RRC meeting at 9:30 a.m., gauntlets have been thrown

The Railroad Commission, overseer of the Texas oil universe, will meet virtually this morning to discuss the pros and cons of prorating oil prices and restricting oil production.

According to the meeting agenda, this is in response to a verified complaint of Pioneer Natural Resources U.S.A.  Inc. and Parsley Energy Inc. to determine reasonable market demand for oil in the state of Texas.

147 comments were submitted laying out reasons for and against the pro rata. Devon Energy, who was influential in the rise of the current Fisher County oil boom, has come out against it. There is a great divide. It seems some environmentalists are misconstruing the purpose of the meeting to encourage disassembly of the oil industry altogether.

A list of comments can be found here.

The meeting can be viewed live or later here.

March 2020 drilling permits

Fisher County permits for March have been posted and can be seen by clicking on the tab above.

I don't think I have to tell you, the pickin's were slim. There are five listings, but Mason 1938 Unit 1H, near US 180 in the western part of the county, was listed twice this month (as well as back in December 2019), and ATE117, in the eastern part of the county between Rotan and Hamlin, looks like a sacrificial drill to maintain another well. So that leaves Carter, B.F. 12, out in Eskota, and Ashley 1H, out here by Hobbs.

I haven't been to see the other wells, but I can tell you Ashley is at a standstill. It was hot and heavy there at the beginning of the month, but once the pad was built, all activity ceased. This was right about when oil prices took a nosedive. There's a real pretty lease with full water pits just waiting for things to change.

Prices have come up a little bit this week, hovering right around $26 a barrel. I'm a little sad about Ashley, because I have a stake in her. It's like that time I won the lottery, but it was only $1.

Isaac Donaghey 1988-2020

- Isaac, 2006 -

When I first met Isaac, I didn't like him. It was sometime during his teenage years, and my husband at the time, Fred, and I were giving Isaac and my son, Dylan, a ride back to Rotan from the Rattlesnake Round-Up. The boys climbed into the back seat of the pick-up, and Isaac, a big ol' boy, was eating a bag of pork skins. He would eat one, burp, say he was going to be sick, then resume eating them. I didn't know what to make of him. I kept rolling my eyes at Fred, like "Can you believe this guy?"

It's funny to think now that I didn't know then how this boy was going to be a fixture in the background of my life. I'm not fooling myself into thinking I knew him in any deep way. He was my son's friend, and kids have a parallel but separate life from adults. I certainly didn't know him as those in his close circle in the Rotan contingent did, or even in the way the general community knew him. He threaded in and out of my sight, but I was always hearing about him. A little bit of Isaac went a long way, and that made him a bit of an enigma.

We all have our Isaac stories because he was a larger than life character. He wasn't shy. He wasn't demure. He was loud. Nothing was ever just Isaac did this, there was always a tale in the telling.

One of my own Isaac episodes had us in a car chase down Cleveland Street in Rotan. Some people had taken my pick-up joy riding and I was on their bumper in my other vehicle, yelling "Pull over the damned pick-up!" Unbeknownst to me, Isaac was in the back seat, and when he got out, my demeanor completely changed, from crazy-woman to mother-of-somebody, very polite all of a sudden (I was a little ashamed of my behavior, and I guess he was a little surprised). He was very respectful. I even had him drive the truck and park it at a secure location, and I gave him a ride to where he wanted to go.

I told my son about this later, how politely Isaac had spoken to me, and my son said, "That sounds like how he talks to cops." So I know he probably always put on his speaking-to-the-uncool facade with me, but I can still say I knew him. I have a lot of photos and stories to back that up.

I don't know what happened that fateful morning when he physically ceased to be, but it was too soon for such a young man to leave us. Gone but not forgotten is a trite saying, yet true in this instance. I can't help but wonder what he would have to say about all of this.

I bet it would be a hell of a story.