Shale Coverage

The Permian Basin, Past and Present







  



	From its early beginnings to new technological well stimulation and production advances, the Permian Basin has produced oil for decades with no end in sight.


	
	
by Lori K. Ditoro, Upstream Pumping Solutions


	

	



	

	

	The Permian Basin is a desert landscape—cactus, scrub, perhaps a tumbleweed and definitely oil wells. Since the 1920s, the Permian Basin (250 miles wide by 300 miles long) has been fertile ground for oil production. The first commercial well began producing in 1921, and Midland and Odessa, Texas, became oil boomtowns. Most of the drilling was shallow due to the location and pipeline distances.




	Then World War II began, and the need for oil and gas became urgent and, economically, deeper drilling and testing made sense. Because of new exploration in the area during this time, more reserves were discovered, including two of the largest areas of oil concentration—the  Spraberry trend and the Horseshoe Atoll.1




	The Past




	The 1920s and 1950s were the heyday for oil production in the Permian Basin, one of the largest oil sources in the U.S. The 1930s brought a drop in oil prices after the discovery of another massive oil field across the state in East Texas. However, after World War II ended and workers were available again for production, the Basin became more active. The U.S.’s demand for oil surged to new heights as automobiles became commonplace.




	The globalization of the U.S. economy during the 1960s lead to a decrease in domestic oil production as less expensive oil from other countries flooded the U.S. However, the Mideast oil embargo in the early 1970s and other issues during the decade brought about a decline in foreign imports, creating another boom in the area. Traditional production techniques were not as successful as they had been.




	When the basin matured and reservoirs were depleted, the use of costly techniques necessary for production outweighed the price of oil. Without advanced technology, drilling in the Permian Basin—at  one time one of the most lucrative oil producing areas in the world—became less active.2




	New Life for Old Plays and Depleted Wells




	According to the Bureau of Economic Geology in Texas, the use of enhanced recovery practices could mean greater success for U.S. oil production. Reserves thought unproductive in the past are producing today, thanks to new technology like the one described in Doug Walser’s article.



	
	







			
	

  


  

    

          
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