--> Abstract: The Cane Creek Clastic Interval of the Pennsylvanian Paradox Formation-An Exciting New Horizontal Target; Part I: Regional Geology, by D. M. Rawlins; #90993 (1993).

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RAWLINS, DAVID M., Exxon Company USA, Midland, TX

ABSTRACT: The Cane Creek Clastic Interval of the Pennsylvanian Paradox Formation-An Exciting New Horizontal Target; Part I: Regional Geology

The Cane Creek is a fractured, abnormally pressured, self-sourcing reservoir, making it a good candidate for exploitation through horizontal technology. This concept was successfully applied to the Cane Creek in 1991 when Columbia Gas Development and Exxon Company USA, on an Enserch farmout, completed the Kane Springs Federal 27-1 for 914 BOPD. Since that time, two additional horizontal discoveries have potentialed for 1158 and 1325 BOPD, respectively.

The Cane Creek was deposited in a partly restricted evaporitic environment in the Paradox basin during the Pennsylvanian. The Cane Creek consists of fifth-order shoaling-upward cycles within the transgressive to early highstand systems tracts. The reservoir comprises 20-30 ft of organic-rich, dolomitic siltstone and shale directly overlain and underlain by interbedded anhydrite, shale, and siltstone. In most areas, the Cane Creek is sealed above and below by halite, which maintains the abnormal pressure in the reservoir.

Core information and reservoir engineering data indicate the Cane Creek produces from fracture porosity with minor contribution from the matrix. Initial fracture development may have occurred as a result of movement along basement-involved faults during the Pennsylvanian, followed by or coincident with salt mobilization from Pennsylvanian-Jurassic. Hydrocarbon generation and overpressuring during maximum burial in the Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary created additional fractures or enhanced existing ones. The dominant fracture orientation is northeast-southwest to north-south, which is consistent with the regional stress regime during Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90993©1993 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah, September 12-15, 1993.