Historic horizontal well in Permian completed

Drilling was undertaken in the Wolfcamp shale area in NM

CARLSBAD — Drilling of the longest horizontal oil and gas well in the history of the Permian Basin has been completed as booming oil production in the region continues to center around shale in southeast New Mexico and West Texas.

Basic Energy Services recently announced the well was completed in the Wolfcamp, The Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. The Wolfcamp is shale of the Delaware Basin, which sits below most of Eddy County and the southern half of the state’s Lea County. Records show the well also encompasses portions of Culberson, Reeves and Loving counties in Texas.

The job was completed for Houston-based Surge Energy, and frac plugs were drilled out to around 3.4 miles.

“We are honored to partner with an innovative (exploration and production) company like Surge to deliver these recordsetting results,” said Brandon McGuire, vice president of Basic’s Permian operations. “Reaching this milestone with our customer displays our leadership in well servicing for complex, long lateral completions in the Permian Basin.”

The Surge pipeline was first announced in April and was completed in 18 days; it is expected to go into service by the end of this year.

McGuire said Basic intends to continue working with operators in the Delaware Basin, as the Wolfcamp Shale recently saw the discovery of potentially the largest continuing oil and gas resource ever found in the U.S.

The U.S. Geological Survey said it found 46.3 billion barrels of oil and 20 billion barrels of natural gas liquids beneath the region.

Surge President and Chief Executive Officer Dexter Burleigh said the Permian Basin proved lucrative to pipeline development.

Information from: The Carlsbad CurrentArgus, http://www.currentargus.com/