By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 18 -- Montana issued drilling permits to several operators to explore for oil in fractured Mississippian Heath shale in the Central Montana Trough.
The area of interest for horizontal drilling is in Garfield, Petroleum, Fergus, Musselshell, and Rosebud counties.
Several wells should be drilled during the rest of 2010, Brad Boyce, executive vice-president, exploration, of private Denver independent Cirque Resources LP, told a session sponsored by IHS Inc. leading up to the Summer North American Prospect Expo in Houston.
The Cox Ranch shale member of the Heath formation sourced oil found in the Pennsylvanian Tyler sandstone, a large oil-producing formation in Montana, Boyce noted. He said EOG Resources Inc. drilled a vertical well 18 months ago in the southern part of the area of interest, was discouraged by the Heath’s lack of maturity, and has not pursued the play.
Boyce said Cox Ranch contains extremely high total organic carbon and should be more mature in the northern part of the area.
Voyager Oil & Gas Inc., Billings, Mont., recently said it controls 33,500 net acres in a joint venture targeting Heath shale in Musselshell, Petroleum, Garfield, and Fergus counties (OGJ, July 5, 2010, Newsletter).
Vertical wells have had initial producing rates of 200 b/d of oil or more from Tyler/Heath at less than 4,000 ft in several dozen fields in the basin.
Photo from TotalEnergies.
