Chasing the Woodford Shale

Okla.’s Anadarko Basin is well known for its SCOOP, STACK, and Merge plays, where producers continue to unearth liquids rich hydrocarbons compliments of the Woodford formation. In the early days before the acronyms, Harold Hamm, then CEO of Okla. City-based Continental Resources, was already in it to win it in the Anadarko after perfecting his techniques in horizontal drilling and fracking in the Bakken. And win it, he did, now the largest player in the basin.

Reese Energy Consulting today is following the latest from Continental which is still chasing the Woodford Shale, this time in the Permian. With a longtime history in the Anadarko, oil and gas OGs like Continental, XTO, and Marathon look to replicate their success in the Permian’s deep Woodford shale bench. Make no doubt, these operators know the Woodford like the back of a drilling rig. But in Texas, this formation offers a whole different set of challenges.

At 700’ thick, the emerging Permian Woodford play is a massive source rock—twice as thick as Okla’s three Woodford basins. For perspective, think two football fields laid end-to-end or higher than a 64-story skyscraper. Nevertheless, payoffs have been impressive. Marathon subsidiary Bosque Texas Oil has produced more than 4.4 MMbbls of crude and 2 MMbbls of condensate since 2020 from the Permian Woodford.