Forest pursues Wolfcamp shale, Wolfbone plays

Feb. 17, 2012
Forest Oil Corp. said it has amassed a combined 114,500 net acres in the West Texas Wolfbone and Wolfcamp shale plays that it said provides a “concentrated geographic footprint in the Delaware and Midland basins” that exposes the company to numerous vertical and horizontal oil objectives.

Forest Oil Corp. said it has amassed a combined 114,500 net acres in the West Texas Wolfbone and Wolfcamp shale plays that it said provides a “concentrated geographic footprint in the Delaware and Midland basins” that exposes the company to numerous vertical and horizontal oil objectives.

The company said it has added 63,000 net acres prospective for the Wolfbone oil play in Pecos and Reeves counties. Forest will further test the Wolfcamp shale and begin testing the Wolfbone in the first half of 2012, then assess the future pace of rig activity in each play.

Forest said its Delaware basin acreage is mainly prospective for the Wolfbone interval, including the Third Bone Spring and Upper Wolfcamp formations, and also has potential in Delaware sands, Upper Bone Spring sands, and the Avalon shale. Additional objectives have not been included in Forest’s economic evaluation of the acreage, the company added.

Wolfbone primary lease terms are 3-5 years. Forest initially plans vertical delineation drilling and commingling stacked pay zones and may later transition to horizontal completions to optimize development. One rig will begin work at the end of the first quarter.

Forest’s 51,500 net acres in Crockett County are prospective for the Wolfcamp shale and other, conventional targets. The company is collecting data, coring vertical pilot wells, and using microseismic monitoring to learn the most effective way to complete horizontal wells.

More than 2 years’ primary term remains on the Crockett leases, which can be further extended by drilling 4 wells/year to maintain all leasehold. Forest will focus further tests on the most brittle members of the 1,200-ft-thick Wolfcamp shale.

The company’s first Wolfcamp shale horizontal well had an initial 24-hr production rate of 266 b/d of oil equivalent, 94% oil. Microseismic monitoring and production logging indicate that 10 of the 14 frac stages are contributing. Since the well was drilled, multiple 3D seismic surveys have been obtained that have and will be used in subsequent drilling and lateral placement.

Forest is completing a second well with a 400-ft lateral and 15 frac stages and drilling a third well.