Print this pageEagle Springs Oil Field 
East
Extension – a 1965 Soil Gas
Survey Success
Eagle Springs, Nevada's first oil field, discovered in 1954
by Shell Oil Company, has produced 5,103,703 BO through October 2004. The
discovery well was completed pumping 343 BOPD, and Shell drilled three
additional oil wells and three dry holes by 1961 and then farmed out the
non-producing portion of the field to Texota Oil
Company in July 1963. Texota completed 2 successful
extension wells, and afterwards a Horvitz-type soil
gas survey was completed in August of 1964 which resulted in a distinct “Ethane
Plus” anomaly 1/2 mile east of the Texota wells.
Subsequently, 6 more successful extension wells were drilled by Texota and Western Oil Lands within the anomaly.
The soil gas anomaly can be directly related to the boundary
fault zone being a leaky trap and the faults have provided a direct migration
path from the reservoir to the surface. Soil gas anomalies have been mapped
over other Nevada oil fields (Trap Springs, Blackburn and Grant Canyon),
however, these anomalies were either not recognized prior to drilling the
discovery or the soil gas surveys were done after the discovery. Also, in
Nevada, many dry holes have been drilled on “strong” soil gas anomalies. The
message remains: soil gas surveys must be combined with geology and geophysics
to identify drillable prospects.
