Exploration Geophysics points way for New York search

Alan Petzet Exploration Editor State of the art geophysical techniques are getting a shot at trimming exploration costs in western New York. Ardent Resources Inc., Buffalo, and partners plan to drill as many as four wells this year seeking gas in small Cambro-Ordovician targets located with sophisticated, close grid aeromagnetic technology and pinpointed with seismic data.

March 11, 1996

3 min read

Alan Petzet
Exploration Editor

State of the art geophysical techniques are getting a shot at trimming exploration costs in western New York.

Ardent Resources Inc., Buffalo, and partners plan to drill as many as four wells this year seeking gas in small Cambro-Ordovician targets located with sophisticated, close grid aeromagnetic technology and pinpointed with seismic data.

The Appalachian basin program aims at as much as 1-1.5 bcf of gas postulated in structural and stratigraphic traps of 60-400 acres at 4,800-6,000 ft in eight townships along the Erie-Wyoming county line south and southeast of Buffalo.

Objective formations are Cambro-Ordovician in age, particularly the Knox unconformity that separates Cambrian and Ordovician, with emphasis on the Theresa, the first sandstone below the unconformity.

Cambro-Ordovician zones haven't been economic in New York (OGJ, Apr. 1, 1991, p. 74) but have produced commercially in Ohio, where the Theresa-equivalent Rose Run play is hot, and Ontario.

Participants with Ardent are Belden & Blake Corp., North Canton, Ohio, U.S. Energy Corp., Buffalo, and Nornew Inc., Houston, a Norwegian group that has acquired other production in western New York.

The companies acquired 3 sq miles of 3D seismic data at a cost of about $31,000/sq mile. This is believed to be New York's first 3D survey.

Interpretation showed a strong anomaly in Wyoming County near the Erie County line. That prospect likely will be drilled regardless of what the aeromag data show, said David Copley, Ardent president.

Fighting a wet winter in the U.S. Northeast, the companies by mid-March hope to have acquired the second half of a planned 1,500 line-miles of aeromag data for interpretation using Texaco Inc.'s patented Starmag technology (OGJ, Oct. 18, 1993, p. 104).

Starmag software uses neural network artificial intelligence to expedite magnetic interpretation and provides greater accuracy in mapping basement features, Texaco said. If it works as planned, the Starmag technique costing only a few dollars/line-mile could cut overall exploration costs by reducing the needed coverage of 2D or 3D seismic surveys, Copley said.

If Starmag identifies other anomalies, more seismic data may be needed to define them.

Operators dispute the effectiveness of aeromagnetic data for finding Cambro-Ordovician targets in Ohio, where the traps being drilled are erosional remnants (OGJ, Jan. 23, 1995, p. 61). Copley believes the New York traps have much more basement involvement.

The New York State Energy Research & Development Authority is contributing $40,000 to the $91,568 project. Privately held Ardent will make public the results. Success could trim the state's dependence on gas from Canada and distant U.S. sources.