Horizontal Plays of the Anadarko Basin of Oklahoma
Mahlon G. Erickson (’82)
Petroleum Geologist
Eland/Sundown Energy
2601 NW Expressway, Suite 1200W
Oklahoma City OK 73112
The Anadarko Basin of western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle has been
drilled since the very early 20th Century. When I attended Augustana from 1980
to 1982, the statement was made at Gulf Oil Company where I interned that the
Anadarko Basin had been “drilled out and drilled over” and that there were no
significant oil fields left to be discovered in the basin; the only new discoveries to
be made were isolated stratigraphic traps that would be discovered “by accident”.
That was the situation 30 years ago. With advances in drilling technologies and
treatment processes, oil is booming once again in the Anadarko Basin. Horizontal
drilling and hydraulic fracturing have opened formations previously considered
too tight to be productive. These formations that produced very poorly from
straight hole perforations can now be produce economically. Formations
previously considered as only hydrocarbon source rock are now producing
fantastic amounts of oil and/or gas.
One of my responsibilities as a petroleum geologist with Eland/Sundown
Energy is to track production of the main horizontal plays in the Oklahoma
portion of the Anadarko Basin. In this short talk, I will present highlights of the
major horizontal plays in this basin: the Tonkawa, Cleveland, “Granite Wash”,
Cherokee, Mississippian and Woodford plays. I will emphasize the type of rock,
the biggest wells and the overall economic viability of each play.