The Homer Field, Cambrian Oil and Gas Production Within the Rome Trough of Kentucky

Lynch, Roy¹, Monte Hay², and Doug Mumpower^3
1 Lynch Oil & Gas, Fairfax, Virginia, 
² Hay Exploration, Ashland, Kentucky
³ Consultant, Olean, NY

Homer Field petroleum geology is discussed within the context of the Conasauga Petroleum System and the Rome Trough. The charge, migration, and entrapment components of the Conasauga Petroleum System are characterized within the Rome Trough of eastern Kentucky and with respect to the Homer Field. Additional prospective Conasauga and Rome sand play areas within the Rome Trough are projected and reviewed relative to the insights gained from the evaluating the Homer Field Cambrian-age hydrocarbon production.

The Homer Field, located in Elliott County Kentucky, produces oil, gas and condensate from multiple Cambrian-age reservoir sandstones. These reservoirs are found within the Rome Trough, a Cambrian aged rift basin that extends from eastern Kentucky through West Virginia and into Pennsylvania. The Homer Field is the only multi-well hydrocarbon-producing field within the Rome Trough Cambrian-age sediments. Individual Homer Field well production rates can be exceptional. Consequently, understanding the geologic factors that generated and control the Homer Field hydrocarbon accumulation can serve as a guide for additional exploration targeting Cambrian-age Rome Trough sandstones throughout eastern Kentucky and into West Virginia.

The Homer Field hydrocarbon producing formations include the Middle Cambrian-age Conasauga and Lower Cambrian-age Rome. Hydrocarbons are produced from combination traps of discontinuous syn-rift and post-rift sandstones. Production is from reservoirs with intergranular and dissolution porosity that ranges from 7 to 14 per cent with permeabilities ranging from 10 100+ millidarcies documented from full and sidewall cores. Per well production rates have exceeded 1MM/day plus condensate or oil. Recent drilling has extended the field northward.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90031©2004 AAPG Eastern Section Meeting, Columbus, Ohio, October 3-5, 2004