A small independent is pursuing the drilling of an oil prospect that could hold several million barrels of oil in the Forest City basin in southeasternmost Nebraska.
The basin, which extends into Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa, has produced several hundred million barrels of oil, but its recent history reveals little drilling.
The principals of Humboldt Oil, former neighbors who now live in Boston and Denver, propose to drill the prospect in 13 and 14-2n-13e, near the Richardson County town of Humboldt. It is 20 miles northwest of Falls City field, largest oil producing area on the Nebraska side of the basin.
The prospect and Snethen field, Dawson field, Honey Creek field, and Livengood field in Kansas line up at about a 30° angle to the easternmost fault in the Humboldt Fault Zone.
The Humboldt fault, which extends roughly from Omaha to Oklahoma City, is the basin’s western boundary. It is a vertical fault with the basin to the east.
A 1970s seismic survey by the Nebraska Geological Survey revealed that in southeastern Nebraska it is not just one fault but rather a fault zone. The easternmost fault seemed to have slight right-lateral movement, while the main fault to the west had slight left-lateral movement. A map of the basin’s oil fields reveals the slight left-lateral movement.
Richardson County
The easternmost fault is most interesting near the town of Humboldt, said Kent Van Zant, president of Humboldt Oil. Four or five oil fields lie in line from Humboldt to Sabetha, Kan., at a 30° angle with the easternmost fault. The fields have produced a combined 3 million bbl of oil.
The Nebraska survey produced a map of the top of the Devonian Hunton formation in 1984 on which the Pine Cooper-1 well, in 10-2n-13e near the fault, was incorrectly mapped. The data show a large structure aligned with the oil fields along the 30° angle with the easternmost fault. Humboldt Oil has named this structure the Humboldt Prospect.
Richardson County has produced more than 12 million bbl of oil from the Ordovician Viola and Hunton formations.
The Humboldt Prospect is 2 miles from the fault, just as is McClain field 30 miles away in Nemaha County, Kan. Estimated ultimate recovery at McClain, discovered in 1982 by Pendleton Land & Exploration Co., is 3 to 5 million bbl of oil. The Humboldt Prospect appears to be a McClain analog, Van Zant said.
The Viola formation is the expected reservoir, sealed by the Ordovician Maquoketa shale. All of the formations are less than 4,000 ft deep.
