West Short Pine Hills Field, Harding County, South Dakota

Berk Strothman

The West Short Pine Hills field is a shallow gas field that produces from the Shannon Sandstone Member, on the Camp Crook anticline in southwestern Harding County, South Dakota. The Alma McCutchin 1-17 Heikkila discovery was drilled in the NW ¼, Sec. 17, T16N, R2E, to a depth of 1,600 ft and completed in October 1977 for 600 MCFGD from perforations at 1,405-1,411 ft. To date, 40 gas wells have been completed with total estimated reserves of more than 20 bcf. The field encompasses 12,000 ac, with a current drill-site spacing unit of 160 ac. The field boundaries are fairly well defined, except on the south edge of the field. The wells range in depth from 1,250 to 2,200 ft, and cost $60,000-$85,000 to drill and complete. Core and log analyses indicate that the field has 70 ft of net pay, with average porosity of 30% and average permeability of 114 md. Most wells have been completed with nitrogen-sand frac. Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Company of Bismarck, North Dakota, operates a compressor station and 2.5 mi of 4-in. line that connects the field to their 16-in. north-south transmission line to the Rapid City area. Currently, producers are netting $1.10-$1.25/million Btu.

The late Mathew T. Biggs of Casper, Wyoming, was the geologist responsible for mapping and finding this gas deposit.

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