AUSTIN CHALK PLAY KEEPS SETTING LIVELY PACE

Horizontal drilling continues to pay off for operators in the Cretaceous Austin chalk trend, which stretches across much of South Texas.

In the latest developments:

Clayton W. Williams Jr. Inc., Midland, Tex., completed its 17th horizontal well in Pearsall field of Frio County and its fourth in Giddings field of Burleson County. Having acquired more than 120,000 net acres in the Pearsall field area, the company plans to drill 107 more wells through 1991. It operates five rigs in the field and has two major partners.
Union Pacific Resources Co., Fort Worth, drilled 1 Jesse Smith in Burleson County with horizontal displacement of 4,191 ft, the longest for the company, The well flowed 390 b/d of oil and 3.8 MMcfd of gas through a 26/64 in. choke with 1,410 psi flowing tubing pressure.
Credo Petroleum Corp., Denver, disclosed it has acquired about 6,000 gross acres in the Atascosa County portion of the trend.

WILLIAMS OPERATIONS

Williams' 2 Nicholson in Frio County flowed 879 b/d of oil and 385 Mcfd of gas through a 24/64 in. choke with 500 psi flowing tubing pressure.

Total displacement is 64,000 ft, including seven of more than 4,000 ft and one 6 1/2 in. hole with 5,138 ft displacement.

The 17 horizontal wells drilled this year by Williams in Pearsall field are producing a combined 7,000 b/d. Cumulative production is 410,000 bbl.

Williams tested its 2 Boswell Porter horizontal well in Giddings field at 772 b/d of oil, 1.3 MMcfd of gas, and 193 b/d of water through a 24/64 in, choke with 925 psi flowing tubing pressure.

The company owns more than 40,000 acres and plans to drill 28 wells through 1991 in Giddings field. It also has participated as a 50% partner in three horizontal wells with operator Union Pacific in Burleson County.

Williams has 175,000 net acres in the Austin chalk play.

Since 1976 it has operated or had an interest in 668 Austin chalk wells, including 27 horizontal holes.

UNION PACIFIC, CREDO

With about 200,000 acres under lease or commitment in the Austin chalk trend, Union Pacific expects to complete another 34 horizontal wells in the region before yearend.

It has nine rigs under contract and plans to add two more this month.

Union Pacific has operated 27 wells and owned an interest in four other wells from Pearsall field in the southwest end of the trend to Giddings field in the northeast. The company's net production from the wells is 7,100 b/d of oil equivalent out of a gross 10,500 b/d equivalent.

Credo owns a 50% interest in its Austin chalk acreage spread, which consists of four horizontal drilling prospects ranging from 800 to 3,200 acres each. The company said the prospects lie in fault grabens where the chalk is expected to be highly fractured.

Credo said it intends to pursue drilling arrangements on the prospects, as well as on a 600 acre Upper Cretaceous Niobrara horizontal drilling prospect in Routt County, Colo. The prospect adjoins Bear River field, which has produced more than 1 million bbl of oil from the fractured Niobrara.