Clarksville Field Red River County, Texas: Production and Facies Interpretation

REED, CHRIS H., Tortuga Exploration, Inc., Tyler, TX

The Clarksville field was discovered in December of 1985 while targeting a deeper Paleozoic horizon. Since production went on line in 1986, this field has produced over 1 million barrels of oil (MMBO) with the appearance of a considerably longer and more lucrative life.

The producing horizon is a Jurassic-age lithic conglomerate sitting unconformably on the Paleozoic and Triassic structural front of the

buried Ouachita range. Facies correlation out of the basin indicate this unit to be Louark age. Mapping and compositional analysis indicate the depositional environment of this unit to be an arid climate alluvial fan deposited as a "Bajada" complex. This fan system was laid down at the updip margin of the actively forming Mesozoic embayment where it meets the Ouachita structural front.

The significance of this field is demonstrated by the production yield at a relatively shallow depth (5800 ft). At this time, production similar to Clarksville field has yet to be encountered anywhere along the Mesozoic rim of the East Texas basin but does represent a viable exploration trend, in addition to being a gateway for future paleozoic production in the basin.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91004 © 1991 AAPG Annual Convention Dallas, Texas, April 7-10, 1991 (2009)