By Matt Briscoe

Cotulla, Texas–A major oil player has filed initial requests with the the Texas Railroad Commission to drill three horizontal wells on a lease in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Stavanger, Norway based Equinor says that they plan on placing the wells on their South Texas Syndicate Lease in La Salle County, about 25 miles Southwest of Cotulla.

The permits say that Equinor plans to drill the wells to a depth of 12,000 feet, which includes both vertical and horizontal segments of the project. The wells are slated to be in the Hawksville Field in the Austin Chalk and Eagle Ford Shale.

These are the first permits filed using the Equinor brand, which was formerly known as StatOil.

XTO Energy, a subsidiary of Exxon, filed 20 new drilling permits for locations around Texas. XTO has filed more than 350 drilling permit applications so far this year, making them the state’s largest applicant thus far.

Houston based EP Energy filed six drilling permit applications, more than any other company in the Eagle Ford shale play. EP says that they plan to drill six wells split between its Maltsberger and Rocky Comfort-Hixon leases in La Salle County.

Five of the projects target the Eagleville field of the Eagle Ford geological layer while one targets the Pearsall field of the Austin Chalk at total depths varying from 9,700 to 10,200 feet.