Characterizing and Exploiting the "Clear fork Shale" near the Midland Basin margin in eastern Andrews County, Texas. Presented by Paul Molnar at AAPG/DPA Playmaker Forum in Midland, Texas on 14 January, 2015.
We utilized onsite cuttings geochemistry
and wireline logs to select rotary sidewall core points in a vertical well to identify
possible horizontal targets on an approximately
8000-gross/net-acre block in eastern Andrews County, near
the western margin
of the Midland Basin. The “Clearfork Shale” was determined to have the best potential for horizontal exploitation in this area.
The “Clearfork Shale” is Leonardian
age, equivalent to the “Avalon Shale” in the Delaware Basin and the basal
San Andres
Formation (not
the Clearfork Formation) on the Central Basin Platform. Two different intervals, approximately 250
feet
apart
stratigraphically, have been tested within the Clearfork Shale.
The results are encouraging, and more development is planned
when crude price recovers.