Carthage Field, Panola County, Texas

Abstract

Abstract The Carthage field of East Texas is one of the major gas areas of North America. The field has produced about 4 trillion cu ft of gas and 47 million bbls of oil and condensate since 1936. On January 1, 1960, the field contained 631 producing wells and 308,395 productive acres. The field is 48 mi long in a southeast-northwest direction, and has a maximum width of 24 mi. Structurally, the field is a broad, low-relief terrace on a regional plunging anticline at the southwest end of the Sabine uplift, which separates the North Louisiana and the East Texas sedimentary basins. The Pettet Formation accounts for 92 per cent of the production (Lower Cretaceous, Comanche Series), and the Rodessa, Travis Peak, upper Glen Rose, and Paluxy Formations (in order of present importance) account for the rest. Accumulation in the limestones is controlled by structure and by belts of interfingering porous and permeable rocks which have a general northwest-southeast alignment. There is a direct relationship between the deposition of oolites, the distribution of the oolitic limestone, and hydrocarbon accumulation. Accumulation in the sandstones is trapped in part by lenticularity and erratic distribution of reservoir beds; however, the areal distribution of accumulation tends to conform with the elongate productive limestone trends. This paper is based on a detailed study of all wells drilled, and on a review of additional geological and production data furnished by operators to January 1, 1960.