The Oil Recovery Growth Potential of the Permian Basin

Nehring, Richard¹ (1) NRG Associates, Colorado Springs, CO

The Permian Basin in west Texas and southeast New Mexico in the southwestern United States is one of the eight largest oil provinces in the world. As of December 31, 2004, known recoverable resources of petroleum liquids were 45.3 billion barrels (7.2 bcm), consisting of 37.3 billion barrels of crude oil (5.9 bcm) and 8.0 billion barrels of natural gas liquids (1.3 bcm). Of these resources, 32.7 billion barrels of crude oil (5.2 bcm) and 6.7 billion barrels of NGL (1.1 bcm) had already been produced, leaving proved reserves of 4.6 billion barrels of crude oil (0.7 bcm) and 1.3 billion barrels of NGL (0.2 bcm).

The oil resources of the Permian Basin are found throughout the Paleozoic section which exceeds 20,000 feet (6000m) in the thickest parts of the basin. However, they are highly concentrated in the upper Paleozoic, particularly in reservoirs of Permian age (which explains why the basin was named the way it is). Known recovery of petroleum liquids in the Permian reservoirs is 31.4 billion barrels (5.0 bcm), 69.3% of the province total. Within the Permian, there is a further concentration, with Guadalupian reservoirs holding 22.5 billion barrels of petroleum liquids (3.6 bcm) - almost half of the province total - and Leonardian reservoirs having another 7.8 billion barrels (1.2 bcm).

Pennsylvanian reservoirs are the only other major contributors to province resources, having a known recovery of 8.1 billion barrels of petroleum liquids (1.3 bcm). The Ordovician with 2.3 billion barrels (0.37 bcm), the Devonian with 2.0 billion barrels (0.32 bcm), and the Silurian with 1.4 billion barrels (0.22 bcm) are the only other systems of note.