By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Nov. 3 -- Bill Barrett Corp., Denver, expensed as a dry hole in the quarter ended Sept. 30 its first horizontal well on the deep Hook shale gas prospect in eastern Utah.
The State 16H-32 well flowed natural gas at a subcommercial rate from Upper Mississippian Manning Canyon shale at about 8,000 ft.
Although the well wasn’t commercial, the company will conduct further analysis of a longer horizontal section and improved completion techniques, building on the knowledge gained from this initial well, and will consider a second horizontal well in the area.
The prospect lies in northern Emery County southeast of Price, Utah, along the San Rafael swell on the Uinta basin southwestern flank (OGJ Online, May 6, 2009).
The Manning Canyon shale in the Uinta basin is 2,000 ft thick, 7,000-11,000 ft deep, with attractive 1-4% total organic carbon and a 1.2-1.5% Ro. A hard limestone that may provide a frac barrier underlies it. Shell Exploration & Production Co. has also tested the play (OGJ, Oct. 19, 2009, p. 41).
Bill Barrett also expensed the costs associated with a second shallower well into the fractured Juana Lopez member of the Upper Cretaceous Mancos formation and the Woodside well previously drilled.
The company has a 50% working interest in Hook with ConocoPhillips holding the other 50%. Barrett has 100% working interest in the shallower formation. The prospect covers 74,500 net undeveloped acres.
Photo from Equinor | Stuart Conway.
