MORE WELLS JOIN SEARCH FOR DEEPER PAYS IN FAR WESTERN ILLINOIS BASIN

Nyvatex Oil Corp., Billings, Mont., and others are pursuing zones deeper than those that normally produce in Illinois on the western flank of the Illinois basin. Lamoine Valley Oil & Gas Co., Brooklyn, Ill., plans to attempt completion in Ordovician Fort Atkinson at 1 Johnston, SW NE NW 3-3n-3w, Schuyler County. The operator recovered 12 ft of saturated oil while drilling Fort Atkinson at 792-804 ft. Total depth is 81 0 ft.

March 11, 1991

2 min read

Nyvatex Oil Corp., Billings, Mont., and others are pursuing zones deeper than those that normally produce in Illinois on the western flank of the Illinois basin.

Lamoine Valley Oil & Gas Co., Brooklyn, Ill., plans to attempt completion in Ordovician Fort Atkinson at 1 Johnston, SW NE NW 3-3n-3w, Schuyler County.

The operator recovered 12 ft of saturated oil while drilling Fort Atkinson at 792-804 ft. Total depth is 81 0 ft.

The well apparently encountered no Silurian rocks after drilling through Devonian sediments at 687-707 ft, Petroleum Information reports. The wildcat is 1 mile southeast of 590 ft Silurian production in North Brooklyn field. Fort Atkinson has not produced in Illinois.

Nyvatex has drilled several tests through Fort Atkinson in the general area.

Nyvatex is preparing to deepen 1 Kearby, SW SE SE 16-2n-4w, Schuyler County, to Precambrian (OGJ, Feb. 4, p. 61). The well is at 1,210 ft in the top of Cambro-Ordovician Knox dolomite waiting on well site to dry.

Fewer than 2% of the wells drilled in western Illinois have penetrated Fort Atkinson.

Meanwhile, another independent operator has confirmed the state's northwesternmost producing area, North Adrian field, at a well in Hancock County.

Great Northern Oil Co., Libertyville, Ill., completed 1 Jones, NE SE SE 2-6n-7w, pumping 8 b/d of oil from Devonian Cedar Valley at 603-609 ft.

Nyvatex opened the field in 1989 at 1 Vick, NW SW SW 1-6n-7w, which pumped less than 3 b/d of oil from Cedar Valley at 609-615 ft. Great Northern acquired the property from Nyvatex.

The field is 19 miles northwest of Colmar-Plymouth field, which has produced more than 5.1 million bbl of oil from the Hoing sand member of Cedar Valley shallower than 500 ft.