Cowboys owner Jones teams with Touchstone to explore Maverick Basin

Ray Tyson

Petroleum News Houston correspondent

Pennsylvania’s Touchstone Resources has teamed up with Dallas-based Blue Star Operating to explore for oil and gas in the Maverick basin in South Texas, Touchstone said June 28. Blue Star, an exploration and production independent, is controlled by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

Touchstone said it formed a new subsidiary called Maverick Basin Exploration, which entered into an exploration and production agreement with Jones’ Blue Star covering 20,000 acres in the Maverick Basin. The companies will share a 50-50 working interest in the acreage and Touchstone will serve as operator.

Touchstone said a number of drilling targets have been identified from 3-D seismic shot over the entire 20,000 acres. Engineering estimates indicate the area could yield more than 180 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent, the company said, adding that it plans to drill about 125 wells.

“We anticipate commencing our exploration activities by late July and plan on a very aggressive drilling schedule through year end on this project,” Touchstone President Stephen Harrington said.

Touchstone said it would “pursue aggressively” the acquisition of other acreage in the Maverick Basin, which the company noted has seen a significant increase in exploration and development activity over the past 18 months.