Wildhorse is gonna be fracing several oil wells by family land north of Bryan/College Station and is needing 360,000 bbls estimated of water. If family is wanting to sell water to them out of irrigation wells how is this done how is the price determined?

I'd consult an attorney to protect yourself from the oil company running your wells dry.

I did this about 10 years ago and will echo have an attorney take a look.

I had a stipulation that they contact me 30 minutes before they came onto my property because the agreed upon access ran right beside the house and my wife worked from home. The first time they came by the house without calling I was cordial because I assumed the guys never got the message. The second time I was not so nice and greeted them with a 1911. A phone call from my attorney letting them know I was not happy got their rep to my house in less than an hour. My attorney has a schedule of fines for these kinds of things ($2,500.00 per instance) and their rep wrote me a check on the spot so they could continue work.

They will try any means to make it easier on themselves regardless of the terms. They paid me very well and we had a maximum they could pull from the well. We stipulated that they must install a flow meter on the well and I would record the reading each day when I got home from work.

As far as determining a value, find a station that sells water and work from that number keeping in mind that they came to you for convenience and lower cost of not having to haul water to their site via truck. I think we landed on a 15% premium from the water station if I remember correctly.

It must have been a fairly good deal for them as we executed the same contract 3 times. They essentially bought me a brand new Chevrolet 3/4 ton pickup that year.

Not in the works yet. Trying to get information on whether it is worth pursuing and could be profitable selling the water. But yes, would be a concern if the wells would get ruined or need to be worked over afterwards and how that could be incorporated in a contract.

I sell water to companies in west Texas. Around here the price is usually between .40 and .60 cents a barrel.
You may need to talk to some neighbors to find the going price.. As far as getting the water to them that's simple. They can put a meter right by the wellhead. Then they attach a poly line and take it where it needs to go. I have had good luck and made some pretty good money. Hope that helps

cottonpicker is correct. We pay $.50/bbl in West Texas when we buy direct from the landowner. We've even drilled wells for landowners, but they get a reduced price.

In my scenario, they pulled my pump, and installed their own, then set a new pump as part of our agreement. I was there when they installed the new pump and the down hole pipe.

The flow meter is really the only way to keep them honest. I really wish I was in my current employer when this happened. I could turn the well off from my phone when they hit the max and pull keep complete records, but it is what it is.

Overall, I'd say you should pursue it and just make sure your deal takes care of yourself. Water is a hot commodity for frac jobs these days so it could prove fairly lucrative.

Thanks for the input gentlemen. Will definitely encourage the family to pursue an agreement and make sure they have a contract drawn up to address use of the wells/problems that could occur.

Just know the environmental side of the oil business, jtp is dead on. Get a knowledgeable attorney and get an established agreement with potential penalties. It is very likely there are many crews and subcontractors that will roll through there. They WILL change and not know what the agreement is. It might be easy and/or it very likely might get contentious. Protect your rights as you will likely be dealing with a lot of different people through the process.

They want your water because it is convenient. Nothing wrong with that, just make sure you are covered.

Also, if you do it, tell them you want water quality samples before they start if they don't offer it so you have a baseline to see if the well is affected. If there are problems later, you will know what you started with. Make sure that is in the agreement.

When I worked in south Texas it was 50 cents a barrel. I was around Gonzales so not sure what the rates are around BCS. would assume the same based on water availability

OP, I handle these contracts for my company (lawyer). I can give you a hand with the contract if you like.

Where are you located? Or is this something that can be discussed/executed via phone/email

Joe if I can do mortgages by phone and email you can knock down a contract. Go for experience over location in today's world of technology.

In Houston, but this can be done over the phone/e-mail. You can shoot me a note, user name at the gmail

Check to see if your county has a underground water control board. My county does have one. There are meters on our irrigation wells. My family has to report how many gallons are going to be used during the year.

I believe that this fellow is an O&G lawyer in BCS

http://www.sbmoonlaw.com/

Post on here often by the name of Queso

Quick question, do you know who the operating company is for these wells?

No flow meters on irrigation wells and amount of water pumped does not have to be reported.

Wildhorse resources is the operating company. Not sure who they will use as the actual frac company.

Thank you for sharing that.
Merry Christmas.

O yeah? So why did you need to know?

I work for a service company that provides natural gas measurement, automation, and fabrication work/products.
We carry a line of frac plugs, so I talk to a lot of Operating companies about them.

My family that farms cotton in the Permian Basin, specifically Glasscock County, said that they would have to be able to grow 50 bale cotton to justify not selling water.

Lawyer up and sell it to them.