WEST CENTRAL TEXAS DEEP WILDCAT FAILS TO FIND PAY

A West Central Texas wildcat has failed to find a deeper formation that companies thought might have been feeding a prolific Eastland County well that blew out in 1985. Supreme Resources Corp., Dallas, drilled to 9,845 ft and temporarily abandoned the 1 Lake Leon Deep, 6 miles south of Ranger, Tex. The well, the deepest in the county and unusually deep for West Central Texas, was drilled on a farmout from FINA Oil & Chemical Co., Midland, Tex. Supreme had hoped to find significant oil and gas

Sept. 13, 1993

3 min read

A West Central Texas wildcat has failed to find a deeper formation that companies thought might have been feeding a prolific Eastland County well that blew out in 1985.

Supreme Resources Corp., Dallas, drilled to 9,845 ft and temporarily abandoned the 1 Lake Leon Deep, 6 miles south of Ranger, Tex. The well, the deepest in the county and unusually deep for West Central Texas, was drilled on a farmout from FINA Oil & Chemical Co., Midland, Tex.

Supreme had hoped to find significant oil and gas volumes in Ordovician Ellenburger or upper Cambrian Hickory sand.

Supreme and partner Smith International Inc., Houston, had obtained Texas Railroad Commission approval to drill as deep as 18,500 ft if necessary to test proprietary drillbit technology.

FINA sought to evaluate Ellenburger as an oil reservoir in the area and might have been interested in widespread use of the bit technology. FINA has no further plans to explore the area. There was no report at presstime on the results of the bit tests.

FINA became interested in the area in the 1980s.

Production records show that the Richey & Co., Fort Worth, 3 Ora Jones produced more than 700,000 bbl of oil and I bcf of gas in 3 months during 1986. The well blew out during drilling in 1985.

Early reports indicated the hydrocarbons came from a Mississippian pinnacle reef at about 3,200 ft, but characteristics of the oil indicated that deeper Ellenburger or Hickory might have been the source.

FINA ran seismic surveys in the area and in June 1992 spudded the 1 Hightower Deep, about 2/2 miles west-southwest of the 3 Ora Jones. It was plugged at about 5,800 ft.

Supreme took a farmout from FINA and drilled the 1 Lake Leon Deep in June and July 1993 on the same survey tract southwest of the 1 Hightower. Supreme expected to penetrate shallow sediment, granite, then sediment starting at about 10,500 ft. Approval was obtained to drill as deep as 18,500 ft because it was not certain to what depth the bit could penetrate.

The Lake Leon well drilled through about 4,500 ft of granite to 9,845 ft total depth and is considered to be a dry hole.

Between the FINA and Supreme wells and the 3 Ora Jones, Petroil Development Corp., Richardson, Tex., drilled the 1 Fox-Inland to about 8,500 ft true vertical depth in 1989. The well found gas and condensate in noncommercial volumes and was plugged because of financial and mechanical problems.

Years of multidiscipline studies have led to the exploration theory of subthrust sediments and hydrocarbon potential in the area west of the Ouachita Overthrust system (OGJ, Jan. 30, 1989, p. 86).

Dennis McMurdie, Austin consulting geologist, estimated that 15,00030,000 acres of deep oil and gas potential might exist in this area.