Empire Petroleum has successfully re-entered and evaluated a 21,006-foot well in Madison County, marking a major milestone in its Texas gas development program and giving the company new data on deep western Haynesville formations.
The well, originally drilled in 1959 and deepened twice during the following decade, was re-entered rather than replaced with a new ultra-deep well. Empire said it drilled, underreamed, and cleaned out the existing wellbore to expose roughly 11,000 feet of previously untested formation.
The operation reached 20,949 feet true vertical depth and included modern open-hole logging and sidewall core recovery. Hydrocarbon shows containing both gas and liquids were identified throughout the logging interval.
Empire said the evaluation is the deepest modern subsurface study completed in the emerging Western Haynesville play with a full open-hole logging suite and sidewall cores. The well reached temperatures of up to 434 degrees Fahrenheit during the evaluation.
The company completed the work for approximately $4.4 million by using the existing wellbore, compared with reported costs of $30 million to $45 million for new ultra-deep wells being drilled elsewhere in the Western Haynesville.
The new data will help Empire evaluate deeper production targets, including:
- Lower Travis Peak
- Cotton Valley Sand
- Bossier
- Haynesville formations
The company also plans to use the information to improve its existing 3D seismic data and guide future development.
"I am proud that the company is the first microcap energy company to reach a depth beyond 21,000 feet with modern logs and sidewall cores," said Phil Mulacek, chairman of Empire Petroleum. "The successful technical and mechanical achievements set a record upon which we can build."
Empire said two additional wells will be deepened to gather more logs, seismic data, and core samples as it develops its deep-gas strategy in the Fort Trinidad field.
