Strike It Rich: Oil At An Area Prison?

September 17, 2009

Could there be a goldmine of oil under an Atmore prison? The Alabama Department of Corrections hopes there is.

The  prison system has inked a five-year contract with Foote Oil & Gas Properties of Gulf Shores to look for oil near the G.K. Fountain Correctional Facility in Atmore. The company has already paid the department $400,000 for the chance to explore for oil. If they do strike oil or natural gas, the state will receive a 25 percent royalty and $300 per acre.

Engineers think seismographic surveys show potential oil or natural gas around the prison’s 800 acres, part of an area of crude oil that extends northward from the Mobile area. Two 16,000 foot deep test wells at the prison did not find oil, and a third is being drilled now. Each well costs Foote about $1 million.

Foote has also signed exploration contracts with several private property owners in the same area.

Comments

One Response to “Strike It Rich: Oil At An Area Prison?”

  1. janice on September 18th, 2009 1:52 pm

    GREAT!!! They can pay royalties to the people who worked above the oil in that prison for years…Here’s to early retirement, Daddy!!! (=

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News