15
this experience to all the beginners, I dealt with. I take a lot of satisfaction in the fact I had some part in help-
ing a number of trainees."
During his career in Wichita, Don served the KGS as Library Chairman in the first two years of the library's
existence. In 1995 Don and Lou moved to Arkansas where he has continued all of the recreational interests he
enjoyed while in Wichita plus he has added additional interests. He does say that his current health has slowed
him down some. He does fly fish when he can and enjoys fly tying, bird watching and reading. When he was
in Wichita, his fishing "cronies" were Ch uck Ewing, a landman, and Jay McNeil.
Don and Lou also enjoy going to the bowl games in which K-State participates, where often, they are joined
by Carolyn and Dick Roby. In the past few years Don has developed a new interest, flint knapping which he
states he has taken to "in a big way" He and Lou attend about 8 to 10 "Knap Ins" and artifact shows each year.
Although Don says he has left geology "almost completely", he, like an "old fire horse" has illusions of one
more run and in his case one more discovery.
Continued from pg. 14, Don Strong
Moore-Johnson (Morrow) Field, Greeley County Kansas: A Successful Integration of Surface Soil Gas
Geochemistry With Subsurface Geology and Geophysics.
Victor T. Jones III and Rufus J. LeBlanc, Jr.
ABSTRACT
Moore-Johnson Field in Greeley County, Kansas produces oil from a stratigraphic/structural trap involving
sandstones of the Morrow V7 incised valley-fill system. This field is one of a complex of Morrow oil fields
known as the Stateline Trend. These fields in the incised valley trends of southeast Colorado and southwest Kan-
sas will have ultimate recoverable reserves of about 110 MMBO.
The Moore-Johnson field was initially discovered by a major oil company applying conventional geology/
geophysics. However, development efforts ceased in 1990 after drilling seven dry holes with only three producers.
A second attempt to extend the field was conducted by six other companies, starting in 1992. One of these compa-
nies used an integrated approach of combining subsurface geology and seismic with a high-density geochemical
soil gas survey. The remainder of the companies used industry-standard Morrow exploration techniques.
The first soil gas survey was conducted on a uniform sample grid of 40-acre spacing over the area of the three
producing wells and the dry holes. Analyses of the soil gas samples indicated areas of anomalous and background
microseeps that confirmed the three producing oil wells and indicated that the dry holes had been drilled in back-
ground areas. Following this calibration survey, a much higher density soil gas survey, consisting of 106 sites, was
conducted over a four square mile area of interest suggested by this initial soil gas data. Integration of geochemis-
try, geology, and geophysics allowed a compatible, unified interpretation to be developed.
The company utilizing the soil gas survey completed the first well to extend the field with a 4700-foot stepout.
This company completed eight consecutive successful Morrow wells in the field before drilling a dry hole. After
drilling 10 wells, the company had a 90% success rate.
A total of 34 wells were drilled by all operators, to both define the limits of the field, and to develop the Mor-
row reserves. Of the total 34 wells drilled, 19 wells were completed in the Morrow as oil completions. By only
drilling 29% of the total wells, the company utilizing soil gas geochemistry acquired 47% of the reserves produced
to date. Success rates for the remainder of the other field operators were 0%, 30%, 50% and 67%. The latter two
rates are within the range of industry success rates for development of Morrow fields, but were aided by the suc-
cessful wells drilled by the company that applied the geochemical methodology.
This documentation of a successful application of a detailed soil gas survey demonstrates how the application of
geochemistry with geology/geophysics could be used to delineate other areas of Morrow incised valley-fill systems
in areas of untested potential. Additionally, the method would also be applicable in incised valley-fill systems of
other geologic ages in Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain basins.
Note: Victor Jones will be our speaker on January 22.