The Catch - 22

To be fair, Exxon has made an effort to address my concerns. For instance, XOM requested all my GPS photos (of which there were about 7000) and they have crews out picking up, fencing off, decommissioning every single item in the photographs. Everything (except for the Kelsey Compressor Station, Caliche pit and the SWD well) featured in my youtube movies is GONE.  Exxon has had three plugging rigs working non stop and have plugged about 95 wells that have not produced in decades. It's a big step. And, it's not just on the McGill Ranch - they are doing the same thing for all of the leases around South Texas. Pulling flow lines, marking gas lift, taking down tank batteries. Exxon replaced the head of the the Gulf Coast on-shore operations and they streamlined their process to repair issues once they are reported. Seriously, this is really streamlined compared to the old protocol. It was issued in the summer of 2011:

CLICK TO VIEW

(ahh, flow charts, the ultimate in corporate procrastination)

Serious weaknesses still exist -

1. It only kicks in after a notification of a problem is made - and few local supervisors are going to report problems because.... repairs cost money and money spent is money that the supervisor doesn't get in his annual bonus.

2. The process begins only after a work order is generated (i.e. approved by someone.) The process to notify and then get approval is still the same. (i.e. - a black hole of bureaucracy)

***It was only this year that ExxonMobil authorized the ability to email the notifications to start the process. Prior to this update, field workers were only allowed to fax the notifications of problems. However, the Kelsey office fax machine broke in 2001. No one could get a new fax until the issue was reported (via fax machine which was non-functioning). So, the breakdown of the fax machine was effectively the end of any maintenance or repair in the Kelsey field. Theoretically, under the new policy, someone at the Kelsey office could email a request for repair of the fax machine, however, practically speaking, this is difficult if not impossible, because the Kelsey office does not have internet service.

But.... the El Paso E&P wells have gone from shiny and new to just rusty crap in the space of a year. El Paso has pretty much bailed and the only expenditure allowed are soap sticks. That JV is going to be the next heap. EP used the wrong kind of couplings on the buried salt water disposal polyline. They used the ones for fresh water polyline. The heat and the hydrocarbons melt the couplings. It's just constant leaks with that. All along the McGill to the Villarreal. The couplings designed for natural gas are much more expensive. So, they used the polyline for natural gas and the couplings for fresh water. In some places, they don't use couplings, they just use the melted glue stuff.