Historic Oil Field
The Fuhrman-Mascho Field holds a special place in West Texas history: its opener, the C.E. Ogden No. 1 — brought in by Deep Rock Oil in December 1929 and credited with founding the field in 1930 — was the discovery well for all of Andrews County, today one of America’s most productive oil counties. Producing from shallow San Andres dolomite around 4,300 to 5,000 feet, the field supported hundreds of vertical wells across most of a century before horizontal drilling triggered a modern revival. For mineral owners around the city of Andrews, Fuhrman-Mascho is legacy acreage with a second act.
Source: Texas Railroad Commission production filings, aggregated across RRC field designations 33176001, 33176850, 33176426. Reported volumes lag the calendar by several months.
Deep Rock Oil’s C.E. Ogden No. 1 flowed 200 barrels a day from San Andres lime in December 1929, opening the Fuhrman-Mascho field in 1930 and with it Andrews County itself — the first of some 730 wells the field would eventually count in its early decades. Shallow depths kept drilling cheap through the Depression, and the field grew steadily as the county filled with operators chasing the same broad San Andres trend.
For decades Fuhrman-Mascho produced the West Texas way: dense vertical wells, modest per-well rates, and secondary-recovery water injection sustaining the shallow dolomite as pressure declined. Cumulative output climbed past 55 million barrels by the era of the field’s historical commemorations, and the acreage settled into the hands of independents specializing in shallow, low-decline conventional production — reliable, unglamorous royalty country.
The modern chapter began when Ring Energy, after drilling three successful horizontal San Andres pilot wells in late 2016, launched a horizontal development program across its core Andrews County acreage in and around Fuhrman-Mascho. Targeting the oil-saturated San Andres at roughly 5,000 feet with horizontal laterals, the program demonstrated that a 90-year-old vertical field could support economic modern development — a redevelopment model since applied across the shallow San Andres trend.
Fuhrman-Mascho produces from the San Andres formation at roughly 4,300 to 5,000 feet on the Central Basin Platform, where the field area sat on an eastward-dipping carbonate ramp during San Andres deposition. The reservoir is a highly oil-saturated, shallow conventional dolomite — approximately 95 percent oil by production stream — whose thin, laterally continuous porous intervals were only partially drained by vertical wells. That undrained geometry is exactly what horizontal laterals exploit, which is why this shallow, century-old rock became a modern drilling target.
Recovery at Fuhrman-Mascho evolved from primary vertical development through water injection support, but the transformative step was geometric rather than chemical: horizontal wells. Beginning with pilot wells in late 2016, horizontal San Andres drilling re-accessed oil left between generations of vertical wellbores, delivering strong returns from a field then approaching its ninetieth birthday. For royalty owners the redevelopment matters twice over — new wells create new royalty income on old acreage, and demonstrated horizontal economics give the entire trend a development runway that pure decline curves never showed.
Fuhrman-Mascho minerals pair a century of production pedigree with genuine modern upside: shallow, oil-rich San Andres rock that has already attracted one horizontal redevelopment cycle and remains a candidate for more. Valuing an interest here means weighing legacy vertical production, any new horizontal wells on or near your tract, and the redevelopment potential of undrilled acreage — a fuller picture than a check-stub multiple. We buy minerals and royalties in Andrews County and provide free written offers.
County-level well data, production charts, and selling guides for the counties this field spans:
Yes. The field has produced since 1930 and gained a second wind in the late 2010s when horizontal San Andres drilling proved economic across the area, adding new wells on top of the legacy vertical base.
The field passed through early developers like Deep Rock Oil into the hands of shallow-conventional independents, and Ring Energy built a core horizontal San Andres position in the area beginning around 2016. Your division orders identify the operators paying your specific interest.
New horizontal wells can add income to acreage that produced modestly for decades, and undrilled tracts in a proven horizontal trend carry development potential beyond current cash flow. A fair offer prices both — request a free written offer to see how yours compares.