Yates Oil Field
Encyclopedia
The Yates Oil Field is a giant oil field in the Permian Basin of west Texas
. Primarily in extreme southeastern Pecos County, it also stretches under the Pecos River
and partially into Crockett County. Iraan
, on the Pecos River and directly adjacent to the field, is the nearest town. The field has produced more than one billion barrels of oil, making it one of the largest in the United States, and in 2009 it remains productive, though at a diminished rate. Estimated recoverable reserves are still approximately one billion barrels, which represents approximately 50% of the original oil in place (OOIP).
borders the field on the east, and U.S. Highway 190/193 borders the field on the north, passing through it going west on its way to Interstate 10
, 14 miles (22.5 km) from Iraan. A small part of the field extends across the Pecos River
into Crockett County, principally southeast of Iraan.
Terrain is hilly on the field itself, with some steep canyon walls and numerous mesas. The region is along the edge of the Edwards Plateau
. Elevations range from 2300 feet (701 m) along the Pecos River to over 2800 feet (853.4 m) on the highest mesas. Average annual rainfall is about thirteen inches, and temperatures range from an average overnight low in January of 31 °F (-.6 °C) to a July afternoon high of 96. Native vegetation, where present – for much of the area is exposed rock – consists of desert shrubs, grasses, and scrubby live oaks. Drainage is primarily to the north and east, into the Pecos River, which flows south into the Rio Grande
.
period. During this time it filled with water and became a sea, while the subsidence continued. Over tens of millions of years the sea filled with sediments – principally limestone
s and dolomite
s in the area of the Yates Field – and then as the sea evaporated, those sedimentary rocks were capped with a large layer of evaporite
s, such as potash
and sea salt. These stratigraphic sequences are among the thickest collections of Permian rocks in the world. In areas where large anticline
s formed, oil from deeper-lying source rocks was trapped in permeable rocks such as the limestone and dolomite underneath the impermeable cap of evaporite sediments.
In the Yates Field, the two richest oil-bearing rocks are the Grayburg Dolomite and San Andres Formation. The Grayburg is cavernous, having once been a tropical island with fresh water carving holes in the limestone, creating a karst
terrain; the San Andres consists of fractured, dolomitized carbonates, and like the Grayburg contains copious free space in which petroleum accumulated over the eons. Some of these oil-filled caverns are as high as 21 feet (6.4 m). In addition to these two units, the Queen Formation, which contains interbedded sandstone, siltstone, and dolomite, and the complex Seven Rivers Formation, contain recoverable quantities of oil. Capping all four units is a salt layer in the Seven Rivers Formation.
region of West Texas (the town of Iraan is named for them: Ira+Ann). Yates had recently purchased the ranch, and was having difficulty making sufficient profit to pay the mortgage and taxes; on a hunch, he invited Transcontinental Oil Company to explore his land for oil. In 1926, a partnership consisting of Mid Kansas Oil Company (part of The Ohio Oil Company, the ancestor of Marathon Oil
) and Transcontinental Oil, drilled an exploratory well on the Yates ranch into the San Andres formation approximately 1000 feet (304.8 m) below ground surface, and hit a rich productive zone, producing a "gusher" – an uncontrolled spew of crude oil, under intense pressure, into the air. Lacking any other means of containment, the crew dammed a nearby draw to build a holding pond for the oil. Other wells drilled nearby also hit substantial quantities of oil – it seemed to be everywhere. Both Yates and the oilmen immediately recognized the significance of their find.
Unfortunately for the early development of the field, oil production and transportation infrastructure was lacking nearby. Early drillers needed huge holding tanks, pipelines, or rail sidings; until these could be built or supplied, no oil could be transported to buyers. Humble Pipe Line Co., an ancestor of Exxon Company, was the nearest to have any facilities at all – a pipeline that went to McCamey
, in Upton County
, about 25 miles (40.2 km) northwest of the production area. Humble began construction of a 55000 barrels (8,744.3 m³) storage tank to hold the oil, but even that was insufficient for the colossal quantities of crude that flowed from the field. Many of the early wells on the Yates Field were phenomenally productive; the first five wells, by spring 1927, together produced an average of 9009 oilbbl/d, far more than could be stored or moved. The sixth well drilled, Yates 6-A, blew out due to extreme gas pressure, and 500 oilbbl/d blew through the damaged well onto the ground, pooling in nearby canyons. Operators were able to retrieve most of it by damming the canyons and sucking the oil up with pumps.
Environmental standards were lax to nonexistent in the early days of the industry, and poorly-constructed wells in the field often leaked crude from unsealed portions of the casing. Much of this oil migrated upwards, contaminating the Pecos River. Thousands of barrels per day were recovered by skimming the river, as well as drilling shallow wells, above the capping geologic formation, capturing oil before it reached ground surface. Over 3 Moilbbl of oil was eventually recovered, all from seepage from poorly-cased wells.
Production from the field peaked in 1929, with a total production of 41 Moilbbl of oil. That year also saw the spudding of well Yates 30-A, which blew out with the spectacular flow of 8528 barrels (1,355.8 m³) per hour, and over 200,000 in a day, setting the world record; even the Lakeview Gusher
at the Midway-Sunset
field in California, which spewed a total of approximately 9 Moilbbl in its 18-month uncontrolled run, only attained half of that daily flow rate. Because of the high production rate from the field and lack of storage and transport, the State of Texas Railroad Commission – the entity that oversees petroleum production – required a proration of the field for the first time in Texas history. Under this rule, all operators were given an equal share in the pipeline outlet based on what their wells could produce, based on the total field production. Additionally, operators were restricted in the depth they could drill into the cavernous reservoir, to give each an equal advantage.
When the field was discovered, an instant boomtown sprung up in the form of tents and shanties around a red barn on the Yates Ranch, about three miles (5 km) south of present-day Iraan. This town, unsurprisingly named Redbarn, acquired a post office, general store, hotel, filling station, and restaurant, but never had a permanent population greater than 75. Ira Yates, owner of the ranch and oil field, donated 152 acre (0.61512272 km²) of his land for the townsite of Iraan, which town survives to the present day. Redbarn was abandoned in 1952.
The two major early operators of the field, Ohio Oil and Mid-Kansas, merged in 1962 to form Marathon Oil
, which ran the field until 2003. By 1966 production had diminished due to depletion of many of the major reservoirs, and between 1968 and 1972 Marathon operated a waterflooding program on the west side of the field, along with a CO2-injection regime. Both of these enhanced recovery technologies increased pressure in the field, allowing increased oil recovery, which approximately doubled as a result. In the late 1970s, production again dropped, and Marathon commenced another waterflood project, this time followed closely by a pattern polymer flood. The polymer flood was ended in 1989. The 1 billionth barrel of oil was produced on January 11, 1985. Between 1985 and 1991, Marathon injected more CO2 into the central, eastern, and northern parts of the field; all of these activities improved production.
In 1992 there were 1,100 active production wells, along with 57 injection wells. Careful study of the fractured nature of the oil-bearing geologic units allowed operators to shut down almost 400 of the least efficient wells without diminishing the overall output of the field.
The current operator of the field is Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, who acquired it from Marathon Oil in 2003. Currently there are over 360 productive oil wells.
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Primarily in extreme southeastern Pecos County, it also stretches under the Pecos River
Pecos River
The headwaters of the Pecos River are located north of Pecos, New Mexico, United States, at an elevation of over 12,000 feet on the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County. The river flows for through the eastern portion of that state and neighboring Texas before it...
and partially into Crockett County. Iraan
Iraan, Texas
Iraan is a city in Pecos County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,238 at the 2000 census. The correct pronunciation is "Eye-ruh-ann"; it was named for Ira and Ann Yates, owners of the ranchland upon which the town was built.-Geography:...
, on the Pecos River and directly adjacent to the field, is the nearest town. The field has produced more than one billion barrels of oil, making it one of the largest in the United States, and in 2009 it remains productive, though at a diminished rate. Estimated recoverable reserves are still approximately one billion barrels, which represents approximately 50% of the original oil in place (OOIP).
Setting
The productive area of the oil field covers approximately 26400 acres (106.8 km²), or over 41 square miles (106.2 km²), in a roughly circular area in far eastern Pecos County, south, southwest and west of the town of Iraan. Texas State Highway 349Texas State Highway 349
State Highway 349 or SH 349 is a 194.43 mile state highway in the western part of Texas.-History:The original formation of the highway in 1943 included only the section from Rankin to Midland, replacing a former route of . In 1947 and FM 306 were redesignated to form the part of SH 349 from...
borders the field on the east, and U.S. Highway 190/193 borders the field on the north, passing through it going west on its way to Interstate 10
Interstate 10
Interstate 10 is the fourth-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, after I-90, I-80, and I-40. It is the southernmost east–west, coast-to-coast Interstate Highway, although I-4 and I-8 are further south. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean at State Route 1 in Santa Monica,...
, 14 miles (22.5 km) from Iraan. A small part of the field extends across the Pecos River
Pecos River
The headwaters of the Pecos River are located north of Pecos, New Mexico, United States, at an elevation of over 12,000 feet on the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County. The river flows for through the eastern portion of that state and neighboring Texas before it...
into Crockett County, principally southeast of Iraan.
Terrain is hilly on the field itself, with some steep canyon walls and numerous mesas. The region is along the edge of the Edwards Plateau
Edwards Plateau
The Edwards Plateau is a region of west-central Texas which is bounded by the Balcones Fault to the south and east, the Llano Uplift and the Llano Estacado to the north, and the Pecos River and Chihuahuan Desert to the west. San Angelo, Austin, San Antonio and Del Rio roughly outline the area...
. Elevations range from 2300 feet (701 m) along the Pecos River to over 2800 feet (853.4 m) on the highest mesas. Average annual rainfall is about thirteen inches, and temperatures range from an average overnight low in January of 31 °F (-.6 °C) to a July afternoon high of 96. Native vegetation, where present – for much of the area is exposed rock – consists of desert shrubs, grasses, and scrubby live oaks. Drainage is primarily to the north and east, into the Pecos River, which flows south into the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
.
Geology
The Yates field is the southernmost of the large oil fields on the eastern rim of the Central Basin Platform in the Texas Permian Basin, the most productive petroleum-producing region in the continental United States. The Permian Basin is a geologic region, about 300 miles (482.8 km) long and 250 miles (402.3 km) across, which was downwarped during the PermianPermian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
period. During this time it filled with water and became a sea, while the subsidence continued. Over tens of millions of years the sea filled with sediments – principally limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
s and dolomite
Dolomite
Dolomite is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone....
s in the area of the Yates Field – and then as the sea evaporated, those sedimentary rocks were capped with a large layer of evaporite
Evaporite
Evaporite is a name for a water-soluble mineral sediment that result from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of evaporate deposits, marine which can also be described as ocean deposits, and non-marine which are found in standing bodies of...
s, such as potash
Potash
Potash is the common name for various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains, and this was the major historical source for it before the industrial era...
and sea salt. These stratigraphic sequences are among the thickest collections of Permian rocks in the world. In areas where large anticline
Anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core. The term is not to be confused with antiform, which is a purely descriptive term for any fold that is convex up. Therefore if age relationships In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is...
s formed, oil from deeper-lying source rocks was trapped in permeable rocks such as the limestone and dolomite underneath the impermeable cap of evaporite sediments.
In the Yates Field, the two richest oil-bearing rocks are the Grayburg Dolomite and San Andres Formation. The Grayburg is cavernous, having once been a tropical island with fresh water carving holes in the limestone, creating a karst
KARST
Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...
terrain; the San Andres consists of fractured, dolomitized carbonates, and like the Grayburg contains copious free space in which petroleum accumulated over the eons. Some of these oil-filled caverns are as high as 21 feet (6.4 m). In addition to these two units, the Queen Formation, which contains interbedded sandstone, siltstone, and dolomite, and the complex Seven Rivers Formation, contain recoverable quantities of oil. Capping all four units is a salt layer in the Seven Rivers Formation.
History
The land which the field underlies was owned by Ira and Ann Yates, ranchers in the hardscrabble Trans-PecosTrans-Pecos
The term Trans-Pecos, as originally defined in 1887 by the Texas geologist Robert T. Hill, refers to the portion of Texas that lies west of the Pecos River. The term is considered synonymous with "Far West Texas", a subdivision of West Texas...
region of West Texas (the town of Iraan is named for them: Ira+Ann). Yates had recently purchased the ranch, and was having difficulty making sufficient profit to pay the mortgage and taxes; on a hunch, he invited Transcontinental Oil Company to explore his land for oil. In 1926, a partnership consisting of Mid Kansas Oil Company (part of The Ohio Oil Company, the ancestor of Marathon Oil
Marathon Oil
Marathon Oil Corporation is a United States-based oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Principal exploration activities are in the United States, Norway, Equatorial Guinea, Angola and Canada. Principal development activities are in the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway,...
) and Transcontinental Oil, drilled an exploratory well on the Yates ranch into the San Andres formation approximately 1000 feet (304.8 m) below ground surface, and hit a rich productive zone, producing a "gusher" – an uncontrolled spew of crude oil, under intense pressure, into the air. Lacking any other means of containment, the crew dammed a nearby draw to build a holding pond for the oil. Other wells drilled nearby also hit substantial quantities of oil – it seemed to be everywhere. Both Yates and the oilmen immediately recognized the significance of their find.
Unfortunately for the early development of the field, oil production and transportation infrastructure was lacking nearby. Early drillers needed huge holding tanks, pipelines, or rail sidings; until these could be built or supplied, no oil could be transported to buyers. Humble Pipe Line Co., an ancestor of Exxon Company, was the nearest to have any facilities at all – a pipeline that went to McCamey
McCamey, Texas
McCamey is a city in Upton County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,805 at the 2000 census. The Texas legislature has declared McCamey "the Wind Energy Capital of Texas" because of the many wind farms that have been built in the area. Its history, however, is primarily that of an oil...
, in Upton County
Upton County, Texas
Upton County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 3,404. Its county seat is Rankin. The county is named for two brothers: John C. and William F. Upton, both Colonels in the Confederate army....
, about 25 miles (40.2 km) northwest of the production area. Humble began construction of a 55000 barrels (8,744.3 m³) storage tank to hold the oil, but even that was insufficient for the colossal quantities of crude that flowed from the field. Many of the early wells on the Yates Field were phenomenally productive; the first five wells, by spring 1927, together produced an average of 9009 oilbbl/d, far more than could be stored or moved. The sixth well drilled, Yates 6-A, blew out due to extreme gas pressure, and 500 oilbbl/d blew through the damaged well onto the ground, pooling in nearby canyons. Operators were able to retrieve most of it by damming the canyons and sucking the oil up with pumps.
Environmental standards were lax to nonexistent in the early days of the industry, and poorly-constructed wells in the field often leaked crude from unsealed portions of the casing. Much of this oil migrated upwards, contaminating the Pecos River. Thousands of barrels per day were recovered by skimming the river, as well as drilling shallow wells, above the capping geologic formation, capturing oil before it reached ground surface. Over 3 Moilbbl of oil was eventually recovered, all from seepage from poorly-cased wells.
Production from the field peaked in 1929, with a total production of 41 Moilbbl of oil. That year also saw the spudding of well Yates 30-A, which blew out with the spectacular flow of 8528 barrels (1,355.8 m³) per hour, and over 200,000 in a day, setting the world record; even the Lakeview Gusher
Lakeview Gusher
Lakeview Gusher Number One was an immense out-of-control pressurized oil well in the Midway-Sunset Oil Field in Kern County, California, resulting in what is the largest single oil spill in history, lasting 18 months and releasing of crude oil. In what was one of the largest oil reserves in...
at the Midway-Sunset
Midway-Sunset Oil Field
The Midway-Sunset Oil Field is a large oil field in Kern County, San Joaquin Valley, California in the United States. Discovered in 1894, and having a cumulative production of close to of oil at the end of 2006, it is the largest oil field in California and the third largest in the United States....
field in California, which spewed a total of approximately 9 Moilbbl in its 18-month uncontrolled run, only attained half of that daily flow rate. Because of the high production rate from the field and lack of storage and transport, the State of Texas Railroad Commission – the entity that oversees petroleum production – required a proration of the field for the first time in Texas history. Under this rule, all operators were given an equal share in the pipeline outlet based on what their wells could produce, based on the total field production. Additionally, operators were restricted in the depth they could drill into the cavernous reservoir, to give each an equal advantage.
When the field was discovered, an instant boomtown sprung up in the form of tents and shanties around a red barn on the Yates Ranch, about three miles (5 km) south of present-day Iraan. This town, unsurprisingly named Redbarn, acquired a post office, general store, hotel, filling station, and restaurant, but never had a permanent population greater than 75. Ira Yates, owner of the ranch and oil field, donated 152 acre (0.61512272 km²) of his land for the townsite of Iraan, which town survives to the present day. Redbarn was abandoned in 1952.
The two major early operators of the field, Ohio Oil and Mid-Kansas, merged in 1962 to form Marathon Oil
Marathon Oil
Marathon Oil Corporation is a United States-based oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Principal exploration activities are in the United States, Norway, Equatorial Guinea, Angola and Canada. Principal development activities are in the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway,...
, which ran the field until 2003. By 1966 production had diminished due to depletion of many of the major reservoirs, and between 1968 and 1972 Marathon operated a waterflooding program on the west side of the field, along with a CO2-injection regime. Both of these enhanced recovery technologies increased pressure in the field, allowing increased oil recovery, which approximately doubled as a result. In the late 1970s, production again dropped, and Marathon commenced another waterflood project, this time followed closely by a pattern polymer flood. The polymer flood was ended in 1989. The 1 billionth barrel of oil was produced on January 11, 1985. Between 1985 and 1991, Marathon injected more CO2 into the central, eastern, and northern parts of the field; all of these activities improved production.
In 1992 there were 1,100 active production wells, along with 57 injection wells. Careful study of the fractured nature of the oil-bearing geologic units allowed operators to shut down almost 400 of the least efficient wells without diminishing the overall output of the field.
The current operator of the field is Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, who acquired it from Marathon Oil in 2003. Currently there are over 360 productive oil wells.