American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2025 - 53

SpecialReport: Permian Basin Activity
improved, enabling us to achieve more
today with two rigs than we could with
the same resources in 2019, when we
began drilling in Southeast Ector County. "
In addition to tapping into tried-andtrue
zones, FireBird II is targeting benches
bypassed in earlier days in favor of proven
benches that offered the most immediate
production returns, he explains.
" We are having to look harder to find
good reserves, " Thompson relates. " We
are looking at some shallower Sprayberry
formations and the deeper Barnett and
Woodford, and we also are experimenting
with the Wolfcamp D. "
Legacy Field Opportunities
Elsewhere, companies continue to take
advantage of fresh opportunities in legacy
properties undergoing secondary and tertiary
production and investing in horizontal
well construction targeting formations
and plays that have traditionally been
drilled with vertical wells.
A prime example is EON Resources
Inc., which is expanding a waterflood
across 13,700 acres on New Mexico's
Northwest Shelf and looking to drill
horizontally in the San Andres as part
of a gameplan to significantly boost oil
production in the Grayburg-Jackson
Field, says Chief Executive Officer
Dante Caravaggio.
The Houston-based company launched
as a special purpose acquisition company
about three years ago, and after a search
for suitable assets, bought the Eddy
County property with the goal of doubling
or even tripling production in short order,
he explains. Stacked zones in the waterflood
include the Seven Rivers, Queen,
Grayburg and San Andres formations.
The company also has rights to the
prospective uphole Yates.
First drilled in the 1940s, the waterflood
project has access to 15.5 million barrels
of proved, developed, producing oil reserves,
according to estimates from petroleum
consultant William M. Cobb &
Associates. Total oil in place throughout
the column approaches 1 billion barrels,
Caravaggio says.
After buying the field, which includes
20 federal and three state leases, the comHouston-based
EON Resources' 2025 operational target is the Grayburg-Jackson Field,
a waterflood on 13,700 acres on the Northwest Shelf in Eddy County, N.M. Production
from the field has increased from 300 to about 1,000 barrels a day from 347 producing
wells in the Queen-Grayburg and San Andres formations, fed by 207 injection wells.
However, EON is moving uphole to the Seven Rivers using horizontal wellbores and ultrafine-mesh
micro proppants.
pany invested in upgrades to flowlines,
electrical infrastructure, and 12 centralized
tank batteries. The improvements and
workovers helped arrest a production decline
from prolonged inactivity prior to
purchase, he says.
Since acquiring the property, oil production
is up from 300 bbl/d to about
1,000 bbl/d from 347 producing wells
fed by 207 injection wells. Legacy waterflood
wells produce from the QueenGrayburg
and San Andres, but the company
is now moving uphole to complete
the Seven Rivers, an initiative launched
by a predecessor operator that generated
1,200 boe/d from a pilot test project,
Caravaggio states. EON acquired 95
completed five-spot patterns in the
Seven Rivers, but Caravaggio notes that
125 more can be added.
" The waterflood for this field in the
Seven Rivers is the whole reason it went
from 300 to 1,000 barrels a day in oil
production, " Caravaggio says. " We think
we can make it up to 2,000 or more by
completing the balance of the Seven
Rivers waterflood patterns. "
Within two to three years, total production
from the waterflood and expected
yields from San Andres horizontal drilling
could climb to 4,000 boe/d, estimates
Jesse Allen, vice president of operations.
To get there, the company is experimenting
with using micro proppants
sized on the order of 325 mesh in the
Seven Rivers, Allen says. Although initial
results have been limited, EON is enthusiastic.
" One
of the reasons I like the microproppant
is that it does not flow back
like sand does, " he explains. " Sand flowback
is a big issue in our pumps and surface
equipment. "
Tapping the legacy San Andres horizontally
has been successful in the area
and other parts of the Permian, Allen
points out, and EON has preliminary
plans to initially drill up to three horizontal
wells. As many as 40 locations have been
identified, with an exact number depending
on spacing and final configurations. Some
wells also could be drilled vertically,
Caravaggio adds.
EON is working to attract partners
to help fund 100% of drilling for a
50% working interest in the unconventional
pilot wells. Although San Andres
quality can vary across the position,
Allen is confident about the quality of
unexploited rock.
" We feel like we have even better
rock than some of the San Andres horizontal
wells being drilled nearby right
now, " he concludes.
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FEBRUARY 2025 53

American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2025

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