A question from twitter

I was asked a question on twitter today, and as my answer did not lend itself to 140 characters, I thought I'd use a blog post to answer it.  By the way, if you ever have a question about anything remotely related to the exploration of the Cline formation, I'll always oblige you with my best answer.  You can use whatever medium you like to reach me.  Here's three easy ones: 1) twitter (@MeMattZ), 2) the comments section below any blog post, or my email address is Matt@ClineShaleSite.com

Anyway, here's the question:

Do you think Devon Energy is using the term Wolfcamp to refer to the Cline?

In short, no I don't.  I can see how one could think this, because Devon is linked to the Cline by many media sources, they have a joint venture with Sumitomo to target the Cline, and yet Devon's investor presentations only mention the Wolfcamp formation.  But it's incomprehensible to me that Devon or any other "insiders" could be confusing these two terms.  These two terms represent two different formations, and from what I've seen, Devon Energy and other E&Ps have been careful to distinguish between the two.  The Wolfcamp formation sits above the Cline formation as illustrated by this graphic.

However, if this question had been asked two years ago, my answer would be different.  In 2011 the formation now known as the Cline was often referred to as the "Lower Wolfcamp" or the "Wolfcamp D-bench."  But since about April of 2012, I think people, including Devon, have been careful to refer to it as the "Cline shale" or the "Cline formation."

Now a follow-up question to this would be:

Why isn't Devon talking about their exploration of the Cline formation in their investor relations material?

The answer to this question lies in my most recent article for clineshalesite.com.  Here's a link to it: http://clineshalesite.com/news/devons-focus-cline-shale-yet/

Thanks for the question!

(Special thanks to Laredo Petroleum for the graphic.)



Update: I was reading the transcript of Laredo Petroleum's 3Q results today and noticed this quote from CEO, Randy Foutch.  He says:

"Let's -- first off, the Cline is not part of the Wolfcamp, in our view. It's separated from the Wolfcamp by a 300 or 400-foot thick shale..."