New Exploration Frontier for Southwestern Oklahoma, Mountain View-Meers Valley Area

PERRY, CHARLES C., JR., Perexco Corporation, Tulsa, OK

A new frontier area for Arbuckle oil and gas exploration now beginning to attract serious attention lies between the frontal fault system located along the southwestern edge of the Anadarko basin and the Wichita-Amarillo uplift. Recent discovery of Arbuckle oil and gas at the 1-1 Susie Pi-Hoodle well located in R6N, T13W has forced many explorationists to take a new look at the area's prospectivity.

For several years Arbuckle gas has been produced by six wells in the Mayfield field located in R10N, T26W in Beckham County, Oklahoma. Discovered in 1971 by Helmerich and Payne's 1 Cupp well, the field also includes 17 Hunton producers. During the 1960s, Arbuckle production was discovered even farther northwest in Wheeler County, Texas, in the Laketon pool. Several wells were drilled on faulted domes with production from fractured Arbuckle, which had undergone leaching, resulting in high-porosity development at the unconformity level.

Interpolating between these several producing fields indicates that Arbuckle production may be located along a fairway 10-30 mi wide, which may extend for more than 250 mi across southwestern Oklahoma from Ardmore northwestward as far as Wheeler County, Texas.

Looking for Arbuckle production in this new area is made practical now that modern-vintage high-channel, high-fold seismic data can be processed to resolve the structural complexities of these mountain-front thrust zones. New regional seismic lines have been completed across the area for a distance of more than 20 mi. The southwestern part of the regional lines cross severely folded and overthrusted rocks of the original shelf or platform. This mountain-front complex is certainly within a structural framework for hydrocarbon exploration considerably more difficult to resolve than that found along the leading edge of the boundary fault zone of the Anadarko basin where most drilling to date has occurred.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91011©1991 AAPG Southwest Section Meeting, Abilene, Texas, February 9-12, 1991 (2009)