The Central Basin Platform is getting a boost despite nearing 100 years of activity thanks to horizontal drilling and completion techniques, which have dramatically increased production in the storied basin.

Even the Central Basin Platform’s Wasson Field, which discovery dates back almost 80 years, landed a spot on the Energy Information Administration’s 100 U.S. oil fields in 2015. The field is located in Gaines and Yoakum counties in West Texas.

The discovery well for the Wasson Field was drilled in 1937, to just over 5,000 feet, with production from the San Andres.

Central Basin formations currently producing from horizontal drilling include: Leonard, Yates, San Andres, Wolfcamp from the Permian, and Cisco, Canyon, Strawn and Atoka from the deeper Pennsylvanian.

Even though the basin is wedged between powerful Permian magnets—the Midland and Delaware basins—the Central Basin is still drawing interest.

In May, a lease sale by the New Mexico State Land Office drew a high bid of $257 million by Opal Resources II LLC for Central Basin Platform acreage, according to IHS Markit.

The company spent about $752 per acre for a 341.56-acre parcel taking in all of irregular Section 16-21s-38e in southeastern Lea County, N.M. The northern portion of the section contains two abandoned San Andres oil wells that produced from Littman Field as recently as 2013.

The eastern edge of the lease is adjacent to Andrews County, Texas (RRC Dist. 8), where Opal permitted a horizontal Wichita-Albany test late 2015. Also nearby in Andrews, Forge Energy LLC has a successful horizontal San Andres program.

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1. Triumph Exploration: 7/1/16

Triumph Exploration Inc., based in Midland, Texas, completed a horizontal San Andres oil producer in Gaines County, Texas (RRC Dist. 8A), IHS Markit reported.

The #1H Steinle 15 was tested pumping 105 barrels (bbl) of 33-degree-gravity oil, with 80 thousand cubic feet (Mcf) of gas and 1.71 Mbbl of water per day.

Acid- and fracture-treated perforations are at 5,002 feet to 9,210 feet. A one-mile long lateral bottomed to the south-southeast beneath Section 15 at a true vertical depth of 4,586 feet.

From an offsetting surface location, Triumph is also waiting on completion tools at #1H Hall 6. The well was drilled to 9,000 feet, 4,620 feet true vertical. The horizontal leg bottomed to the north-northwest in Section 6.

The Dempsey Creek Field well is in Section 6, Block A27, Public School Land Survey, A-402, on a 320-acre lease on the Permian’s Central Basin Platform.

2. Forge Energy: 6/28/16

Forge Energy, based in San Antonio, completed a horizontal San Andres well in northwestern Andrews.

The #1H WFM Ranch 23 pumped 118 bbl of 31.7-degree-gravity oil and 2.422 Mbbl of water per day from fracture-stimulated perforations at 4,912 feet to 8,740 feet. The well was drilled to 8,910 feet and is on a 320-acre West Texas lease in Section 23, Block A28, Public School Land Survey, A-2204, according to IHS Markit.

The lateral bottomed about one mile to the north at a true vertical depth of 4,563 feet and is on the Permian’s Central Basin Platform. The completion extended the Dempsey Creek Field westward.

3. Comstock Resources: 4/1/16

Frisco, Texas-based Comstock Resources Inc. (NYSE: CRK) completed a workover in Gaines as a Wolfcamp oil discovery.

The #1 Wright is flowing 480 bbl of 39-degree-gravity oil, 500 Mcf of gas and 120 bbl of water per day. Production is from acidized and fracture-treated perforations at 9,358 feet to 9,561 feet. Gauged on a 15/64-inch choke, the flowing tubing pressure was 1,750 pounds per square inch (psi).

The 320-acre lease is in Section 1, Block A21, Public School Land Survey, A-1624, on the Central Basin Platform of the Permian Basin. The 9,929-foot hole was initially abandoned in 2002.

4. Parallel Petroleum: 12/17/15

Midland, Texas-based Parallel Petroleum LLC completed two horizontal San Andres-Harris Field wells in Andrews, IHS Markit reported.

The #1H True Grit pumped 853 bbl of 32.1-degree-gravity oil, 406 Mcf of gas and 1.37 Mbbl of water per day through acid- and fracture-treated perforations at 5,047 feet to 9,356 feet. The well was drilled to 9,356 feet, 4,604 feet true vertical, and is on a 161.19-acre West Texas lease in Section 24, Block A22, PSL Survey, A-561, on the Permian’s Central Basin Platform. The well bottomed nearly a mile to the northwest in Gaines.

The company's offsetting #1H Rio Bravo was tested pumping 544 bbl of 32-degree-gravity oil, 170 Mcf of gas and 1.705 Mbbl of water per day through acid- and fracture-treated perforations at 5,097 feet to 9,531 feet. The well is on a 522.72-acre lease with a bottomhole location almost a mile to the southeast in Section 4, Block A34, PSL Survey, A-560. The total depth is 9,531 feet and the true vertical depth is 4,694 feet.

5. Apache Corp.: 9/29/15

Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) announced results from a Woodford Shale discovery in Upton County, Texas (RRC Dist. 7C).

The #602H ZPZ Fee produced 167 bbl of 36.6-degree-gravity oil and 1.39 Mbbl of water per day from fractured perforations at 9,345 feet to 12,751 feet. The well was tested on a 12/64-inch choke and the flowing tubing pressure was 142 psi.

The 13,494-foot, 9,026-foot true vertical wildcat is on a 5,421.5-acre lease on the Central Basin Platform of the Permian Basin in Section 6, Block 1, MK&TE RR Co Survey, A-857. The south-trending lateral extends almost one mile and bottomed in Section 5.

6. Boyd & McWilliams Operating: 9/28/15

Midland, Texas-based Boyd & McWilliams Operating LLC completed a horizontal Wolfcamp discovery in Winkler County, Texas (RRC Dist. 8). Production in the area has been predominantly horizontal.

The #1H Ally 26 pumped 247 bbl of 35-degree-gravity oil, 393 Mcf of gas and 1.16 Mbbl of water per day. Production is from acid- and fracture-treated perforations at 7,948 feet to 11,500 feet.

The 11,630-foot well has a true vertical depth of 7,575 feet and was drilled out of a 7,741-foot pilot hole. The well is on a 641-acre West Texas lease in Section 26, Block B2, PSL Survey, A-1354, in the Central Basin Platform of the Permian Basin.

7. Petro-Hunt: 8/15/14

Petro-Hunt LLC, based in Dallas, has completed an exploratory horizontal well in the Wheeler Northwest Field area in Winkler.

The #1H Waddell Ranch pumped 323 bbl of 35.2 degree-gravity crude, 126 Mcf of gas and 1.4 Mbbl of water per day from Wichita-Albany Lime perforations at 7,729 feet to 11,611 feet.

The 11,725-foot well is in Section 5, Block B7, PSL Survey, A-1826 on the Central Basin Platform of the Permian Basin. The true vertical depth is 7,142 feet with a northwest-trending lateral.

Larry Prado, activity editor, can be reached at lprado@hartenergy.com.