Abstract: Permian Basin Gas Production

F. R. Haeberle

Of the 242 major gas fields in the Permian basin, 67 are on the Central Basin Platform, 59 are in the Delaware basin, 44 are in the Midland basin, 28 are in the Val Verde basin, 24 are on the Eastern Shelf, 12 are in the Horseshoe Atoll and eight are on the Northwest Shelf. Eleven fields have produced over one trillion cubic feet of gas, 61 have produced between 100 billion and one trillion cubic feet of gas and 170 have produced less than 100 billion cubic feet. Highlights of the study show 11 percent of the gas comes from reservoirs with temperatures over 300 degrees F. and 11 percent comes from depths between 19,000 and 20,000 feet. Twenty percent of the gas comes from reservoirs with pressures between 1000 and 2000 psi, 22 percent comes from reservoirs with 20-24 perc nt water saturation and 24 percent comes from reservoirs between 125 and 150 feet thick. Fifty-three reservoirs in the Ellenburger formation have produced 30 percent of the gas, 33 percent comes from 88 reservoirs in the Delaware basin and 33 percent comes from reservoirs with porosities of less than five percent. Forty percent is solution gas and 46 percent comes from combination traps. Over 50 percent of the production comes from reservoirs with five millidarcys or less permeabiltiy, and 60 percent of the gas comes from reservoirs in which dolomite is the dominant lithology. Over 50 percent of the gas production comes from fields discovered before 1957 although 50 percent of the producing fields were not discovered until 1958.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90960©1995 AAPG Southwest Section Meeting, Dallas, Texas