Pardon the revisit to the up-and-coming Mississippian plays in Oklahoma’s Anadarko Basin. New developments are a challenge to follow in Oklahoma due to an overabundance of acronyms, including Scoop, Stack, Wedge, Merge and Score. These new acronyms seem to surface quarterly as E&Ps jockey to differentiate acreage among peers.

An excellent recap is found in Leslie Haines’ masterful cover story on the Scoop and Stack in the October 2017 issue of Oil and Gas Investor.

So why revisit the topic? Hart Energy’s September DUG Midcontinent conference featured additional insight as to where the Anadarko Basin sits in developmental evolution, including new information from privately held E&Ps.

Conference takeaways indicate the region’s promising multiformation tight oil play is still early in its evolutionary arc.

Full-field development and its attendant economies of scale, as seen in the Marcellus, Bakken, Eagle Ford and Permian, have not yet come to the Midcontinent, though larger E&Ps such as Devon Energy Corp., Continental Resources Inc., Newfield Exploration Inc. and Marathon Oil Co. plan initial multiwell developmental tests on stacked formation targets in 2018.

Ongoing delineation efforts indicate Oklahoma’s stacked pay tight formation bounty extends from the Devonian Woodford Shale, which is the original source rock, up through lower and upper Mississippian-era formations and into Pennsylvanian-era targets. Stacked pay targets present phase and pressure variation north to south and east to west, and range from oil cuts above 70% in the northeast to higher liquids and natural gas content to the southwest in the traditional Cana Woodford play (Canadian and Dewey Counties).

Currently, Mississippian-era targets are top of mind in the Anadarko. Kingfisher and Blaine counties have been ground zero for Stack development, which is occurring in the same area as the vertically drilled legacy Sooner Trend. Don’t get hung up on acronyms. Think of the Stack as an evolving lower Mississippian Meramec play where E&Ps are expanding efforts to encompass other Mississippian targets such as the Osage/Sycamore Formation. Tight oil Mississippian tests have jumped the Anadarko Basin into Hughes County in the Arkoma Basin. Meanwhile, E&Ps are prospecting for the full extent of the Devonian-era Woodford Shale and Hunton/Misener plays across the Anadarko.

Clearly, news flow is accelerating for Oklahoma’s unfolding tight formation bounty as E&Ps extend both geographical limits and technological acumen. Density tests are underway in southwestern Kingfisher and southeastern Blaine County, again featuring Devon, Marathon, Continental and Newfield Exploration, while Grady County remains a leading focal point for Scoop exploitation.

In 2017, E&Ps discovered that Stack IP30s per 1,000 foot of lateral responded well to higher proppant loading—completion optimization—with E&Ps moving from 1,700 to 2,700 pounds per foot of lateral. Higher proppant loading has not yet shown correlation to increased production in Scoop tests, though that may change in 2018.

Meanwhile, recent regulatory developments will soon open Oklahoma to extended laterals and a further opportunity to reduce cost per unit of hydrocarbon. This is an important step. In theory, well economics improve as the industry evolves from delineation through optimization to full-field development.

That theory provides context on where the rapidly evolving Stack/Scoop sortie ranks in tight formation inter-basinal economics. The Midcontinent turned in the largest reduction in breakeven cost year-over-year among all tight formation plays and now ranks just above the Permian Basin’s Wolfcamp and Bone Spring and Colorado’s Niobrara Shale.

In fact, the Stack/Scoop moved ahead of Bakken economics in 2017.

Remember, E&Ps are still prospecting the full geographical extent of the tight formation opportunity. For example, Mississippian delineation and completion optimization efforts are moving north out of the Kingfisher/Blaine core into Garfield County where Chaparral Energy Inc., Longfellow Energy LP and Alta Mesa Holdings LP (acquired in August by Silver Run Acquisition Corp. and former Anadarko Petroleum CEO James Hackett) are testing enhanced completions.

All three E&Ps held legacy vertical production along the Nemaha uplift, but are now turning to horizontal wells and multistage fracturing to exploit Mississippian targets. Production in the complex, naturally fractured Osage is responding to a completion cocktail featuring swellable packers in a plug and perf, high-volume slickwater slurry on reduced spacing.

Such solutions echo the narrative established in tight formation plays elsewhere. Technological insights expand hydrocarbon extraction geographically while lowering costs, meaning it is still morning in the Anadarko, even at $50 oil.

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