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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
Houston Geological Society Bulletin
Abstract
Abstract: Exploration and Higher Risk Development of Thrusted Foreland Reservoirs,
Val Verde Basin, Texas
By
Conoco, Inc., Midland, Texas
The Val Verde Basin is a southern extension of the Delaware Basin of West Texas that was converted to a foreland trough during the Late Paleozoic Ouachita collision. This gas-rich basin has historically been known for several multiple-TCF Ellenburger fields trapped in large anticlinal structures. Despite such large reserves, the Val Verde Basin remained underexplored and poorly understood through the 1980s, owing to geologic complexity and seismic imaging problems.
In 1989, successful application of 2-D
swath seismic techniques resulted in dramatic
improvements in seismic data quality
and opened a new phase of exploration
in the basin. In 1993, a commercial
new field discovery was made in a
Pennsylvanian Strawn carbonate reservoir
within the thrusted foreland section.
Continued exploration and development
of the thrusted foreland trend, using 2-D
swath and 3-D
seismic, led to significant
discoveries in a new play: the Thrusted
"Penn" Sands.
Conoco and its partners have drilled a
total of 45 exploration and development
wells in the thrusted foreland trend, and
made eight new field discoveries. Gross
daily production from these fields averages
65 MMCFD and 2100 BOPD.
Structural compartmentalization, stratigraphic
variability, diagenesis, and fracturing
have created a complex reservoir
system. Reservoir quality and quantity are
the critical uncertainties. Early in the play,
the per well commercial success rate was
only about 40%. Successful field development has required the collection and integration
of significant amounts of geologic,
geophysical, and engineering data.
Interpretation of 3-D
seismic data, conventional
log and image data, core data,
and pressure data by a multidiscipline
asset team has provided the framework
for understanding the depositional and
structural complexities of the thrusted
foreland reservoirs. As a result, our full-cycle
commercial success rate has
improved to greater than 70%.
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