North and South Hicumbottom Run Fields, Kanawha County, West Virginia--A Case Study

WRIGHTSTONE, GREGORY, Mark Resources Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA

The North and South Hicumbottom Run oil fields are located in Kanawha County, West Virginia, and represent structurally controlled oolitic oil production from the Mississippian Greenbrier Limestone (Big Lime). These two fields were discovered in the 1940s during development of the deeper giant Elk-Poca Oriskany gas field. A total of 48 productive oil wells were drilled in these two fields, with each field projected to have produced in excess of 1 million bbl. The average reported open flow from the productive wells was 65.9 BOPD and 453 mcf gas/day.

Production from the Big Lime in the subject area is typically associated with northerly trending high-porosity oolitic zones developed along identified anticlinal "noses." Termination of porosity development to the north and south of each field is associated with thinning of the Big Lime interval; this thinning is interpreted as deposition of nonproductive facies in an intershoal environment. The Big Lime reservoirs exhibit good oil, gas, and water contacts with the water-bearing parts present downdip along the crest of the structures and along the flanks of the anticlines.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91005 © 1991 Eastern Section Meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 8-10, 1991 (2009)