Midland Basin Update: The Permian’s Older and Wiser Half
Thursday July 28, 2016
Previously we have discussed the Permian Basin in quite a lot of detail, historic and current context, geological framework, and a number of operator analyses. In terms of current news, much attention is given to the new horizontal E&P going on in the Delaware Basin.
But of course the Midland Basin is maintaining a respectable clip in terms of activity and innovation, so let’s take a look!First for context here are all the wells that have come online in the past 5 years in the Permian Basin, with bubbles colored by production type and sized by first 6 month BOE (6:1), and the currently active rigs throughout the area. Clearly we see the twin lobes of the Delaware Basin to the west and the Midland Basin to the East. The blue horizontal wells dominate in the Delaware lobe and in distinctive portions of the Midland. Many operators in the Midland are combining vertical wells with hydraulic fracturing across the stacked pay potential, so don’t look at those Vs as if they’re straight up conventional . On the right I have superimposed the paleomap of the Early Permian which helps highlight the Central Basin Platform that divides the two lobes.
