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Virginia Gas and Oil Board approves Pocahontas Gas LLC pooling order for Unit Y‑34 in Oakwood field
Summary
The board approved a petition from Pocahontas Gas LLC to pool Unit Y‑34 (Oakwood coalbed methane field), including a division of costs and royalty recommendation; two named respondents were identified and the applicant disclosed updated notice and cost allocation materials.
The Virginia Gas and Oil Board on Feb. 18 approved a petition from Pocahontas Gas LLC to pool Unit Y‑34 in the Oakwood coalbed methane field and enter a pooling order as requested by the company.
Kelly Berry, senior analyst for Pocahontas Gas LLC, told the board that the company filed the petition, published notice in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph and mailed certified notices (with return receipt requested) to identified respondents. Berry said the company mailed a modified application to respondents on Jan. 30, 2025 and provided updated certifications to the division.
The application named Janice and Jeremy Davis as respondents owning a 0.44‑acre tract (approximately 0.55 percent of the unit) and provided an allocated division of interest for production from the 3 South panel. Berry explained that updated title and mapping work in 2024 showed the Davis tract belonged in Unit Y‑34 and that the Davis tract had been corrected in an adjoining unit earlier.
Pocahontas provided a cost allocation for production from the 3 South longwall panel; Berry identified $2,885,508.18 as the cost allocated to Unit Y‑34 in the applicant’s exhibits. She said the unit’s wells were originally completed as fractured wells in the 1990s and that wells would produce until mining intersects those wells, at which point the wells would be plugged.
On royalty recommendations, Berry asked the board to include a 12.5 percent royalty in the order. The board voted by roll call to approve the pooling petition, the proposed division of interest and the recommended royalty; no abstentions or opposing votes were recorded in the hearing record.
The order and exhibits filed with the petition (plat, tract identifications, division of interest and AFE/cost allocations) were admitted as part of the record. Board members asked clarifying questions about tract location, cost allocation and the continuing fractured‑well production; Pocahontas staff answered those questions and confirmed the proposed order language was provided to the division.
The board’s approval directs the division to enter an order reflecting the pooling and allocation included in the company’s filing and the royalty provisions discussed at the hearing.
