Permian Newsletter, July 2000
Executive Summary
Following
is an overview of activity in Southeast New Mexico. Gas volumes produced in the Permian
Basin averaged 4,931 MMcf/d for the third quarter of 1999; approximately one-third of this
volume came from Southeast New Mexico. In May 2000, flows to the Permian Basin from the
San Juan Basin from El Paso were up to 638 MMcf/d and flows from Transwestern were 71
MMcf/d, for a total flow to Permian of 709 MMcf/d. Crude oil spot prices for May were
$28.79, an increase of $3.07 from April. June spot natural gas prices at the Waha Hub
climbed to an average of $4.10. In May, there were 95 notices of intention to drill, 6
workover completions, 81 well completions and 50 plugged and abandoned wells; 40 of these
were oil wells.
Background
The
Permian Basin occupies approximately 70-80 thousand square miles and includes 51 counties
in west Texas and four counties in southeastern New Mexico. The basin is bounded
structurally on the east by the Bend arch, on the north by the Amarillo-Ouachita uplift,
on the west by the Sacramento Mountains and on the south by the Marathon thrust belt.
Sedimentary rocks within the basin are as much as 30,000 feet thick in the deepest areas.
Nearly all the rocks are of Paleozoic era within a thin veneer of Mesozoic strata at the
surface. Carbonates, both limestone and dolomite, are the dominant lithology. The basin
currently produces just over 5 Bcf/d, with 25% of the volume from the New Mexico side and
75% from the Texas side. Almost 50,000 wells, of which 34,000 are oil wells, are contained
in this basin. The current estimated remaining recoverable reserves for southeastern New
Mexico is 2.6 Tcf of gas and 719 million barrels of oil. Total gas production from
southeastern New Mexico has increased steadily over the last ten years, from 1.1 Bcf/d in
1988 to over 1.4 Bcf/d during 1997. Oil production from this area during the same period
has remained relatively flat, at just over 60 million barrels per year. |
|
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}