Covenant Field: A major oil discovery in the Sevier thrust belt of central Utah

Abstract

The overthrust belt of western North America extends from British Columbia to southern Nevada. Large anticlines lie on thrust sheets along the length of this overthrust trend. Many oil and gas fields have been discovered on these structures in Canada, but significant hydrocarbon production in the United States has been primarily limited to a productive salient in southwestern Wyoming and northeastern Utah (Figure 1). On 23 December 2003, Wolverine Gas and Oil-Kings Meadow Ranches well 17-1 drilled into a 487-ft oil column in the Navajo Sandstone in Sevier County, Utah. This new significant oil reservoir is 146 miles southwest of the nearest thrust belt production at Pineview Field in Summit County, Utah. The discovery of what we call Covenant Field is not only a major discovery for Wolverine Gas and Oil but could open up a new Mississippian-sourced oil and gas province in central Utah.