OREGON'S TYEE BASIN GETS EXPLORATION LOOK

First reports of a state sponsored study of a basin in Oregon's southern Coast Range could spark more oil and gas exploration.

Release of the initial reports from a planned 5 year study of prospects in the Tyee basin could prompt oil and gas companies to try to find a companion for Mist gas field, the state's only producing area.

Alan and Wendy Niem, a husband and wife team of geologists from Oregon State University, believe gas, oil, and coal may underlie the south-central Tyee basin north and west of Roseburg, Ore., in Douglas County.

Most of the basin lies in Douglas and Coos counties, with smaller portions in Curry and Lane counties.

The geologists were most encouraged by the fact that a "fair number of oil seeps" have been found throughout the area, since it was the presence of numerous seeps that prompted the exploration leading to discovery of Mist field in Columbia County of northwestern Oregon."

Mist field has delivered about 40 bcf of gas worth $85 million since May 1979.

LARGE AREA

The reports are part of the broader study that focuses on a 3,500 sq mile area, largely in Douglas and Coos counties. They are based on about 60 research projects plus previously unreleased information from oil companies that drilled in the area as early as 1978.

Jerry Black, geologist with the Oregon Department of Geology and Minerals and the project manager, likened the study to laying the necessary early groundwork for exploration companies. The study still has 3 years to run.

Black indicated that the southern part of the basin may hold the most promise for oil and gas because it is a sequence of thick Eocene sandstones.

The 5 year study is being financed by a group of state and federal agencies and private companies, including the Douglas County Industrial Development Board. Cost of the first 2 years' activity was $93,000.

LAST ROUND FAILED

In the late 1970's, Mobil Oil Corp. was the major player in the acquisition of Oregon oil and gas leases. At last count, about mid-1979, it had about 1 million acres under lease in the Willamette Valley.

Mobil also drilled the state's deepest well, 1 Sutherlin Unit, in 36-24s-5w, near Oakland, Ore., the first in Douglas County since 1923. Spudded in April 1979, it was dry at 13,177 ft.

Other companies with substantial lease interest in the area in the 1970's included Western Reserve Oil Co. and Northwest Energy Co.

Northwest filed in April 1980 for four drilling permits near Coos Bay in an area reportedly abutting an abandoned Phillips Petroleum Co. well that had "a good show" of gas in 1944 but never produced commercially.

Vernon C. Newton, a consulting geologist and formerly state geologist for 23 years, once expressed the opinion that the northern section of the Coos basin held "the best hydrocarbon potential" of any area in Oregon. That opinion was based on findings of a state commissioned study that assessed oil and gas potential in the area, a study headed by Newton.