Abstract

The Chaveroo San Andres Field is located on the county lines of Chaves and Roosevelt Counties, New Mexico. The field, located geologically on the south flank of the Matador Arch on the Northwestern Shelf, was discovered in March, 1965, with the completion of the Champlin Petroleum Company and Warren American Oil Company No. 1 Hondo State. This well was plugged back from a total depth of 9100 feet to 4400 feet. The field has grown to in excess of 300 wells. Production is a sour 24° gravity crude and the cumulative field production was 2,291,835 barrels of oil on 1 December 1966.

The discovery was made using a combination of subsurface geology and reflection seismograph data. Oil production is from a gray to brown fine crystalline to granular anhydritic dolomite with fine vugular intercrystalline and fracture-type porosity zones located some 700 feet below the top of the San Andres of Guadalupian-Permian age. A gross pay section of approximately 200 feet is encountered in the field. The structure in the field consists primarily of a southward plunging nose. Reservoir conditions are controlled by thin porosity zones which pinch out updip. Development in the field has slowed considerably and appears at present to be nearing completion.

Certain areas of the field have presented water problems. It is hoped different and improved completion techniques will cure these ills.

The Chaveroo Field has rekindled interest and thinking about San Andres production on the Northwestern Shelf. Another new field, the Cato Field, has further extended the Levelland-Slaughter-Buckshot-Milnesand-Chaveroo trend to the west. The future looks bright for further San Andres development in this area of New Mexico.