Abstract

As part of the study of the Wink Sinks, reviews of well plugging histories in the Railroad Commission files and the water chemistry of currently producing wells have been initiated. A preliminary review of plugged wells indicate that there are clusters of wells where plugging operations encountered problems below the surface casing. The highest values of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in produced waters sampled from 32 wells are coincident with the trend of clusters of plugged wells with casing problems. There are also a number of wells which have exhibited unusual changes in production along this trend. Together, these data suggest the presence of additional solution collapse features developing in the Salado Salt section.

The Hendrick Field is located on the western Margin of the Central Basin Platform in central Winkler county from south of Wink to northwest of Kermit. The field is productive from the Yates and Tansill, with closure resulting from drape over the crest of the Capitan Reef. The field is one of the oldest in the Permian Basin having been discovered in 1926 and fully developed by 1930. Solution collapse features, unusual variations in production, plugged wells with casing issues and high TDS produced waters are all coincident with the structural crest of the field.

Wink Sink 1, located 2 miles north-northeast of Wink, formed in 1980 and rapidly grew to >300’ in diameter. A sag northeast of Wink formed during the late 1980’s, and Wink Sink 2, located 1 ½ miles northeast of Wink, and south of Wink Sink 1, developed in 2002 and continues to grow, having reached >1000’ in length and >700’ in diameter.

A review of the plugging reports avail-