THE MARION TRENTON PROJECT,
CINCINNATI ARCH, INDIANA
Operator:
Hoosier Hydrocarbons Inc. – 72%
Osceola – 28%
The Marion Trenton project is located in Grant, Wells and Adams Counties, Indiana, covering approximately 21,000 acres. Osceola holds a 28% interest in this venture operated by Texas based Hoosier Hydrocarbons Inc.
The project is located in north eastern Indiana within the confines of one of the first giant oilfields discovered in the US. Approximately 500 million barrels of oil have been recovered from the Trenton field which was the basis for the formation of the original Standard Oil Company of Indiana.
The target reservoir, the Ordovician Trenton Formation, hosts karst dolomite breccias which are expected to be encountered between 950 and 1,000 feet.
A pre-paid three well programme, comprising Shady Lane 1, 2 and 3 has commenced. This programme comprises a water disposal well to handle the produced fluids, and the drilling of a
vertical and a horizontal well to test the porous dolomite facies of the pay zone.
In recent years, horizontal drilling technology has been successfully applied to enhance recovery in mature fields, recovering reserves left behind due to poor drainage and compartmentalisation, essentially by increasing the volume of reservoir exposed to the well. The drilling at Marion Trenton will be the first use of horizontal drilling on this historic oilfield.
The concept of this play is to drill the known reservoir, from which only an estimated 15% of the original oil was recovered, and pump high volumes of fluid from both the vertical and horizontal wells. Considering the field is in excess of 100 years old, it is thought that an oil cut ranging from 5 –10% can be achieved on fluid volumes of 500 to 1,000 barrels per day. Ultimate recovery for the current acreage position is projected to be 15 million barrels of oil.
As a point of interest, the history of oil and gas development in the state of Indiana began in the mid 1800s.
Following news of the success of Colonel Edmund Drake’s oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859, oil exploration moved west into Indiana. Hydrocarbons were discovered at what was to be known as the Trenton field in 1876 continuing into the first decade of the 20th century. A wild, untethered boom ensued, resulting in thousands of wells being drilled. Gas was used to attract and fuel numerous industries in the region and manufacturing centres such as Marion, Kokomo and Anderson can be directly attributed to the development of the Trenton field.
The Indiana Geological Survey believes there is a fair potential for the discovery of significant new reserves in the state.
In addition, they also comment that the application of new technologies to explore for and produce oil and gas could hold the key to unlocking some of Indiana’s resource potential.
