Styles of Trap Development in Caddo Limestone in Bend Arch Area, North-Central Texas

Jack L. Crabtree

The Lower Pennsylvanian Caddo limestone has been a prolific hydrocarbon producer in the Bend arch area of north-central Texas since the early 1900s and continues to be a major exploration target although it is in a mature province. Early explorationists understood the Caddo's large potential when the James pool was discovered in Young County in 1917. Initial flows were greater than 1,000 BOPD in some wells, and field development with additional infill drilling and waterfloods continued into the early 1980s. James pool has produced more than 2 million bbl of oil as of December 1985. Fields in Jack, Throckmorton, and Archer Counties had recorded similar successes by the 1940s.

The early Caddo discoveries were made before singlefold seismic mapping was available, and were based on sparse subsurface control. By the 1950s and 1960s, seismic and subsurface data were more commonly used in the hunt for Caddo reservoirs.

Most exploration concepts held that all Caddo traps were structural. Recent studies showed that structural, stratigraphic, and combination traps are common in the Caddo. This study presents examples of each trap type in the Bend arch area, where 49 million bbl of oil has been discovered in the Caddo, and focuses on the current exploration methods.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91037©1987 AAPG Southwest Section, Dallas, Texas, March 22-24, 1987.