I invested $60,000 in LCP Chocwell 10A in November 2022. This is an oil & gas working interest deal managed by Le Creme Partners (Aram Sarkissian & Jeff Block). The fund drilled wells in Oklahoma, structured as a tax benefits play with significant upfront depreciation and monthly distributions from oil production.
Before investing, I had multiple calls with both Aram and Jeff, reviewed the offering materials, and spoke with other LPs. The deal started drilling in late 2022, and we were officially producing oil by March 2023. The pitch was 10 wells. The first two didn't hit. To their credit, the team negotiated two additional wells, bringing the total to 12 — but not all wells are active yet, and overall production has been disappointing. After 3+ years, I've received approximately $6,547 in total distributions on a $60K investment — roughly 2.9% annualized cash return. That's poor.
The tax benefits have partially offset the weak cash flow. I've taken roughly 90% depreciation over three years. But I also learned something important about oil & gas tax mechanics through this deal: you can only take the depreciation for wells that have been drilled and put in service. If the wells haven't been spudded yet, you're waiting. That's another reason I've shifted my thinking toward buying into portfolios of already-producing wells rather than greenfield drilling programs.
On the sponsor: Le Creme Partners has been consistent with communication — monthly updates every single month since December 2022 without a miss. They use SponsorCloud/SyndicationPro for their investor portal and reporting. On that front, no complaints. Where I'm disappointed is execution. The well performance has been below projections, the timeline has dragged, and the overall return profile hasn't come close to justifying the risk of a drilling program.
I'm not opposed to oil & gas as an asset class. But if I do it again, it needs to be structured very differently. I've since come across strategies where you buy into portfolios of already-producing wells, use the existing cash flow to fund new drilling, and have a clear exit strategy — either returning capital or rolling into a continuation fund. That approach de-risks the two biggest problems I experienced here: drilling risk (wells that don't hit) and timing risk (waiting for wells to come online before you see returns or tax benefits). I'd rather pay a slight premium for production that's already proven than bet on greenfield wells at a discount.
