Unconventional Test Spuds in Grass Creek Field

Hot Springs County, Wyoming

Dallas-based Merit Energy (Merit) has moved in, rigged up, and spud a shallow, lateral developmental well in Grass Creek Field, a renowned oil pool located along the southwestern rim of Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin. The operator is turning to the right at the Curtis #2H, ne-se 19-46n-98w, a projected 7,542’ (TMD) horizontal Curtis test that will have a bottom hole terminating in the nw-ne 20-46n-98w. Estimated vertical depth for this developmental well will be 3,975’, with a true measured depth scheduled for 7,542’.

Merit plans to drill approximately 4,550’ of horizontal wellbore and then conduct a multi-stage fracture treatment along the lateral’s length. Exact frac-stage intervals will be determined after drilling to target the highest quality reservoir. Estimated log tops for the Curtis #2H include the Cody Shale at surface, Frontier at 468’, Muddy at 1,789’, Sundance at 2,384’, Gypsum Springs at 2,739’, and the target zone of the Curtis Sandstone should come in at 3,035’, beneath a KB elevation of 5,631’.

Grass Creek Field is a huge oil and gas complex that, following its discovery in 1914, has cumulated more than 220.0 mmbo and 13.3 bcfg. This reservoir is well known because of its classic ­anticlinal features. Accumulation of hydrocarbons in Grass Creek Field is a direct result of upward folding. Vertical zones with production in this pool include the Frontier, Muddy, Lakota, Phosphoria, Tensleep, Curtis, Madison, Darwin, Embar, Sundance, and Big Horn.

Merit’s active Curtis #2H spots almost a half-mile northeast of the Curtis #4H, nw-nw 29-46n-98w, which is the Texas operator’s second lateral producer in Grass Creek Field. Put on-line in December 2018, the 6,814’ (TMD) horizontal test has thus far extracted more than 20.5 k bo, 6.8 mmcfg, and 80.4 k bw from the Curtis interval at 3,494’–6,814’.

Roughly a mile southeast of their Curtis #2H drillsite, Merit has established horizontal production at the Curtis #1H, ne-se 29-46n-98w. This lateral endeavor was given an IPP of 169 bopd and 691 bwpd from the Curtis interval between 3,885’ and 6,059’. Since June 2018, this unconventional wellbore has yielded more than 42.9 k bo, 14.8 mmcfg, and 197.8 k bw. Formation tops encountered in the Curtis #1H include the Frontier at 877’, Muddy at 2,040’, Gypsum Springs at 3,156’, and the Curtis was picked at 3,538’, beneath a ground elevation of 5,574’.

Approximately 1.5 miles southeast of their active Curtis #2H drillsite, Merit has permitted a lateral test at the Curtis #3H, se-sw 21-46n-98w. Representing the easternmost horizontal effort to-date in Grass Creek Field, this well is expected to evaluate the Curtis Sand at a true vertical depth of 3,509’. Estimated true measured depth for the venture is 7,300’. Bottom-hole location is slated to spot in the se-ne 29-46n-98w. To reduce expenses, it is assumed the rig working the Curtis #2H will slide over and drill the Curtis #3H.

Merit acquired their interests in Grass Creek Field in 2016, when they bought all of Marathon Oil’s upstream and midstream assets in Wyoming for $870 million. Merit is the currently largest producer of oil and gas in the Big Horn Basin. Latest statistics reveal that thus far in 2019, the Dallas firm has extracted more than 2 mmbo, 1 bcfg, and 224 mmbw from numerous reservoirs within this geological province. Fields where Merit is active include Grass Creek, South Grass Creek, Byron, Gooseberry, Garland, Half Moon, Hamilton Dome, Shoshone, Frannie, Danker North, and Oregon Basin.

Merit’s current pursuits are not the only recent oil-related activity in Hot Springs County. Some 10 miles southeast of the described Curtis #3H wellsite, Foreland Resources (Foreland) of Golden, Colo., has finished drilling a vertical Upper Cretaceous test in Boulder Gulch Field at the Federal #33-17-3F, nw-se 17-45n-96w, a Cody test permitted to reach 5,100’. This venture is Foreland’s fourth attempt to find commercial Cody reserves in the immediate area.

Boulder Gulch Field has cumulated more than 99.0 k bo and 141.7 mmcfg from the vertical Cody at depths approaching 4,750’. No data has been released regarding the results of the Federal #33-17-3F.

Some 4 miles south of Foreland’s activity is Little Sand Draw Field, a Paleozoic oil reservoir discovered in 1949. This pool has output surpassing 13.1 mmbo and 460.0 mmcfg, with the majority of production coming from the vertical Phosphoria and Tensleep.