THE RIGHT NEIGHBORHOOD
Our current exploration focus is the expansive Central Utah Overthrust, extending over 150 miles from the southwest corner of Wyoming down through central Utah.
Central Utah Thrust Belt
Central Utah Stratigraphic Column
PROVEN PETROLEUM HABITAT
200 million years ago, Utah was covered by a great “sea” of sand much like the modern Sahara. Huge sand dunes reached hundreds of feet in height, with prevailing winds coming out of the northwest. Over millions of years, these eolian deposits were compacted, buried, and charged, forming the target reservoirs of today – the Navajo Sandstone and the White Throne.
The Central Utah Overthrust runs from the Anschutz Ranch field in the north to the Covenant field in the south. With two massive discoveries, multiple thick sandstone layers, and an impermeable mudstone seal, the area is unquestionably the right neighborhood for oil exploration.
In the early 1980s, the Anschutz Ranch in northern Utah became the largest oil field discovery in the United States since Prudhoe Bay in Alaska in 1968. In 2004, Utah made global headlines again with the discovery of the Covenant oil field. Combined, these two fields have produced over 2 billion barrels of oil.
REGIONAL EXPLORATION
70-year History
Exploration in central Utah began in the early 1950s. Despite an attractive petroleum habitat, over 100 wells were drilled with limited success until the King’s Meadow Ranch #17-1 discovery in 2004.
Challenging Geology
In addition to the complex folding and faulting, the target reservoirs lie underneath thick layers of complex anhydrites, mudstones, clastics, gypsum, and salt, making seismic interpretation of the deeper Navajo Sandstones extremely difficult.
Seismic-led Exploration
Incentivized by the success of the Covenant field, central Utah experienced an “exploration renaissance” as seismic crews, geoscience teams, and oil companies of all sizes attempted to understand Utah’s subsurface environment.
Low Success Rates
Due to the subsurface complexity and the rugged topography, the search for another Covenant-like field in the Central Utah Overthrust has been unsuccessful thus far, with over 30 dry holes drilled since 2004.