Print this pageA New Look at Cow Creek Field,
The discovery well was drilled at Cow Creek Field by Sohio and completed on January 31, 1960 with an initial potential of 10.965 million cubic feet and 40 barrels of oil per day from the Nugget and Frontier Formations at depths of 9,650 and 8,550 feet respectively. After producing over 14 Bcf from the deeper beds, Double Eagle has rejuvenated the field with coal bed natural gas production from the shallow Mesaverde coals.
Since 1999, Double Eagle Petroleum Co. has concentrated on producing the shallow coals of the Almond Formation of the Cretaceous Mesaverde group. The coals are in the top 400 feet of the Mesaverde at depths of 1,000 to 1,400 feet. Gas contents range from 200 to 300 standard cubic feet per ton. Individual beds range from 1 to 20 feet in thickness and gross coal thicknesses in a borehole range from 10 to 75 feet in the eastern Washakie. Average gross coal thickness is between 20 and 30 feet. Local nomenclature has divided the Almond into the Garden Gulch, Marine, “A” series and Cow Creek sections from top to bottom. The Almond is overlain by the marine shales of the Lewis Formation.
Double Eagle Petroleum Co. has fourteen wells capable of production from the coals. Gas sales have been as high seven million cubic feet per day, but we needed more water management capability to sustain those rates. Pumps have just been installed in most of the wells and, if the field can stay producing consistently through the summer, the economic viability of this play will be properly tested.