First commercial find made on Otero platform, N.M.
Confirmation drilling is on tap near the first commercial hydrocarbon discovery on the Otero platform of south-central New Mexico.
A group led by Harvey E. Yates Co., Roswell, N.M., completed a dry gas discovery in upper Mississippian Helms in the 1Y Bennett Ranch Unit, in 14-26s-12e, Otero County, about 40 miles northeast of El Paso, Tex. (see map, OGJ, Aug. 3, 1998, p. 69).
The well, drilled in August 1997, has been completed for a calculated absolute open flow potential of 3.615 MMcfd from about 4,500 ft. After a clean-up treatment, the well sustained 4.4 MMcfd on an extended production test.
The group plans more tests and an appraisal drilling program to begin as soon as possible. Participants with the Yates company are The Rudman Partnership, Dallas, and Burlington Resources Inc., Houston.
Otero basin backdrop
The well is on the 8,857 acre Bennett Ranch Unit.It is near Alamo Mountain in a remote area about 12 miles east of the sprawling Fort Bliss Military Reservation and about 45 miles west of Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
The field, about 3 miles north of the Texas state line, is being called Hackberry after nearby Hackberry Draw.
Burlington acquired leases on all or parts of about 50 sq miles 8-20 miles north and northeast of the discovery well at a New Mexico lease sale in July.
Exploration veterans pointed out the existence of Mississippian reef-related formations in the general area.
The discovery is on lands administered by the Las Cruces, N.M., office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
It is about 60 west of the nearest Permian basin production in Eddy County, N.M. The nearest gas pipeline is to the south in Hudspeth County, Tex.
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