The complexity of the Bone Spring horizontal oil play, which spans southeast New Mexico into West Texas, appears to offer limited upside for most exploration and production companies, reports IHS Herold in a report entitled, “Bone Spring Regional Play Assessment.”
Sven Del Pozzo, IHS senior principal energy analyst, noted, “We’ve seen renewed drilling in the Bone Spring horizontal oil play since the play’s early wells were drilled 10 years ago. But with the exception of Concho Resources, which has managed to achieve consistently outstanding results in the play, most E&Ps have strikingly similar, stable-to-disappointing results.”
The Delaware basin play, which includes the Avalon-Leonard shale, features stacked, multipay reservoirs, each with diverse rock properties.
“It is not a typical resource play,” Del Pozzo added. “The presence of localized sweet spots in the Bone Spring led us to stray away from categorizing it as a resource play. Instead, we have divided the Bone Spring into four subplays.”
IHS said the New Mexico Avalon shale, also called the Leonard shale by EOG Resources Inc., has the most robust and consistent profitability of the subplays.
