Field History, Barstow Fusselman Gas Field, Ward County, Texas
Authors: Lacy James W. , Rogers M.D. 
Published: December 2007

This paper was prepared for the 1972 Deep Drilling Symposium of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME to be held in Amarillo, Tex., Sept. 11–12, 1972. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon requested to the Editor of the appropriate journal, provided agreement to give proper credit is made. provided agreement to give proper credit is made. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers Office. Such discussions may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

The Barstow Fusselman Gas Field was discovered in February, 1969. The initial well was completed from Silurian Fusselman perforations at 17,548–576 ft for a calculated perforations at 17,548–576 ft for a calculated absolute open flow potential of 132 MMCFPD. This well was placed on production in July, 1969, and as of July 1, 1972, had produced 22.03 BCF. Since that date, there have been 10 wells completed in the Barstow Fusselman Field. Cumulative gas production as of July 1, 1972 from the field is 67.5 BCF. Open flow potentials range from 25 MMCFPD to 495 MMCFPD.

Production has been indicated from Pennsylvanian, Devonian and Ellenburger Pennsylvanian, Devonian and Ellenburger horizons. None of these additional pays have been placed on production as yet. one well has flowed 25 MMCFPD from the Ellenburger formation, found at approximately 19,000 ft.

Drilling and producing problems are not particularly unique to this field; however, particularly unique to this field; however, both abnormal pressure and corrosion must be considered when designing the drilling program and the casing string.

Introduction

The Barstow Fusselman Gas Field was discovered by Adobe oil Company in February, 1969. The initial completion was in the Fusselman at 17,548–576 ft for a CAOF Of 132 MMCFPD. It is located 8 miles east of Pecos in the heart of the Delaware Basin which is a province in West Texas of deep major gas fields. The discovery attracted little attention at the time because logs indicated the pay to be relatively thin and possibly tight while being significantly low to nearby fields.

FIELD DATA

Geology: The Barstow Fusselman has been fairly well defined as shown on map No. 2. Structurally, the field is a large deep-seated anticline located between Mi Vida and Worsham-Bayer Gas Fields. The reservoir rock consists of a white, tan to gray, medium to coarsely crystalline dolomite with large dolomite rhombohedrons. The typical well will contain approximately 100 ft of Fusselman dolomite. Drilling rates and porosity logs indicate the best porosity to exist in the top 40 ft of the section. Porosities of a low order (4–5%) are generally found in the basal part of the section.