Plans under way to drill for oil near Slocomb

SLOCOMB — One woman who owns land in the southern part of Geneva County said Tuesday she would buy new carpet if they struck oil on her property.

A man who lives nearby said he would buy a new tractor.

They laugh, and people may laugh at them. But who knows?

Oil people are apparently willing to gamble a lot of money that, somewhere beneath the rich soil that produces what some people believe are the finest-tasting tomatoes in the world, there is a vast lake of oil just waiting to be tapped. They are apparently serious enough to commit to drilling at least two wells within the next 30-45 days.

“Oh man, it’s exciting,” said Geneva County resident Harry Reeder, one of more than 200 residents who have leased mineral rights on their land for the possibility of striking it rich.

Reeder said it is OK to get excited, but he won’t believe oil exists on his land until he sees it spewing from the ground.

But it’s fun to dream.

Tuesday, a Texas man addressed the media at Friend Bank in Slocomb and said the company he represents is confident oil exists in large quantities in southern and eastern Geneva County.

“We wouldn’t do this if we were not extremely optimistic,” said Michael Cies, who lives in Round Top, Texas., but said he represents BHM Minerals, a partnership based in Brewton.

But oil men have been extremely optimistic before. Several wells have been drilled on at least two separate occasions previously, the last time in the early 1980s. No oil was found.

But Cies said geologists, geophysicists, drilling contractors and others have been looking at the land for several months and performing tests that indicate the presence of oil. Cies did not say exactly why he believed oil exists there, citing “proprietary information.”

“We believe that when they drilled here before, they were correct in thinking oil was here, but did not dig deep enough or did not dig correctly,” he said.

Cies said the first two wells would be shallow wells, about a mile deep. Depending on indications from those two wells, deeper wells could be drilled, as deep as 2 or 3 miles. He said it would cost about $500,000 to drill the first well.

First, Cies will need to file appropriate paperwork with the Alabama Oil and Gas Board, then drilling could commence in around a month.

Cies said despite the obvious financial windfall striking oil would produce, there would be “significant infrastructure” around the drilling operations, including warehouses, pipe yards and other developments. And, Cies said oil may extend to other areas outside Geneva County, but declined to elaborate.