Abstract

The Lower Abo Horizontal Oil Play (LAHOP) began in Feb. 2007 when the Reindeer ‘21’ Fed. #1 was kicked off and drilled a 3412’ lateral to target the Lower Abo carbonate reservoirs. After a relatively small frac by today’s standards, the well came in for 174 BOPD & 182 MCFGPD and continues to produce a steady 35 BOPD & 150 MCFGPD. The LAHOP now extends across 3 southeast New Mexico counties in a trend roughly 15 miles wide by 60 miles long. At present, the play has approximately 140 completed horizontal wells and several hundred potential locations yet to be drilled. Geologically, the LAHOP is located along the Northern Shelf of the Delaware Basin where Lower Abo sediments were deposited within shallow shelf, intertidal, lagoonal and sabkha environments. The porosity is mostly secondary, the result of dissolution of dolomite rhombs (intercystalline to vuggy porosity), skeletal fragments (moldic porosity) and cement (interparticle and inter-crystalline porosity). The best production is primarily from the secondary dolomite lenses which have much better porosity and permeability. New horizontal drilling, properly steered through the pay section, connects these scattered and discontinuous porosity zones creating a much greater and more effective drainage area. Production numbers for some of the horizontal wells are as much as 10X – 15X that of the average vertical Lower Abo completion. Several of the new horizontal wells have practical initial rates over 1000 BOEPD and have produced as much as 345 MBOE in just 2yrs. The play is slowly expanding from the more established Crow Flats-High Lonesome area in Eddy County to the Caprock area of southern Chaves County east and northeastward into central Lea County.