|
Burlington opens hot play Finds new play in southern East Texas with high-performing gas wells Ray Tyson Petroleum News Houston Correspondent
Burlington Resources appears to have opened a hot new play in the southern Bossier trend of East Texas that could hold the lion’s share of an estimated 500 billion cubic feet of gas reserves on the company’s acreage.
“We think it could be a very large find for Burlington,” said Randy Limbacher, the company’s chief operating officer.
Limbacher also told industry analysts at a March 1 meeting in New York that Burlington tried to keep the Bossier discovery a secret for competitive reasons.
“But there’s been a lot of speculation, a lot of talk around it,” he said, noting that the big exploration and production independent was relatively late entering the Bossier but managed to expand its position from an initial 22,500 acres in 2003 to a current 71,000 as it chased the new play. At 15,000 foot level Located in the Savell field in Robertson County, Texas, the new play is situated below traditional producing zones of the Bossier at around the 15,000-foot level, Limbacher said.
“Our concept appears to be working and today we are achieving exciting results from the lower Bossier sands in a very over-pressured regime,” he added.
To date, Burlington has completed and brought into production seven Bossier wells, four of which targeted the lower zone. Lower horizon wells are each producing from 5-to 35 million cubic feet of gas per day, versus just 1-to 5 million cubic feet per day for the wells producing from the upper zone at around the 13,000-foot level.
“So clearly we’re placing a higher priority on the more productive lower Bossier sands in the area,” Limbacher said, noting that a lower Bossier well costs between $6 million and $8 million.
He said that while it was too early in the process to peg reserve size, the company last year assessed the resource potential at about 500 billion cubic feet, with most of it believed to be in the lower Bossier.
“Given the encouragement we’ve seen so far, I would tell you that number is certainly in the realm of possibilities,” Limbacher said. “But we need additional drilling … to fully calibrate the size of this tank. We also need more performance information to confirm our findings. But we are clearly very excited about the potential here.”
Burlington said it plans to spend $120 million on exploration and development at Savell this year, more than twice the $57 million the company dolled out for projects last year. Thirteen development wells and eight exploration wells are planned in 2005.
“We’re going to continue our exploratory efforts on the trend on our acreage,” Limbacher said. He said the company plans to run five rigs in the field, two more than are currently operating.
Limbacher said production at Savell has been limited because of infrastructure constraints in the region.
“While we are very excited about the opportunity, our enthusiasm has been tempered by the fact we have not been able to fully test our existing wells or develop the field,” he said.
However, he said a 16-inch third-party pipeline began taking production last month and that a new processing plant should be in operation by year-end. Ultimately, Burlington’s net gas production is expected to increase from a current 45 million cubic feet per day to a net 70-to 100 million cubic feet per day, Limbacher said. Burlington holds a 60 percent interest in the play.
| 