Producers have been exploiting the Niobrara for decades, producing oil and gas depending on the area. Silo Field in Laramie Couny, WY is one such area. I figured it would be worth doing a quick analysis of this field since it is located in the vicinity of the much hyped EOG activity and it produced upwards of 10 million barrels of Niobrara oil. EOG also stated that Silo field is a prospective area for current technology.
The target of Silo wells were limestone intervals sourced from the shale intervals. Production hinged on the great number of natural fractures as matrix porosity is not very high. The below map shows the location of the Silo wells in southeastern WY, namely Laramie County.
About 130 Silo wells were drilled in the 1980’s and 90’s producing greater than 10 MMBO. Below is a Silo historical production chart generated from HPDI. Note the peak of about 200 MBO/month in 1994. The 90’s increase in production is due in large part to horizontal drilling.
Below is a chart of Cumulative Oil Produced vs. Year First Produced. I think there are two interesting takeaways from this. One, that there are two ‘eras’ of Silo production, the 1980’s and then 1990’s. Two, that the 1990’s wells were far more productive and this verifies the importance of the the horizontal drilling.
I did some quick projections using the HPDI Projection Tools and I came up with an EUR of approximately 190 MBO for the horizontal Silo wells.
I’m not exactly sure how operators plan to further exploit this field, I imagine it will consist of the combination of the re-entry of vertical and horizontal wells and the drilling of new ones. I can say definitively that the recovery factors of these earlier wells is MUCH MUCH lower than the recovery factors that can be expected using today’s technologies.
Look for Silo Field to play a role in the future development of on trend acreage in the Niobrara Shale.
Keep coming back to this blog and the Niobrara Unconventional Update for the latest Niobrara information and please do not be shy to post comments and ideas for further Niobrara analysis.
Justin Birmingham
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I am interested in the drilling and production around Cheyenne. I have leases southeast of Cheyenne.
Who was founder of the Silo oil field
I agree that these fractured reservoirs have great potential. And I have seen in many places, including Austin Chack, how frectured formations were damaged forever while drilling, both vertical and horizontal . We have a technique and tools for preventing this kind of damage.