Abstract

Since the first well was drilled in 1938, the Corrigan Cowden area has gone through several phases of production typical of most Permian Basin fields while producing more oil than initially expected. It takes a dedicated team of professionals to get to know the field, integrate all the data, and work together to implement a plan to make it blossom even during the down times in the oil industry. The ARCO Permian personnel are giving this unit new life.

The ARCO-operated Corrigan Cowden Unit is located on the eastern edge of the greater North Cowden Field in the Permian Basin of west Texas. The reservoir characterization and production analyses have provided the foundation for the additional work and interest in the Corrigan Cowden Unit. Seven cores were examined in and around the unit. Five key facies [outer ramp, ramp crest, inner ramp, tidal flats, and (transgressive) reworked clastics] were recognized in the Grayburg core. The core work provided the basis for identifying four high-frequency sequences (HFS) with in the Grayburg. The core and log integration across the unit provided the reservoir framework for almost 400 feet of Grayburg reservoir. It is this framework that has helped us better understand the production and injection patterns of the reservoir. Additionally, seismic attribute integration has produced better definition of Phi*H maps used to direct our horizontal drilling program.

The combination of reservoir characterization, production and injection analysis, and seismic integration has instigated several strategic plugbacks, redrills, and horizontal wells. All this work suggests there is still life in Corrigan Cowden; it just needs to be exercised a little.