Wildcatting is Back: The New Lower 48 Oil Plays

Lower 48 onshore oil and gas producers have been proving large new plays in 2024, looking to grow their inventory organically.

Utica oil

In Ohio, EOG Resources has advanced its Utica volatile oil play to down-spacing tests. In its first, the five-well Shadow pad surfaced 72,022 bbl its first 13 days online, averaging 1,108 bbl/d, according to Ohio Department of Natural Resources (DNR) files.

The 700-ft test in Carroll County is near EOG’s four-well, 1,000-ft spaced Timberwolf pad, which came online in August 2023.

At Timberwolf, the first three of its wells produced 137,632 bbl in their first 37 days, averaging 1,239 bbl/d each. A fourth was turned into sales four months later for 658 bbl/d in its first three months.

EOG has roughly 445,000 net acres in the volatile oil and the black oil fairways in a roughly 140-mile north-south stretch through eastern Ohio.

It joined privately held Encino Energy, which rebooted in 2018 the circa 2012 wildcatting that succumbed to the post-2014 oil price collapse in the face of the higher drilling and completion (D&C) costs across the Lower 48 of the time.

The No. 1 Ohio oil producer, now with more than 40,000 bbl/d, Encino’s recent four-well Sproul pad’s wells in Tuscarawas County made 507,712 bbl, averaging about 1,587 bbl/d each, in their first 80 days online, according to the Ohio DNR.

Also privately held, Infinity Natural Resources’ Casper #5HU in Carroll County averaged 1,361 bbl/d in its first 88 days. Ohio’s No. 3 producer now, Infinity is planning an IPO.

Dean oil

In southern Dawson County, Texas, in the oil-heavy northern Midland Basin, operators are landing laterals in the Dean sandstone overlying Wolfcamp and finding promising returns.

SM Energy, which picked up leasehold there in 2023, made the Joey MacDonald #2182DN with 21,684 bbl in its first days through Aug. 31. Casinghead gas was 13.8 MMcf, according to Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) data.

An adjacent well, Joey MacDonald A #2181DN, produced 35,199 bbl. Casinghead gas was 18 MMcf.

Privately held Birch Resources brought two giant Dean wells on with more than 216,863 bbl combined in their first two months online.

Hot Pie A #2DN made 118,973 bbl in June and July, according to the RRC. Its first-24-hour IP in April was 2,342 bbl from a 10,404-ft lateral in the Dean at about 8,700 ft.

Alongside it, Hot Pie C #6DN tested 2,768 bbl in its first 24 hours, also in April, from a 10,229-ft lateral. It made 97,890 bbl in its first two months through July.

The two Hot Pie wells’ combined 103,093 bbl in July brought Birch’s Dawson County output to 414,620 bbl in that 31-day period, or 13,375 bbl/d, according to RRC data.

Utah oil

In the Uinta Basin, Finley Resources’ development of a rail-takeaway terminal has lifted the production ceiling past its roughly 90,000 bbl/d traditional cap.

With output now unleashed, producers are landing laterals, surfacing more than 170,000 bbl/d.

SM Energy entered this year, buying out XCL Resources and Altamont Energy. It counts as many as 17 potential lateral targets in the stacked pay in the Uinta’s western window that is more than 80% oil-weighted.

Longtime Uinta operator Ovintiv reported in early November that it has resumed drilling its largely undeveloped 137,000 net acres there where it estimates it has about 1,000 feet of pay.

Takeaway was constrained because the Uinta’s crude is waxy, requiring transportation in insulated tanks rather than pipe. With rail capacity opening up as fewer coal cars are using the tracks—due to growth in natural gas use in power generation—operators are able to ship production to Wyoming, Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast after satisfying Salt Lake City refineries’ demand via truck.

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