Mississippian age formations have been an historic exploration objective in the Williston Basin. In the period between 1980 and 1987, over 300 wells were drilled in the study area, most of which tested the Dale, Coteau, or Bluell subintervals of the Mission Canyon formation.

This review of development in central Burke and northwest Ward counties was undertaken to evaluate the past and future economics of this exploration objective. Specifically, the reserves discovered by 1980-1987 Mission Canyon development were quantified, and the reserves required to reach minimum historic and present investment hurdles were determined. Comparison of past development to the historic investment hurdles showed that one-third of the 134 completed wells were profitable. Correlation of profitable well locations to regional geologic structure revealed that the profitable wells generally produced from traps with the greater degree of transverse structural closure. Ancillary topics relating to study area geology and shallower Charles formation reserves were also addressed.

Keywords:
pricing, burke county, reservoir characterization, mission canyon well, flaxton field, reservoir pressure, study area, formation reserve, well performance, reserve distribution
Subjects:
Well & Reservoir Surveillance and Monitoring, Reservoir Characterization, Fluid Characterization, Reservoir Simulation, Formation Evaluation & Management, Reserves Evaluation, Asset and Portfolio Management, Information Management and Systems, Exploration, development, structural geology, Phase behavior and PVT measurements
Copyright 1988, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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