American Oil and Gas Reporter - PBIOS 2014 Official Program Guide - 141

Permian Basin Reports
Upstream

Midstream

Downstream

Hybrid Plays Gain Attention In Permian
By Billy W. Harris
MIDLAND-A new application of horizontal drilling and completion technology
is opening a hybrid opportunity in the
Permian Basin that shows great promise.
On the Central Basin Platform in particular,
operators have identified previously subcommercial areas that now can produce
high rates of return. These areas are characterized by a combination of both conventional and unconventional rock that,
when developed properly, can be very
economically attractive.

The Permian Basin is a multipay environment, both for conventional and unconventional wells. Within the Permian
Basin are the Midland Basin to the east,
the Delaware Basin to the west, The Val
Verde Basin to the south, and the Central
Basin Platform (CBP) in between. The
CBP has deep structural features on which
carbonate reef structures were built over
time. The Northwest Shelf borders the
Delaware Basin to the north and swings
around to the west to the Diablo Platform.
The Eastern Shelf borders the Midland
Basin to the east (Figure 1).

FIGURE 1
Permian Basin Structures and Sub-Basins

Modified from Wright, 1962; Fitchen, 1997

The three sub-basins and the CBP are
the heart of the Permian Basin, and the
shelf edges are big contributors as well.
All the components that make up the
Permian Basin hydrocarbon producing
region have seen significant vertical
drilling. These areas are still making
good returns from vertical wells in formations such as the Wolfberry.
The Permian Basin, which has been
in development for almost a century, has
seen a resurgence with the arrival of horizontal drilling technology focused on
unconventional reservoir rock. Although
much of the basin seems saturated with
vertical wells, new opportunities are presenting themselves in conventional rock
that once was considered too tight to
produce commercially. The Central Basin
Platform is the center of some activity
proving that good rates of return can be
achieved in these formerly subcommercial
areas.
Horizontal Development
Operators began drilling horizontally
in the Permian Basin in the late 1980s.
As of May 2014, 12,261 horizontal wells
had been completed in the basin, according
to the public record. Early horizontals in
the Permian Basin were drilled in conventional reservoirs such as the San
Andres and Devonian. These wells had
short laterals, typically only a few hundred
feet in length, unlike today's laterals that
commonly extend 5,000-10,000 feet.
Initial horizontal drilling activity was
focused within old waterfloods. Short
laterals were designed to get at the unswept
or poorly swept areas in enhanced recovery
units.
The preponderance of horizontal wells
drilled in the past 10 years has been in
the Bone Spring and Wolfcamp formations,
which had seen a combined 3,986 horizontal wells completed as of May. Most
of this activity has been in the Delaware
Basin, although Midland Basin horizontal
activity is catching up.
Wolfcamp horizontals lead the pack
with 2,214 of the 6,641 Permian Basin
horizontal wells completed (as of May
31) since 2004. While the Wolfcamp
spans all three basins and the Eastern
OCTOBER PBIOS 2014 141

American Oil and Gas Reporter - PBIOS 2014 Official Program Guide

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - PBIOS 2014 Official Program Guide