SQCIEI’OYF PEI’RO- ENGINEERSOF AIME
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THIS IS A PREPRlIW2--- SUBJECTTO CORRECTION
GAS PRORATION
IN THE SAN JUAN BASIN
By
Emery C. Arnold,New MexicoOil ConsecratioCnommission
PublicationR&hts Reserved
This paper is to be presentedat the Four CornersRegionalMeetingof the Societyof Petroleum
Engineersto be held in Farmington,N. M., on Sept. 18- 18, 1964, and is consideredthe propertyof
the Societyof PetroleumEngineers.
Permissionto publishis hereby restricted$0 an abstractof
not more than 300 words,with no illustrations,unlessthe paper is specificallyreleasedto the
press”-btyhe Edf%orof Journalof PetroleumTechnologyor %he ExecutiveSecretary. Such abstract
shoulcicontainconspicuousacknowledgmentof where and by whom the paper is presented.
Publication
elsewhereafter publicationin Journalof’PetroleumTechnologyor societyof PetroleumEngineers
Journalis grantedon r:xluest,
presentationof the paper.
providingthe proper creditis given that publication&nd the original
Discussionof *his paper is invited.
Three copiesof anY discussionshouldbe sent to the Societw
.
.
of PetroleumEngineersoffice.
Such discussionma ~ be prese;tedat the above meetingsand considered”
for publicationin one of the two SPE magazineswith the paper.
shale sectionswith interveningsandstones.With.
TNTRODUCTTON
in specifiedareas,whereverthese sandstones
developsufficientporosityand permeability,
Naturalgas has been producedcommerciallyin
the San Juan Basin of NorthweetNew”Mexico since
the early 1920’s.
late 1951, when our firstmajor market was estab-
lishedin Californiaby the El Paso NaturalGas
na tura l
ga s has accumulated. For this reason,
the occurrenceof gas is very wide-spreadgee-
graphicallyand the dry hole ratio for devel-
opmentwells is very law.
Developmentwas minor until
Ninety-fiveper cent of our naturalgas
co.
The PicturedCliffsSandstoneis the
developmenthas takenplace since 1. 951.
shallowestof the major producingzonesand rang(
Id depth withinthe producingareas from 1,000
As of Jan. 1, 1952,there were about 300
to 4, 000 f t .
There are 10 Ptcturea
Cliffs Pools
producinggas wells servinglocalNew Mexicoand
as definedby the O“ilConservationCommission,
all of which representsandbaraccumulations
along burietishore lines. Approximately2,500
.Asof Jan. 1, 1.964,there were
Coloradomarkets.
5,920wells.producinggas. Total cumulativepro-
ductionto Jan. 1, 1964,was 2~973~010~197Mcf’o
Theee wells
wells are producingfrom this zone.
were all developed on 16r)-acrsepacing.
Mesa-
PICTUREDCLIFFS SANDSTONE,MESAVERDEFORMATTON,
AND DAKOTA WUWXWONE
verde gas productioncomes from a huge, fairly
well definedstratigraphicreservoirwhich is
approximately70 miles long aud kO miles wide.
Depth rangeafrom 4,000 to 6,OOO ft. Approxi-
mately 1,900wells are now producingin the Blan.
co hlesaverdPeool..Thie pool Is developedon
320-acrespacingand is still,not fully developed
Qas developmentsince 1952 has been at a
steadyrate of from 300 to 650 wells per year at
Ninety-
an averagerate of 500 wells per year.
sevenper cent of our gas productioncomes’from
three geologicformations,all within the Cre-
taceousSystem. These are the PicturedCliffs
S%ndstone,MesaVerdeF@mation and the Dakota
San&stone.
The thirt majorgas producinghorizon iS the
DakotalRmmation,which varies in depth from
6,OOO to 8,OOO ft. within the producingarea.
The BasinDakotaPool is definedby the Co!mu.is-
eion as betng that area which is productiveof
gas.fromthe Dakota in San Juan$ Rio Arriba
and SandovalCounties. Most of the productive
The most importantcontrollingmechanismfor
the accumulationof gas In each of these forma-
tions is rock characteristics.The Cretaceous”
Systemin the San Juan Basin consistsof thick
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