Шығыс Техас мұнай және газ кен орны

Oil and gas field in east Texas

The East Texas Oil Field is a large oil and gas field in east Texas. Covering and parts of five counties, and having 30,340 historic and active oil wells, it is the second largest oil field in the United States outside Alaska, and first in total volume of oil recovered since its discovery in 1930. Over of oil have been produced from it to date. It is a component of the Mid continent oil province, the huge region of petroleum deposits extending from Kansas to New Mexico to the Gulf of Mexico. The field includes parts of Gregg, western Rusk, southern Upshur, southeastern Smith, and northeastern Cherokee counties in the northeastern part of the state. Overall the field is about 45 mile (72 km) long on the north south axis, and five miles (8 km) to 12 mile (19 km) across. The producing sands were relatively shallow at about 3500 feet (1067 m), was high gravity, low in sulfur, and yielded a high percentage of gasoline (up to 37 per cent). Interstate 20 cuts across the field from east to west, and the towns of Kilgore, Overton, and Gladewater are on the field. At one time, downtown Kilgore had more than 1,000 active wells clustered in a tight area, making it the densest oil development in the world.

The primary productive geologic unit is the Cretaceous age Woodbine Formation, a regional petroleum bearing unit which had been known since the early part of the 20th century. This sandstone unit was deposited during a period when East Texas was a shallow sea, approximately 100 million years ago. During a subsequent period it was uplifted with the Sabine Uplift, eroded, and then covered again by the sea, which this time unconformably deposited a layer of impermeable chalk, the Austin Chalk, creating a stratigraphic trap – a situation where oil, which is lighter than water and migrates upwards, reaches a point where it can move no farther, and pools. The source rock for the oil in East Texas is the overlying Eagle Ford Shale. Water intrusion from deeper in Woodbine Formation is the mechanism pushing oil through the reservoir toward the producing wells. A 1932 study showed that oil wells stopped flowing when water pressure dropped below 800 pounds per square inch. More recently, the gas rich Jurassic Haynesville Shale has become the target of exploration and production.

Several early attempts were made to produce oil in the area, beginning in 1911, with the failed Millville Oil Company, but drilling technology had not progressed sufficiently to reach oil at the depths it is found there, which are mainly below 3501 feet (1067 m); most early wells ended in broken bits, dry holes, and bankrupt operators. Finally, an enterprising Alabama man, Columbus Marion (Dad) Joiner, was the first with enough persistence to succeed, and on October 3, 1930, his Daisy Bradford No. 3 well (named after the widow who owned the farm) hit oil at 3536 feet (1078 m) below ground surface. The well is located near the southeastern boundary of the oil field. This was the third well Joiner drilled, the first was abandoned at 1098 feet (335 m) in February 1928, the second at 2518 feet (767 m) in March 1929, but the second did show gas below 1400 feet (427 m). Joiner employed the driller Ed Laster for the third well, which was spudded in May 1929, only 375 feet (114 m) from the second site. Only about separated the second site from the first site. On 20 July 1930, Laster took a core sample at 3411 feet (1040 m), which showed of oil sand. On 5 September 1930, a drill stem test at 3486 feet (1063 m) showed oil and gas. By 2 October, the casing was cemented in, and the well was ready to be brought in, with over 8000 persons on hand to bear witness. On 5 October, oil gushed over the derrick before Laster directed the 6800 BOPD flow into storage tanks. Haroldson Lafayette “H. L.” Hunt was among the independent oil producers who rushed to East Texas. Hunt had been successful during the 1920s in the El Dorado and Smackover oil fields of Arkansas. When Dad Joiner found himself in legal trouble soon after the Daisy Bradford No. 3 discovery, Hunt met with him at the Baker Hotel in Dallas in November 1930 and bought the well and 5,580 acres for $1.34 million. On 20 December, Hunt's Panola Pipeline Company was pumping oil to a branch line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, where tank cars sent it onward to Sinclair Oil Corporation's Houston refinery. By the summer of 1931, about 1,200 Rusk County oil wells were producing 900,000 barrels of oil a day. Hunt's purchase provided the financial base for him to found Hunt Oil Company in 1934. Some unscrupulous operators had drilled slanted holes from across their lease lines into the productive portions of the Woodbine formation. Inspectors found 380 deviated wells and shut them down with the assistance of the Texas Rangers. An estimated $100 million worth of oil was stolen over several decades from legal owners. Since its discovery, the East Texas Oil Field has produced more than of oil, and it originally contained more than At the 2018 price of about $55/bbl, the past production would be worth around $285 billion today.