Oil Production from Fractured Cherts of Woodford and Arkansas Novaculite Formations, Oklahoma: ABSTRACT

Abstract

The chert section of the Woodford Formation has been known to be productive of oil and gas for at least 30 years. However, little was known about the chert as a reservoir until 1969 when Jones and Pellow Oil Co. and Westheimer-Neustadt Corp. jointly developed the Northeast Alden pool extension in T7N, R13W, Caddo County, Oklahoma. Cores, thin sections, X-ray analyses, and combustion tube studies indicate that the Woodford Chert is a prime source bed for hydrocarbons, and when fractured is an excellent reservoir. In February 1977, Westheimer-Neustadt Corp. drilled the No. 1 Wallace in Sec. 2, T8S, R5E, to test the Arkansas Novaculite, which is similar to the Woodford Chert, and completed the well for a potential flow of more than 1,000 bbl of oil per day. The significance of the discovery has not been fully realized by industry in that it may have opened a new petroleum province in the Ouachita facies that extends from southeastern Oklahoma in a broad arch for over 600 mi (966 km) to the Marathon Mountains near the Mexican border. End_of_Article - Last_Page 754------------