Permian Basin-focused Independent Patriot Energy Inc. said Tuesday a well drilled in the basin may have producing pay zones, including in the Upper Wolfcamp Shale, beyond what was anticipated.

The Dallas-based company’s Thoroughbred No. 1 well in Sterling County, TX, was completed to a depth of 8,400 feet. Open hole logs indicate the presence of 125 feet of productive formation in each of three zones targeted by the well — the Albaugh, Triple M and Upper Wolfcamp formations. The lowest zone, taken from a depth of 5,200-5,340 feet, contained about 130 feet of what is likely to be commercially productive carbonate.

After the logging report, the company ran production casing at the well and is awaiting hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and completion operations.

“The pay zones that reflected in the Albaugh, Triple M were especially beyond what we initially anticipated,” said President Michael Miller. “We knew from our other wells in the area about what to expect, but this finger had especially prolific depth of pay zones in those primary formations, plus several others in the Upper Wolfcamp…

“We will now move toward the fracking and completion phase as soon as possible.”

Patriot has two wells in production on leased acreage for its Thoroughbred prospect, which runs across 440 acres in northwest Sterling County. The leasehold lies within the so-called Triple M Oil Field, and its primary targets are the Upper and Lower Wolfcamp formations. Secondary targets include the, Canyon, Cisco, Cline, Ellenburger, Fusselman, Mississippian, Montoya and Strawn formations.

Last August, two Permian pure-play operators — Laredo Petroleum Inc. and Parsley Energy Inc. — announced separate plans in the Wolfcamp formation. Laredo said it planned to sell some of its nonoperated assets in order to fund additional drilling in the Wolfcamp before the end of the year, while Parsley said it planned to drill a horizontal well targeting the Upper Wolfcamp by the end of the year (see Shale Daily, Aug. 14; Aug. 10).

In July 2014, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said the Wolfcamp was one of six formations responsible for a surge in crude oil production from the Permian Basin (see Shale Daily, July 9, 2014). The EIA said crude oil production in the basin grew from 850,000 b/d in 2007 to 1.35 million b/d in 2013.