Anadarko makes gas finds in East Texas, North Louisiana

June 24, 2002
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. made two natural gas discoveries in two areas: East Texas and North Louisiana.

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, June 24 -- Anadarko Petroleum Corp. made two natural gas discoveries in two areas: East Texas and North Louisiana. In East Texas, Anadarko made a gas discovery with Gregory A-1 well in Anderson County in its Bossier play area, which lies 130 miles north of Houston. And, west of Vernon field in North Louisiana, the company drilled and completed Davis Bros. 11-1 well, a new gas discovery at its Ansley prospect.

East Texas discovery
Gregory A-1 well was drilled to more than 17,500 ft TD and found 241 net ft of gas pay in multiple sands. The well, which flowed initially 8 MMcfd into a sales pipeline, was completed in the lowermost York sand interval. Anadarko holds 100% interest in the well and has exploration rights for 14,000 net acres in the area surrounding the well.

The company plans soon to drill three stepout wells to confirm the discovery, said John Seitz, Anadarko president and CEO, adding that he expected development drilling in the area "to continue for some time."

Seitz added, "As additional wells are drilled and we get more production data, we will develop a better assessment of the size of this new discovery. Available data suggest this field could open a new trend as significant and prolific as the Dew-Mimms area in Freestone County."

Dew-Mimms—which is producing 136 MMcfd (gross) from 277 wells—has estimated gas reserves of more than 1 tcf, Anadarko said. The company has 6 rigs drilling throughout the main Bossier trend area in Texas and holds interest in 291,000 net acres. Total production from the Bossier play in Texas has averaged 275 MMcfd (gross) this year.

North Louisiana find
The Davis Bros. 11-1 well, drilled in Jackson Parish to 16,000 ft TD, logged 111 ft of pay in multiple sands and flowed 8 MMcfd initially into a sales line. Two miles west, follow up well Barnett 9-1 was drilled and logged 107 ft of "apparent pay" in multiple Lower Cotton Valley (Bossier) sands. Barnett 9-1 is being completed.

Anadarko holds a 52.3% interest in the Davis Bros. 11-1 well and 100% interest in Barnett 9-1. Other Davis Bros 11-1 partners are Ocean Energy Inc., Houston, 44.6%, and Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp. 3.1%.

Anadarko, which holds almost 100% interest in the overall Ansley prospective area, is drilling three additional wells in the area and intends on continuing drilling in the area. "Based on the well results, we expect to have an ongoing and active development drilling program around Ansley in North Louisiana," Seitz said. Seitz added that while it was "premature" to estimate the field's reserves, although available data suggested that the area could be "similar in size and potential to the Vernon field,"

Vernon, about 80 miles east of Shreveport, La., has 1 tcf of estimated reserves and is currently producing 92 MMcfd from 69 wells, Anadarko said.