Gotham Petroleum goes Bat Shit Crazy

GOTHAM CITY, New York – Gotham Petroleum Corp. announced in a press release today that the company has successfully used bat guano as lost circulation material (LCM) in its drilling operation at the Flying Fox Field near Austin, Texas.

Historically, the field has been nearly impossible to drill due to two severely underpressured massive sands just above the pay zone that drank every kind of mud and LCM available.

Reaching the pay zone required setting two additional strings of pipe and with their added costs, the project’s rate of return was reduced to nearly a wash.  With this new LCM and a revamp of the current mud system, it is estimated the costs will come down nearly 63%, making drilling and completions far more affordable in the region.

There’s a bat cave on my property near Round Rock that has been stinking to high heaven from all the guano. I hired some day laborers down at Home Depot to shovel out the cave, but I didn’t have anywhere to dispose of it.

We were just about to drill into the first underpressured zone at Flying Fox and I had the bright idea to dump the guano into the mud and let it flush away into the formation. – Bruce Wayne, CEO Gotham Petroleum

The pilot project was executed in mid September on Criminal Drilling Rig 56T, near the southern edge of Boontick County.  While rig hands and neighbouring farms were not fond of the stench and appearance of the new drilling additive, the monetary rewards far outweigh a little inconvenience while drilling commences.

I didn’t want to do it but Mr. Wayne’s the boss. To everyone’s great surprise, the shit-laden mud allowed us to drill right through the zone. No other LCM came anywhere close. This changed everything. There was plenty of the stuff available so we were able to experiment while drilling through the second zone and found the optimum shit/mud mix. Joe Kerr, Drilling Supervisor, Criminal Drilling, Rig 56T

Mr. Penn Gwynn, Gotham’s vice president of production, said, ”This improves the economics of Flying Fox tremendously. Being able to drill to the pay zone and set a single string of pipe makes all the difference. A formerly marginal property is now our best profit center.  We’re actively seeking other such opportunities.”

Gotham’s chief landman, Red Lear, has secured guano leases on all bat caves in the area. A new subsidiary has been set up and the company will market the substance as BSCLCM™ (Bat Shit Crazy Lost Circulation Material). Inquiries have already come from as far away as China.