EXPLORATION MORE MUDDY OIL IN FUTURE

April 23, 1990
John McCaslin Exploration Editor Success in the Cretaceous Muddy sand has placed Wyoming's Wind River basin back in speculation as a good place to continue seeking hydrocarbons.
John McCaslin
Exploration Editor

Success in the Cretaceous Muddy sand has placed Wyoming's Wind River basin back in speculation as a good place to continue seeking hydrocarbons.

Years ago we wrote on this page that a quiet but highly significant exploratory campaign was under way in one of Wyoming's nearly forgotten oil and gas basins: the Wind River. At that time there was particular interest in the tremendously thick section along the highly disturbed northern front of Wind River. Reasons for this new excitement were the discovery of big oil at Rolff Lake, a remote gas discovery at Lost Cabin in "virgin wildcat territory", and a new Rocky Mountain producing-depth record at Badwater Unit at 16,472 ft in the Cretaceous.

MORE CRETACEOUS OIL

The Wind River basin has seen great success in exploratory strides since the late 1950's.

There were many important oil and gas finds through the years, but perhaps the 1068 find at Madden Unit got the most attention. Gas was discovered here in the Tertiary Fort Union zone. In 1981 we reported that gas reserves were 2-3 tcf

In 1988, BHP Petroleum (Americas) 2-3 Bighorn flowed 38 MMcfd of gas on tests of the Mississippian Madison at 23,579 23,852 ft. This 24,250 ft well was drilled on the crest of the Madden anticline.

Later came the 1980 hit at Chaparral Resources 1-29 Monteta Hills in Fremont County with Cretaceous Shannon gas at 20,064-20,100 ft.

However, all Wind River basin exploration and development work is not in the deeper pays. There is still considerable promise and work to be done in the intermediate zones.

Amerada Hess Corp. reports Muddy sand oil at its 27-32 Saddle Rock Unit wildcat in NW NE 27-33n-86w, 40 miles west of Casper in Natrona County. The well flowed 67 b/d of oil and some gas from the Muddy at 8,380-8,402 ft.

This well was drilled within 1 mile west of Grieve North Muddy oil pool and 1 mile south of Sun Ranch Grieve sand Muddy field.

IN VARIOUS SEDIMENTS

The Amerada Hess discovery is of particular interest due to its proximity to big Sun Ranch field.

Discovery of Muddy oil at Sun Ranch moved exploratory enthusiasm in the Wind River basin back to the Cretaceous zones west of Casper.

In 1988, BHP Petroleum (Americas) completed an offset to Sun Ranch flowing 1,091 b/d of oil and some gas from the Grieve sand member at 9,774-9,810 ft. Sun opened the field with a discovery flowing 1,048 b/d of oil in 1987 at 10,225 10,286 ft. This excellent Muddy field points out the need for further exploring in this west-of-Casper area of the basin.

Copyright 1990 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.