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Water or oil well site

4,264 Views | 50 Replies | Last: 1 hr ago by TexasAggie_02
Spore Ag
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7:01p, 2/17/25
Trying to sell a piece of land but have had several rejections due to an old well site. Have had RR commission out and have done quite a bit of research with no avail. Well guy says it is a water well. Possibly with what looks like a house water faucet valve but with a 10 inch casing? An old timer says he remembers a wooden derrick there but not so sure about that. However who knows what was done there 75 years ago.
What can we do?
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Milwaukees Best Light
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7:08p, 2/17/25
AG
Same with any mystery hole in the ground. You're going to have to stick your pecker in there and find out.
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BurnetAggie99
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7:14p, 2/17/25
Hawk Dunlap with Well Control Management
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S.A. Aggie
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7:16p, 2/17/25
AG
Unexploded WWll bomb. Shoot it!
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redaszag99
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7:21p, 2/17/25
That is coupling between two threaded pieces of pipe.

I think oilfield pipe is usually male threaded on one end with an integral female threaded on the other end. It also doesn't have the usual thickness of oilfield pipe.
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AggieT
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7:23p, 2/17/25
AG
Have you opened the valve?
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Caliber
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7:23p, 2/17/25
AG
Open the valve on top and hold a lit match over it... If nothing happen, drop said lit match down hole.

If you're still around to reply, then it's probably a water well. Video it just in case.
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GAdam
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7:25p, 2/17/25
AG
Might try Banks Environmental Group. You can order historic aerials, water well reports, and records search. Might be worth a try. If you could open that valve might catch a whiff of hydrocarbons.

Just my two cents looks like a water well.
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DargelSkout
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7:34p, 2/17/25
AG
Stick another pipe over it and make it a corner post for a cross section fence. Then get this thread deleted. Boom problem solved.
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Spore Ag
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In reply to AggieT • 7:38p, 2/17/25
Valve is to rusty and afraid it will break off.
This is Fayette County.
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KaneIsAble
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8:13p, 2/17/25
AG
Just get some spare parts and Teflon tape and see what happens. Looks like a 4 x 1 swage with a tapped bull plug and a needle valve. There are plenty of options in your county to get the spare parts to be ready. $150 or less.

I will say I have never seen a tapped 1" bull plug so have a hex plug just in case.
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AggieT
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In reply to KaneIsAble • 8:31p, 2/17/25
AG
And if it's under pressure?
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Deerdude
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8:39p, 2/17/25
Yea that's an old school plugged well. We have plugs just like that in the barn. Thread another needle valve into the needle valve. Then try opening the old one. If it breaks you got the new one to close. Bonus points if you have a lit match with you.
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malenurse
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In reply to Deerdude • 9:00p, 2/17/25
AG
Deerdude said:
Yea that's an old school plugged well. We have plugs just like that in the barn. Thread another needle valve into the needle valve. Then try opening the old one. If it breaks you got the new one to close. Bonus points if you have a lit match with you.


Just smoke a cigarette while you're doing it.
The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But, it's still on the list.
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SharkinAg
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9:30p, 2/17/25
AG
This may be a dumb question, but why would this make the place harder to sell?
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OnlyForNow
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9:31p, 2/17/25
AG
1 - is it in the RRC mapper?

2 - have you had a Phase I database search done.
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Spore Ag
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In reply to SharkinAg • 9:44p, 2/17/25
With land prices flippers are afraid of delay in purchase, I guess. It would be nice to have answers. We did not have a problem buying the land and some as yourself may not care either.
My initial feeling is if it ain't right make it look bright and plant roses around it.

RRC has no record.
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fullback44
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9:46p, 2/17/25
AG
Put a few round bales around it.. if they can't see it then it's not there
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SharkinAg
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In reply to Spore Ag • 9:53p, 2/17/25
AG
Spore Ag said:
With land prices flippers are afraid of delay in purchase, I guess. It would be nice to have answers. We did not have a problem buying the land and some as yourself may not care either.
My initial feeling is if it ain't right make it look bright and plant roses around it.

RRC has no record.


Got it. Thanks.
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Ogre09
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10:29p, 2/17/25
AG
Excavate, freeze, cut, weld on a cap, bury
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Starrman
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In reply to Spore Ag • 12:25a, 2/18/25
AG
What county is the property in. Old O&G maps from the 1950's and earlier have well locations that the RRC do not have in their database.
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sunchaser
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5:27a, 2/18/25
AG
My guess is a former well that was depleted. Plugged back to fresh water sands and turned over to the land owner for a future water well. I would thread a valve into the top portion and attach a pressure valve and open the lower valve. I think if it had any type of pressure it would have surfaced.

A "prudent" operator is not going to leave a oil/gas well with a setup like that without a fail safe way to get back into the well..
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SGrem
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6:51a, 2/18/25
Google Earth time Slider. Go back to see if there is anything there.
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Mas89
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7:29a, 2/18/25
AG
Weisinger in the Conroe area would be the water well company that would inspect it to see for sure and plug if needed if it's a water well.
Plenty of old rice irrigation wells that size in our area but not sure if the Fayette County area had any previous use for large irrigation wells. An irrigation well that size would have been located conveniently on the High side of a property with easy access for flood irrigation.
Agree with sunchaser that it's likely an old oil well purposely left for the landowner to use for water one day. Even the old water wells that size that eventually had well problems are sometimes left to add a shallower and smaller pump in for livestock water.
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Spore Ag
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7:44a, 2/18/25
I think that makes sense. This is Round Top area, Fayette County where at one time there were a lot of dairy farms which can require substantial amount of water.
Just would like confirmation. Water well would be a bonus I would suspect
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AgTech88
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7:52a, 2/18/25
AG
The right answer is dig around it and hot tap it to determine if it's got any pressure or flammable vapors in it. Assuming no pressure or vapors you can then start opening the old valves or cut it off. See what's inside and further Try to figure out what it is. We do 50 or 60 of these a year and see all manner of caps and valves and pipes - you absolutely can't just go by what you see on top. A lot of the ones we mess with look like water wells and they are old oil wells. You even have to be careful with Wells that are listed as plugged and abandoned and railroad commission files. You never know how good the P&A job was.

Once it's determined, it's an oil well and appears to be properly plugged & abandoned, We did dig down 6 to 8 feet and cut it and cap it.
AgTech88
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Ag_07
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In reply to Spore Ag • 8:22a, 2/18/25
AG
RRC GIS Viewer

Zoom in to the property and see if anything shows up on the RRC database.

Groundwater Data Viewer

Do they same for the water well database.
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CS78
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In reply to AgTech88 • 8:35a, 2/18/25
So I'll ask for the OP, is this something you can help with. Or do you know someone who can?

Seems a company could make good money dealing with old oilfield crap for landowners.
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O.G.
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In reply to SharkinAg • 8:44a, 2/18/25
SharkinAg said:
This may be a dumb question, but why would this make the place harder to sell?
This.

Seems like a dumb excuse not to buy property. A little research could answer the question and almost any property that you buy anymore is going to have SOME kind of mystery something on it.
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MasonB
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8:46a, 2/18/25
AG
Texas have a version of this Oklahoma program that cleans up old well sites?

https://oerb.com/land-restoration/?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACNT2xvmayFRM3NOH9Pfrmhq6SWdP&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_NC9BhCkARIsABSnSTZUBAOFlc2NCyIJOuixln-Ig7-4DnK5uPv8TZmgRc3_2bH8ZV2aWmgaAl3REALw_wcB
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OnlyForNow
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In reply to CS78 • 9:56a, 2/18/25
AG
Lots of companies plug and abandon old wells.

Some do much better jobs than others.

If you need a referral from a business sale standpoint [tens of millions] (companies that do this for very large tracts that end up being developed by master plan community types) let me know.

Saying this only because folks like Johnson Development, etc won't just trust a fly by night operation for something like this.
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Watchful Ag
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9:58a, 2/18/25
AG
Where's the property located? They have historical aerial imagery that goes back to the 1930s in certain areas. You could look up the address and visually see what was going on.
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Build It
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10:05a, 2/18/25
AG
Call Bilski water well service. They've done all our well work in Fayette County. They'll get you sorted out.

Or hire AgTech, just saw his post.
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Ag_07
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In reply to O.G. • 1:15p, 2/18/25
AG
O.G. said:
SharkinAg said:
This may be a dumb question, but why would this make the place harder to sell?
This.

Seems like a dumb excuse not to buy property. A little research could answer the question and almost any property that you buy anymore is going to have SOME kind of mystery something on it.

May not be a reason to buy or not buy but it can be used as a negotiating tool.

Potential remediation associated with an old compromised oil well would be a reason to negotiate price. You may still buy it but that doesn't mean you don't want compensation to right an issue.

Just the same as plumbing or foundation issues dictate a home's price.
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Spore Ag
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In reply to Ag_07 • 2:26p, 2/18/25
Last potential buyer wanted 100k discount which is their prerogative.
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