Abstract: Geologic Horizons & Their Productive History On the Waggoner Ranch, Wichita & Wilbarger Counties, Texas

THOMAS, J. TODD, W.T. Waggoner Estate, Vernon, Texas

The Waggoner Ranch is located within one of the most productive regions of North Central Texas. The area adjacent to the Red River Carbonate Platform has proved to be a vital source of relatively shallow oil production since the turn of the century. The Waggoner Ranch has seen both major and independent oil companies drill and produce more than 200 million barrels of oil from the sandstone and carbonate reservoirs under it's properties. The active leases on the ranch continue to produce 40,000 to 50,000 barrels of oil each month. In this talk I want to show the productive trends within several geologic intervals and report on their productive histories.

The geologic formations from which this crude has been produced ranges from Permian to Ordovician in age and from the approximate depths of 80 to 5200 feet respectively. The Waggoner Ranch, which covers over 1000 square miles of North Central Texas, has been penetrated with over 10,000 wells drilled for oil and gas production. Virtually all of the production has been located within the assemblage of rocks associated with the Red River Carbonate Platform in Wichita and Wilbarger counties.

The majority of wells drilled have been less than 2,500 feet deep but, usually encounter multiple pay horizons. When mapping the different pay zones geologist sometimes just named them relative to their depth (ex. the 900 foot sand). Several of the named pay horizons within this shallow interval are the Thomas, Gunsight, Dyson and Milham sandstones. A number of thinner limestone formations, usually only used as markers (Megargel, Gunsight and Milham) are locally productive. These sand and lime formations appear to represent alternating episodes of transgression and regression of the paleoshoreline.

The "deeper" carbonate rocks contributing to the production within the Ranch area are the Canyon (Landreth), Strawn (Lido & KMA), Caddo and Ellenburger formations. Production from these carbonate formations is generally associated with structures where porosity development has been preserved within the top of the interval. There are several unique instances where porosity developed lower in the Canyon or Caddo sections has proven productive.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90936©1998 AAPG Southwest Section Meeting, Wichita Falls, Texas