Mississippi Limestone— Horizontal Drilling Liquids Play
Petroleum Technology Transfer Council , December 2011 reports:
Mississippi Limestone— Horizontal Drilling Liquids Play
A thick Mississippian porous limestone has been identified in Oklahoma and Kansas overlying the Woodford Shale. Oil has been produced from the Mississippian Limestone for over 50 years in minor amounts, but the recent emphasis on liquid-rich plays has caused operators to reevaluate the Mississip- pian Lime as a target for horizontal drilling. The Mississippian Lime has high grade crude oil and natural gas liquids. Other benefits of the emerging play include the high oil price and close proximity to infrastructure.
SandRidge Energy of Oklahoma City is the original developer of the horizontal Missis- sippian Lime play and holds a significant land position. Matthew Grubb, president and CEO of SandRidge, says we have “completed more than 100 horizontal wells in the original 900,000-acre play, (and) we have generated nearly $15 billion in net asset value.” San- dRidge has also identified a second Mississip- pian-age play in the Oklahoma-Kansas area and is actively acquiring leases. The shallow Mississippian Lime at 6,000 ft depth averages 200-300 ft thick. Vertical well control is ex- cellent, making the 4,000-ft, 10-stage laterals relatively easy to implement.
Other companies have joined SandRidge in horizontal development of the Mississippian Lime, including Eagle Energy of Tulsa, OK. Eagle CEO, Steve Antry, says they originally began drilling in the area for Hunton wells,a somewhat deeper gas play. Eagle uses low pressure hydraulic fracs and 400-ft, eight- stage fracs on their Mississippian Lime leases. High production and managed costs have resulted in an 82.5% rate of return on initial investment and a total rate of return of 130%.
Osage Resources (Hutchinson, KS.), Superior Oil & Gas (Oklahoma), and AusTex Oil Lim- ited (Texas) are also developing leaseholds in the Mississippian Limestone play.
