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Houston Geological Society Bulletin

Abstract


Houston Geological Society Bulletin, Volume 50, No.6, February 2008. Page 19-19.

Abstract: Exploration History of the Northern Mustang Island Gulf of Mexico, Texas State Waters

Jeff A. Spencer and Elliott Barrett
Black Pool Energy

During the last fifty years, Texas state waters in the northern Mustang Island protraction area of the Gulf of Mexico have experienced renewed periods of successful exploration about every ten years. The first state leases in the area were awarded in 1953, and initial exploration on these tracts resulted in the discovery of the two largest fields in the area, Mustang Island Block 889-S/883-S Field (150+ bcfge; 1955) and Mustang Island Block 904-S Field (130+ bcfge; 1957). Subsequent periods of drilling success occurred in 1969–74, 1981–90 and 1998–2005. In addition to field step-out and deeper pool discoveries, significant new fields were found including Mustang Island Block 772-L (42 bcfge) and Mustang Island Block 749- L/746-L (64 bcfge) Fields. An extensive 3D seismic grid, shot in the mid-1990s, helped initiate the most recent period of drilling activity. Exploration using 3D amplitudes and AVO has been fairly successful in the area’s Middle Frio sands and in defining the northern edge of this thick fluvial-deltaic system.

Major reservoirs include Upper Frio thin shelf sands and Middle Frio thick, stacked fluvial-deltaic sands. Production ranges from about 7500 to 15,000 feet. All of the Frio reservoirs are in or very near the top of the geopressured section. Surprisingly, the first shallow normally-pressured Miocene discovery occurred in 2006. The traps are predominantly high-side fault closures, but downthrown fault closures, subtle four-way closures and small combination structural-stratigraphic traps occur as well.

Production in the area includes a high-rate oil reservoir (MT-2 Sand, Mustang 904-S), low-resistivity/low-contrast log pays (Mustang 904-S and 883-S) and a single zone completion gas well that has been producing for sixteen years (32 bcfg at Mustang 746-L).

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