TABLE III.-State of Texas summary of casinghead gas conservation projects as of Apr. 10, 1947

EXTRACTION AND COMPRESSION PLANTS

1 Assuming that in cases where both sales and injection are planned, one-half of the gas will be injected, TABLE IV.-State of Texas utilization of casinghead gas

TABLE V.-State of Texas utilization of all casinghead gas produced

TABLE VI.-State of Texas comparison of percent casinghead gas utilized during 1939 and 1946

TABLE VII.-State of Texas gasoline and repressuring plants in operation since 1939 showing additional casinghead gas utilized

RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS

OIL AND GAS DIVISION

OIL AND GAS DOCKET NO. 129

No. 4-10,351

In re Conservation and Prevention of Waste of Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas in the Seeligson Field, Jim Wells and Kleberg Counties, Texas.

AUSTIN, TEX., March 17, 1947. SPECIAL ORDER RESTRICTING THE PRODUCTION OF GAS FROM OIL AND GAS WELLS COMPLETED IN THE VARIOUS RESERVOIRS UNDERLYING THE SEELIGSON FIELD, JIM WELLS AND KLEBERG COUNTIES, TEXAS

Whereas, the Railroad Commission of Texas has heretofore and from time to time held hearings pertaining to the matter of the conservation and prevention of waste of crude petroleum and natural gas with respect to the various oil- and gas-producing reservoirs underlying the geographical extent of the Seeligson Field located in Jim Wells and Kleberg Counties, Tex.; such hearings on this subject including a hearing that was held in Corpus Christi, Tex., under date of February 6, 1946; and

Whereas the aforementioned hearing that was held in Corpus Christi, Tex., on February 6, 1946, was called by the Commission for the general purpose of inquiring into the flare gas situation in Commission Districts Nos. 1, 2, and 4 and for the purpose of enabling the Commission to make a determination as to the steps necessary to be taken to eliminate the waste occasioned by the flaring of casinghead gas where shown that the waste thus occasioned could be eliminated without resulting in the confiscation of property; and

Whereas the commission, having been shown by virtue of the testimony submitted at said hearing of February 6, 1946, that more than 30,000,000 cubic feet of casinghead gas daily was then being flared in the Seeligson Field and that such flared gas was not being processed to obtain the recovery that could be had therefrom; and it appearing to the Commission that this condition warranted a further study, the commission did thereafter and on its own motion schedule a hearing for March 20, 1946, and did in connection therewith direct the operators in the Seeligson Field to show cause why the field should not be closed in to conserve this natural resource until such time as an additional lawful use or uses might be made available for it; and

Whereas at the aforesaid hearing of March 20, 1946, evidence was presented to the Commission to the effect that discussions had theretofore been had among operators in the field looking to the formulation of plans for the erection of a gas processing plant to handle the casinghead gas produced in the field; that there are many subsurface reservoirs therein from which oil and gas production is had; that at that time it was conceded by said operators that the extent of development in the field and the data obtained therefrom was sufficient to warrant the erection of a gas processing plant; that, however, the extent of some of these various reservoirs was not then known and that because of this fact there was an inadequacy of information whereby it might be determined what the size of the plant would have to be to handle the volume of gas that might ultimately be produced in the field, the cost of erection of such a plant, and the cost of laying lines to gather such gas; that this inadequacy of reservoir information also precluded plans being worked out as between the interests affected as to the equities of the various interests in the separate reservoirs and their pro rata costs in conjunction with the building of a gas processing plant in the field; that negotiations were also in progress at that time for a market for the residue gas remaining after the contemplated processing of the wet gas; that operators in the field, in general, were fully cognizant of the fact that the flaring of casinghead gas of the constituency and in the volume then being flared in the field constituted a wasteful practice in connection with the use of an irreplaceable natural resource in that such gas could be economically processed and the residue either used for increasing the ultimate recovery of hydrocarbon material from subsurface reservoirs, or diverted to other lawful purposes; and

Whereas the evidence submitted at said hearing of March 20, 1946, further showed that the operators there represented were generally of the opinion that there had been sufficient development in the field as early as January, 1944, as to