Mustang Oilfield Injection Well Fight Heads to Trial in Late February

A trial date has been set for late February in the fight by Mustang residents against the efforts of Dallas-based Mid-Con Energy to create 15 injection wells in a waterflood project to recover oil from an old oilfield site near the city.

Residents are protesting and the result was a decision in December for the case to go to trial Feb. 24, 25 and 26 before an Administrative Law Judge at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. The judge has yet to be named because dockets for that period won’t be determined until Jan. 15. More than one judge could actually be put on the trial docket for the case. The docket will cover the period of Jan. 18 through Feb. 26.

Mid-Con, a firm with offices in Tulsa filed a request for a permit in October to put 15 injection wells in the oilfield next to the South Canadian River. Nearly 1,000 Mustang residents received a notification of the request. Mid-Con held an informational meeting in late November to explain the project to concerned residents.

The project will focus on what is known as the “Mustang Bois d’Arc”, a play that still contains a large amount of oil.

Larry Morphew with Mid-Con told the residents at the informational meeting that an estimated 40 million barrels of oil remain in the play. He indicated only about 17 percent of the oil has been produced by existing wells.

Mid-Con, a company that likes to refer to itself as “The Waterflood Guys” intends to create the injection wells to flood the subsurface and force the oil pools to flow to producing wells. Mustang residents fear the wells will create problems with their water wells.