Oil and gas potential of the Tularosa Basin-Otero platform area, Otero County, New Mexico. Final report

Technical Report · Mon Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:5630362

King, W E; Harder, V M

The Tularosa Basin and the Otero Platform are two of New Mexico's inadequately explored regions for oil and gas potential. In particular, borehole-mechanical-log cross sections have been virtually absent from the literature. Isopach maps of the Otero Platform and lithofacies on a scale suitable for this study have not been previously drawn. The main contribution of the report are the cross sections and maps. A Precambrian surface structural contour map is presented. Isopach mpas of the Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, and Mississippian have been constructed. There is a Pennsylvanian isopach-lithofacies map; Permian sand-shale ratio, carbonate-noncarbonate ratio, and isopach-lithofacies maps are presented. Several gravity cross sections and their interpretation indicate the structure of the Tularosa Basin. Five cross sections of the area, three of the Tularosa Basin and two of the Otero Platform, set forth the stratigraphy and structure of the region. Clearly shown is the fault-block structure of the Tularosa Basin and the influence of the Pedernal uplift of the Otero Platform. The Tularosa Basin is definitely a promising hydrocarbon province if exploration can be permitted on the White Sands Missile Range. Tests of the Houston Oil and Minerals No. 1 Lewelling and the Hodges No. 1 Houston have shown that natural gas is present in the Basin. Source beds and reservoir beds are abundantly present in the stratigraphic column. Although the Otero Platform has yet to produce hydrocarbons, many shows of oil and gas have been recorded. A number of structural and stratigraphic trap possibilities and potential reef trends remain to be explored. This last hydrocarbon frontier of New Mexico definitely has oil and gas potential.

• Research Organization: New Mexico State Univ., Las Cruces (USA). Dept. of Earth Sciences; Texas Univ., El Paso (USA). Dept. of Geological Sciences
• OSTI ID: 5630362
• Report Number(s): NP-2901231; EMD-2-68-3205; ON: DE82901231
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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03 NATURAL GAS
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DEVONIAN PERIOD
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ORDOVICIAN PERIOD
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SILURIAN PERIOD
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