Pheasant Project: a Case Study

S. P. (Steve) Halabura

"Pheasant Project" was the name given to a consortium of oil companies that drilled 49 dry holes across central Saskatchewan during late 1968 and early 1969. It was hoped to find commercial amounts of hydrocarbons within reefs of the Middle Devonian Winnipegosis Formation and thus establish central Saskatchewan as a new oil province. Unfortunately, the dry holes discouraged further exploration for deep oil both in the southeast and in the central parts of the province until recent Winnipegosis oil discoveries were made in the tableland area. Why was the Pheasant Project such a disaster?

The Pheasant Project was a master-pooling of individual exploration permits held by a variety of companies and arranged by an enterprising landman. The Saskatchewan government agreed to the master-pooling on the condition that the wells be drilled quickly and efficiently. Finding oil became secondary to satisfying the pooling terms. All wells were located within the central part of the Elk Point seaway, with the dominant exploration concept being the Keg River-Rainbow Lake model.

Contrary to popular belief, the Pheasant Project did find shows of oil, as well as favorable reservoirs. Careful examination of the Pheasant wells reveals fundamental sedimentological sequences and patterns of salt-solution tectonics that are critical to defining oil plays in the Elk Point sequence. Distribution of reservoirs within Winnipegosis "reefs," reef morphology, the nature of the "Shell Lake-Quill" unit, and source rock factors are a few of these.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91033©1988 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section, Bismarck, North Dakota, 21-24 August 1988