Murphy and he said "Well, cancel the test, " and
I did. Murphy said we would start again next week, but when
next week came Logan was not put on the test.
The next test was run by Nelson Decker on Wells 20 and 43 and they tested
out at 11 barrels. Based on Decker's test, the two wells were given a total potential
of 9,104 barrels by L. D. Murphy. Sun Oil Company then bought those curve-outs
from E. W. (Jelly) Scates and the other lease owners for approximately $25,000.
Shortly after this, both Logan and Barkman were driving through the field and
noticed the Starnes #20 producing. This is illegal because once a well is curved
out, it can't be started back up without consent of the RRC. He reported this to
L. D. Murphy who said, "No, you must be mistaken." About 2 or 3 days later he
asked Murphy what was the story on that curved-out well being pumped.
Murphy said:
Well, we had our numbers wrong. That wasn't the right
number of the well. You were mistaken.
Q. Do you know whether or not you were mistaken in your
observation?
A. No, I can take you right to the well right now. He told
me that we had our numbers mixed on our wells, that
that wasn't the No. 20 Well, that that was the No. 2
Well.
Q. What did you do thereafter?
A. That is all that was done about it.
Next to testify were some of the operators.
Billy Bridewell of Tyler declined to answer on the ground of self incrimination;
whether he had deviated wells on the Woodburn or Key Leases; whether he had deviated
and junked wells on the Snyder, Stringfellow and Mullin Leases; whether he
had filed false reports with the RRC and whether he had settled his civil liabilitieson the Key Lease for $200,000.
-21
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Texas Legislature. House of Representatives. General Investigating Committee. Official report to the House of Representatives of the 58th Legislature of Texas, book, 1963; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5869/m1/22/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .