ABSTRACT: The Re-Discovery of White Kitchen Field, LaSalle County, Texas - A Tight, Heterogeneous Edwards Reef Gas Reservoir

RAILSBACK, RICK R.

The primary development of the Edwards Reef productive trend in South Texas resulted in the discovery of a small number of commercial gas fields and a large number of non-commercial fields. A secondary development of the trend began with the advent of massive hydraulic fracturing technology, which could transform non-commercial fields into commercial producing properties.

The White Kitchen Prospect utilized well-established Edwards Reef depositional models coupled with reservoir principles pertaining particularly to tight, heterogeneous reservoirs to develop a convincing case for the development of a heretofore under-exploited reservoir along the Edwards Trend. The essential premise of the prospect was exceedingly simple and rooted in the most basic concepts of reservoir engineering; i.e., an early well drilled within the productive area of the field continued to display a pressure buildup of approximately 2,500 pounds per square inch shut in wellhead pressure after 4.1 billion cubic feet of gas had been produced from the reservoir over 30 years of continuous production. The conclusion that the reservoir was not depleted was inescapable.

Seven new wells have now been completed on the prospect, and an incremental 17.3 billion cubic feet of gas will be produced as a result of this secondary development. The prospect provides an excellent model for additional prospects which can be developed along the trend and provides an example of the potential for future exploration and development in tight, heterogeneous hydrocarbon reservoirs.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90941©1997 GCAGS 47th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana