G. Alan Petzet
Exploration Editor
The Dalhart basin of the northwestern Texas Panhandle, the state's least drilled prospective area, is showing signs of another round of exploratory drilling.
Horizon Oil & Gas Co., Dallas, opened ERT (Granite Wash) field in Potter County at 102 Bivins Ranch 9 miles north of Amarillo in early June.
The discovery well pumped 105 b/d of 37.7 gravity oil and 48 b/d of water with gas too small to measure from perforations at 5,820-5,913 ft. Total depth is 7,516 ft in granite.
In Hartley County, McKinney Operating Co., Amarillo, is pump testing a second well in a field it discovered in 1990 that opened the first commercial Permian oil production in the Dalhart basin.
The discovery well, McKinney's 1 Proctor, in section 63, block 22, CSL survey, 19 miles west of Channing, pumped 12 b/d of oil and 15 b/d of water from Wolfcamp perforations at 4,038-50 ft.
The well, which opened Proctor Ranch field, is producing about 35 b/d of oil.
The second well, McKinney's 1-65 Proctor, in section 65, block 22, CSL survey, pumped at rates of 85-90 b/d of oil on initial tests but has been making about 30 b/d recently due to scaling problems, said Toreador Royalty Corp., Dallas, an interest owner.
Total depth is 4,283 ft.
The Dalhart basin is accountable for more than 16 million bbl of oil since the 1954 discovery of Rehm field by Standard Oil Co. of Texas in Hartley County, noted David Walker, exploration manager and a geophysicist with Baker & Taylor Drilling Co., Amarillo. Of that, Baker & Taylor has produced about 9 million bbl.
Most drilling in the basin has been prompted by the use of seismic to delineate structure, Walker told an AAPG Southwest Section meeting in Abilene last February.
This has resulted in the acquisition of about 6,000 line miles of seismic data in the basin.
DALHART HISTORY
The only production in the Dalhart basin proper has been from mid-late Pennsylvanian fan delta granite wash and, more locally, shelf margin limestone of the same age, Petroleum Information Corp., Denver, noted in an issue of Petroleum Frontiers published in 1986.
The basin experienced a spurt of exploration in the early-mid 1980s with a string of Granite Wash oil discoveries, mostly operated by Baker & Taylor and Exxon Co., U.S.A.
The fields, mostly with fewer than 10 wells, produced mainly from below 6,000 ft. Initial rates of the well range from 20 b/d to more than 200 b/d in central Hartley County and as much as 900 b/d in eastern Oldham County. Oil has averaged about 40 gravity.
EXPLORATION PICKS UP
Other relatively deep Dalhart basin exploration is on tap this year.
Maxus Exploration Co., Dallas, plans to go to 7,000 ft at 1 Walker Ranch, 11 miles west of Hartley and several miles southwest of Exxon's Lathem Canyon field.
Browning Oil Co., Giddings, Tex., plugged 1 Willis, 3-4 miles west of Exxon's Lathem Canyon oil field, at TD 6,800 ft.
And Harken Exploration, Midland, staked 1 Holt, 4 miles west of Murdo, a rail siding northeast of Walker field in Oldham County, as a 7,800 ft new field wildcat.
Meanwhile, Toreador said two of the company's co-mineral owners have been approached regarding leases or options on ranches covering about 150,000 acres in the basin. Discussions were proceeding. Toreador owns 75% of the minerals underlying the ranches.
And Baker & Taylor's Walker expects much more drilling to occur in Proctor Ranch field, which he said could be far larger than the basin's typical field size in terms of number of wells.
Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.