Wolfcamp Shale archives

https://www.usgs.gov/news/usgs-estimates-20-billion-barrels-oil-texas-wolfcamp-shale-formation

20 BILLION BARRELS OF OIL IN THE WOLFCAMP!!!

What about That?

Ralpr

I have about 240 acres in DAWSON county for lease we do not want to sale, it is located at block 35 section 2 T4N, please contact me on here or at marc.rogers33@yahoo.com

Good Afternoon

We have 160 Acres in DAWSON county for lease not sale it is locate in the N/W 4 of section 28 block 35 T5N, if you are interested in this please contact me at marc.rogers33@yahoo.com there are 4 of us thank you

Would love to get an opinion Rock Man? Do you believe that Borden County could become a hot spot like Howard has with the drilling program that Surge Energy has started in the area?

I am not rock man, but I think Borden county could be a hot spot, the problem is, they are short on crews, fracking equipment, and it takes a while to get a area established are they willing to do that? only time will tell. I have a section with wells on it, it took SDX 3 years just to get everything in order to start with the production, with most land you are dealing with many people all over the world, with our section we have 23 families involved, all 23 have to agree on a price do all the paperwork, just this part took over a year to get done and lots of money, I am sure you know all this I am just saying on here to let people understand that it is a long costly process.

Although Borden County is adjacent to Howard Co, things change very quickly in the subsurface as to the geology and associated reservoir quality as well as the thermal maturity.

Surge is just moving across the county line into Borden Co - almost all of their early wells were at best marginal completions with limited economics. This may be a narrow part of Southern Borden Co that may be economically viable if drilled and completed correctly, but most of the county is very high risk. Recent well by Koch (Zagato) confirms this point.

I mentioned thermal maturity - since it is critical to have sufficient heating of the "shales" to generate and liberate the associated oil and gas, this is a very critical issue. That being said, thermal maturity decreases rapidly as you move north into Borden Co from Howard Co. Analysis shows "peak oil" just south of the Howard / Borden Co line. As you move north, the section goes very quickly to an "immature" situation.

One can equate this as going from medium well done steak in "peak oil" to raw meat in immature section. And there will not be sufficient oil generation in immature rock sections in the primary target horizons.

Enervest / Chesapeake have an old well (Muleshoe 1H) that is 6-7 miles north of the Howard / Borden Co line - analysis shows this well to be immature.

All the aforementioned comments deal with the "shale" plays (e.g Wolfcamp, Spraberry). There is deeper Mississippian carbonate (non shale) production in the Gail area - there are a few sweet spots in this interval but there are also of lot areas with very poor Mississippian results.

Hope this summary makes sense.

PS to previous posting - the same rapid change in thermal maturity occurs to the west as one moves from Martin Co into Dawson Co

Yes rock man I agree 100% with you, but I do know that there are wells in Dawson county producing 6500 BAM, the problem with these counties that you mention is the oil is in pools of oil, that the horizontial drillers do not like, so as far as horizontial in Borden, Howard, Martin and Dawson counties it is a no go, now you horizontial drillers know there is still a ton of oil in these counties to be had, you agree with that Rock Man?

Personally, I do not agree that there is a ton of oil to be had in Dawson and Borden Counties.

Howard and Martin Counties are very good areas for horizontal unconventional "shale" O&G as proven by hundreds of horizontal wells to date. (But note that certain areas of Howard Co are not very prospective for a variety of subsurface reasons).

This is NOT the case in Borden and Dawson Counties (with very small areal exceptions) as per the reasons that I put forward earlier.

There is some conventional reservoir potential in Dawson and Borden but it is limited to very finite areas (traps) and is not a "blanket" accumulation like unconventional shale reservoirs

Hello!

Dawson County is going to produce more than we think. The pore spaces are larger in the Northern Midland Basin, because the coarser sands settled out earlier and deposited in the Northern Midland Basin, the author Hamlin writes in this report that therefore there is more oil, etc, stored in the larger pore spaces - places like Dawson County, etc. Get the Report, and be prepared to be amazed! The Report by H. Scott Hamlin and Robert W. Baumgardner titled, “Wolfberry (Wolfcampian-Leonardian) Deep-Water Depositional Systems in the Midland Basin: Stratigraphy, Lithofacies, Reservoirs, and Source Rocks.”.

This is a publication from the Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, at The University of Texas at Austin. It is a Report of Investigations No. 277.

It is technical, of course, but there is plenty of plain English, cross-sections, tables, figures, diagrams, and geologic maps, Plates, etc. for most anyone to gain excellent information from.

It was published in 2012. For the bargain basement price of $25 (not including taxes, and S & H) - you can’t go wrong. Here’s the webpage below - FYI.

http://www.beg.utexas.edu/pubs/pubsales.php

Regards,

Ralpr

The entire Permian Basin, including Midland Basin, Centrsl Basin Plateau, and the Delaware Basin, etc… consist of large blanket formations. “Pools of oil” is an antiquated, I mean antiquated, notion about where oil is found. Think of oil reservoirs as being like sponges of rock - the oil is in the pores, but it’s not oozing in rivers or pools of oil. Installing a well is like sticking a straw in a saturated sponge - it’s easy to get the liquids out at first but after awhile saturations are reduced and less liquid is produced. The Horseshoe Atoll as in the Kelly-Snyder Oil Field is huge! The western Horseshoe Atoll is relatively untapped and it’s thermally mature for the oil window. Then there are Residual Oil Zones to consider!!! Holy moly!!!

Cheers!

Ralpr

Yes Ralpr I agree with you I have been told the same thing, Gary Hustchison called me from Colorado a while back and told me this he also told me Dawson county is a gold mine, it is just a matter of time, he told me the same thing you just wrote, thanks for the post.

https://pbs-sepm.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/H.Scott-Hamlin.pdf

Thanks Willard!!!

Ralpr

Recent horizontal shale play drilling failures and related thermal maturity analysis puts a big negative spin on Dawson Co. You can have the best rock in the world in these unconventionals - but if the oil is still sitting there as unrefined keorgen (tar) and immovable, you aren't going to get much.

Operators that have tried horizontal drilling in Dawson Co and walked away after dismal and uneconomic failures include RSP Permian and Diamondback.

Look up thermal maturity info from the USGS and see how "cool" things are in the northern Midland Basin. Plus there is a large amount of proprietary thermal maturity data that has been reviewed in data rooms that supports the "Dawson and Borden Co are too cool" theorum.

Guess I will agree to disagree with your opinions.

Plus the term "blanket formations" is a huge misnomer. Although a formation (e.g. Wolfcamp) may span counties, it is highly variable from area to area with respect to reservoir quality, organic content, porosity, perm, geomechanical properties, etc.

Guess I will agree to disagree with some of the comments listed here.

yes rock man I can see where the failures would be a problem, but before fracking came along I am sure lots of big oil co said the same thing you are, what Raphr and the good Dr are saying is that the oil is there we just have to figure out how to bring it up just like the frackers did. I own land in the different sections in south Dawson, I have 2 well producing now and hope for more, I follow this very close so if you have any more info or know of any one wanting to lease I have 2 areas in Dawson that I would love to get leased. here is my email, marc.rogers33@yahoo.com I live in Destin Fl so it is hard for the to see what is going on out there thanks again

Note that both RSP and Diamondback's multiple failures in Dawson Co were horizontal frac'd wells in the Wolfcamp and Spraberry sections. These are two of the most respected and successful modern "shale" players in the Permian Basin - their not wanting to pursue their large acreage positions in Dawson Co is a telling indication of the risk associated with that area.

Lots of marginally economic to uneconomic vertical Wolfcamp and Spraberry wells have been been drilled - with skinny results (especially in times of $50 oil). The technical support for spending $6 to $8 MM to go do more horizontal wells is not sufficient at this time to take that risk.

I have read over Scott Hamlin's abstract on the Wolfberry in the Midland Basin (note that I have seen Scott talk on this and other topics over the years and spoken to him about various technical issues - including the same ones we are debating here tonight).

His comments are very accurate for much of the basin as to reservoir quality, but his inference that all mudrocks are thermally mature is off base - and the BEG as well as the USGS have proven that with their own analysis (as have many operators including my old company). Specifics in sub areas of the Midland Basin like Dawson Co are the key - generalizations are fine in an academic sense, but the devil in is the details. And the details vary from area to area.

I totally understand your desire and beliefs that Dawson Co will "work" like Martin, Howard and other counties have worked as to the shale plays. I will disagree with you on the Dawson Co prospectivity based on my own personal experience in this basin (and specific area).

I plan to leave it as that we disagree on this prospectivity issue in Dawson Co and move on to other issues.

I wish you the best in the future as to drilling results on your acreage.

Maybe we’ll be mining kerogen in Dawson County? Thanks again for your comments Rock Man. Less CO2 production -amazing!

https://www.wallstreetdaily.com/2015/06/17/kerogen-oil-shale-estonia/amp/

Here’s a presentation - FYI

http://www.costar-mines.org/oss/29/presentations/PRES_02-1_Aarna-Indrek.pdf

Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) and oil shale mining?

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Qingxia_Liu4/publication/251576091_Carbon_Capture_and_Storage_Using_Alkaline_Industrial_Wastes/links/0deec536bdb1b57e15000000.pdf

Interesting info - thanks for posting. It is amazing how many "heavy oil / kerogen / asphaltic" deposits are present across the world. Madagascar, Alabama, Canada, others.

I wonder what price oil has to go to in order to support exploitation of these reservoirs???