Thursday, March 15, 2012

Another Basin To Challenge the Bakken, the Wolfcamp in West Texas

General


EIA update, February 26, 2018.

USGS report; 3x larger than the Bakken, November 16, 2016.

Cool story on the Permian, May 11, 2016.

Updates

November 16, 2018:



December 14, 2016: new operator to pay about $40,000 / acre in the Permian (Wolfcamp, Bone Spring). 

December 14, 2016: one of the few plays in which the proved reserves increased in 2015 -- Wolfcamp and Bone Spring.  

June 21, 2016: update on the Permian, Forbes
 
April 28, 2016: for Pioneer Natural Resources, cash costs down to $14/bbl

February 21, 2014: Permian Wolfcamp valued at $61,600/acre

August 26, 2013: Nice map. Mike Filloon on the Permian.

June 4, 2013: see February 5, 2013, story. Chinese have closed on the previously announced deal

February 5, 2013: Chinese company to buy assets in Wolfcamp.

January 30, 2013: the Cline Shale and the Wolfcamp overlap each other in the Midland, Texas, area.

May 22, 2012: Nice article on Cline Shale, the source rock for the Wolfcamp Formation (2nd page of a 3-page article.

Original Post
Link here.

I won't be following this on a regular reader, but readers may be interested in the "next big thing (?)."

The Wolfcamp.
Spanning numerous counties across West Texas, the Wolfcamp formation is located below the long-plied Spraberry field, which helped make Midland, Texas, oil-central starting in the early 1950s.

Its location in the Midland Basin is within the larger Permian Basin.

Sheffield and other oil experts say the Wolfcamp is probably the thickest of any onshore U.S. oil shale play, with up to 1,000 feet of potential payout across hundreds of thousands of acres.
The Wolfcamp has been mentioned twice before on this blog, first by Papa/EOG and second by CHK

The thickness of the Bakken varies throughout the Williston Basin, but its generally between ten and 200 feet thick. A thousand-foot payzone onshore is .... well, for me, unheard of.

Drill, drill, drill.

4 comments:

  1. Wish they were more up front about it. Got to love that Texas bravado.

    Could the US become a major crude oil exporter in the future? Some policy would have to change. Currently crude oil is prohibited from being exported except for Alaska. Only refined products can be exported.

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  2. Yeah, I thought readers might enjoy his enthusiasm.

    Back on March 7, 2012, I ran across the fine print in an EIA document that says the following locales can export oil out of the US:

    Crude oil exports are restricted to: (1) crude oil derived from fields under the State waters of Alaska's Cook Inlet; (2) Alaskan North Slope crude oil; (3) certain domestically produced crude oil destined for Canada; (4) shipments to U.S. territories; and (5) California crude oil to Pacific Rim countries.

    Link: http://milliondollarway.blogspot.com/2012/03/quick-does-us-ban-export-of-crude-oil.html

    Again, something tells me there is even finer print somewhere that I have not seen.

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    Replies
    1. I don't know about a net exporter, but five years ago no one would have guessed that the US would be swamped with natural gas; that natural gas in the US is hitting record lows; that we are exporting natural gas; etc., and it was all due to drill, drill, drill when the technology was sorted out.

      Something tells me if the US had a Manhattan-style program or a NASA-moon-destination program with regard to oil independence, we might do some surprising things.

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  3. I think the US will export all kinds of petroleum products. Oil, gas, propane, gasoline, etc. etc. within 10 years unless the government messes it up. No "Manhattan-style program or a NASA-moon-destination." That is exactly the wrong idea. The private independent oil and gas industry is doing it. Let them. Fortunately Obama didn't know and ignored them until now. That was good luck.

    There are lots of companies in the Permian. Twice the rigs of the Williston. It really is much bigger. It may be the hottest basin in the world.

    Most drilling has been pretty traditional, but it is the highest demand market for new high end rigs.

    A lot of companies have good strat column images in there presentations.


    The story is Pioneer's view. But, there are many others in the play.

    And they only mention the Midland Basin, leaving out the Delaware Basin, where other companies are strong and Pioneer may have nothing. Both are parts of the Permian Basin.

    CHK has 1,500,000 acres in the Permian, was looking for a JV, but approached about a 100% sale. The result will be very interesting.

    The Permian is about 25% or US oil reserves, production, and rigs.

    anon 1

    ReplyDelete