Mr. Blanke's talk is titled: VERNON FIELD - WAKING
UP A SLEEPING GIANT IN NORTH LOUISIANA
Talk Abstract:
Discovered in 1980, Vernon Field, in Jackson Parish, Louisiana, languished as a small tight-gas field for two decades until its potential as a giant was fully realized just five years ago. This field now contains more than 250 wells and has proven reserves exceeding 1.8 trillion cubic feet. From its discovery until 2000, it was held by at least five different companies, and along each stage of its development, it revealed a bit more of its potential.
Initially, Vernon field was believed to represent a simple stratigraphic pinch-out of Lower Cotton Valley sandstones against regional southerly dip. Existing seismic data quality was sparse and of poor quality, and individual pay intervals were not seismically resolvable. However, a limited number of 2-D lines hinted at divergent dips south of the northern sand limit, suggesting the possibility of an expanded stratigraphic section in the Lower Cotton Valley. A more favorable price environment beginning in 2000 resulted in accelerated field development, during which a number of wells were found to have pay intervals partially faulted out. This was used as an economic justification for a large 3-D
Speaker Steve J. Blanke
Exploration Manager, West Texas/Mid Cont. Anadarko Petroleum Corporation After graduating with degrees in geology and environmental studies from the University of Kansas in 1980, Steve J. Blanke began his career working North Louisiana for Sun Company in Shreveport, Louisiana. Over the next 15 years, he did extensive work for Sun ...
Exploration Manager, West Texas/Mid Cont.
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
After graduating with degrees in geology and environmental studies from the University of Kansas in 1980, Steve J. Blanke began his career working North Louisiana for Sun Company in Shreveport, Louisiana. Over the next 15 years, he did extensive work for Sun and Oryx in numerous basins, including the East Texas and North Louisiana salt basins, the Bend Arch, the San Joaquin basin, most of the Rockies basins, and the offshore Gulf of Mexico. In 1996, he began working for Union Pacific Resources, where he concentrated on the Jurassic plays of East Texas and North Louisiana, including the Vernon field area. The merger of UPR and Anadarko in 2000 brought Steve to Houston, where he has been involved in exploration and development of a number of unconventional resource plays, including the Bossier and Lower Cotton Valley plays in East Texas and North Louisiana, as well as having a role in the application of consistent risking and resource evaluation to Anadarko’s worldwide exploration portfolio. As exploration manager for the West Texas/Mid-Continent exploration team at Anadarko, his current interests lie in shale gas, tight sands, and other unconventional resource plays.
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