OCTOBER 2017 LUNCHEON MEETING
C.F. “Casey” Clawson
of Samson Resources, LLC
presents
Horizontal Exploitation of the Cotton Valley Sands in East Texas
11:30 AM Wednesday, October 18, 2017
at the Cascades
4511 Briarwood Road
Tyler, TX 75709
Cost: $20
BIOGRAPHY
In June, 1981, Casey sat his first Cotton Valley Sand well in Rusk Co, TX. In the last 36+ years, he’s had the privilege to drill, well sight evaluate, participate, and evaluate a lot of Cotton Valley Sand wells, plus a few other formations/basins. Casey doesn’t have a PhD, nor a Master’s Degree in anything, but, as an ETX geologist that has generated/evaluated prospects, cut cores & run drill stem tests, made late night, cold rainy logging jobs, and has participated, both willingly and otherwise, in his fair share of divestitures and acquisitions of companies & properties. He’s earned his LIFE degree from the University of Hard Knocks.
His presentation will be a review/analysis/story-telling of experiences involving the horizontal exploitation of the Cotton Valley sands of ETX/NoLa.
ABSTRACT
Horizontal Exploitation of the Cotton Valley Sands in East Texas
In the last 10 years, the Cotton Valley Sands of ETX/NoLa have been pursued within the industry horizontally, both in the Taylor Sands and also in the Upper Cotton Valley Sands. Since the Devon completion of the Lois Haygood #11 in Aug, 2006, operators have drilled just over 1000 Hzl wells in the CV in ETX/NoLa, not counting Terryville Field in No La. In the ETX/Sabine Uplift area, most of the attention has been in the Taylor Sand section, with varying targeted zones. In SE Panola Co and trending into Desoto/Caddo Ph’s as well, the UCV has been targeted by many operators. These 2 areas will be the focus of the luncheon talk.
As the Hzl CV Sand play continues to develop, geologists and engineers alike will be forced to work together to develop a mature understanding of OGIP, and then work through the reservoir characteristics of vertical completion/depletion variances as well as the calculation of “un-drained potential” within older vertical fields and their “known limits”. What has been “understood” as “depleted” may in fact not be well understood as we once thought? For the geologist, we can begin to understand “xf” and “SRV”, as well as BHP/Z. We all enjoy a well-behaved, un-drained reservoir; we just don’t have as many of those around as we once did. And lest we get cocky, there’s always working with the drilling engineers to get those drilling costs down and aid in becoming efficient. As geologists, we stand alone to assist in determining the horizontal target [are you sure you understand “Net Pay”], work with drilling to get cost efficient [you may to actually GO OUT on location], and then work as hard with the reservoir /completions engineering groups to ensure a wells proper reserves are being produced [yes, hang out with engineers and listen to them; they’re not all bad, I’ve discovered]. To succeed in our HZL world, we should all endeavor to push our understanding of this age old reservoir, the Cotton Valley Sands. They ain’t what they used to be!