The Permian basin still holds an estimated 60-70 million bbl of technically recoverable resources, according to IHS Markit research.
The findings come after the information services firm completed its first 3-year phase of a Permian research project that models and interprets the basin’s key geologic characteristics to better estimate its remaining hydrocarbon potential.
The resulting report, “The Permian Basin Interpreted in 3D: The IHS Markit Permian Basin Unconventionals Kingdom Geology Project,” uses a 3D geological model of more than 70 geologic formations—from the Basement to the Upper Permian—that was built using proprietary interpreted tops data, which has been used to assign corrected producing formations for all producing wells.
The project includes more than 440,000 updated wells, the interpreted tops, digital logs, and allocated production data. It also contains various analytical data including zone attributes, GRID files, and the results of analysis of 52 plays comprising 11 shale (continuous type) and 41 stratigraphic-structural (non-continuous type). The analyses incorporate Producing Formation from Interpreted Tops, a well-production database enhancement.
The Permian has produced more than 39 billion bbl of oil since it first began production in the 1920s, reaching a previous production peak in 1973, IHS Markit noted. With the onset of horizontal drilling and new completion technology during the past decade, the basin is on track to soon eclipse its previous peak, the information services firm said.
