Powder River basin: Conoco digs second oil mine in Johnson County
Conoco Inc. is continuing to try to establish a method of recovering oil from shallow reservoirs in which pressures are too low to permit the operation of a conventional well and the reservoir is not sufficiently confined to use pressure-raising techniques such as gas or steam injection. The company's first oil mine, the Adit 1, Johnson County, Wyoming, involved tunneling 985 ft into the side of Tisdale Mountain. A collection chamber was excavated and 6 nearly horizontal holes were drilled outward from the tunnel into oil-bearing Lakota sands. Oil drains into the boreholes, then into the collection chamber. Initially the mine produced ca. 100 bopd but has since stabilized at ca 30 bpd. The mine currently being dug, ca 1.5 miles south of the Adit 1, involves sinking a 235-ft vertical shaft to the producing formation and excavating a 60-ft long, 18-ft wide, 13-ft high drilling chamber at the bottom. From this chamber, Conoco plans to drill 4 horizontal drainage holes into the producing formation.
- OSTI ID:
- 6324212
- Journal Information:
- West. Oil Rep.; (United States), Vol. 38:8
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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