US mid-continent operator tests deep Oklahoma potential

During the 1960’s, US land operator GHK began pioneering efforts to explore the deepest areas of the Anadarko Basin. By the late 1970s, the company had extensive experience in deep drilling and had accumulated over 400,000 net lease acres. In 1981, GHK entered into a joint venture with Mobil to drill a series of ultra-deep exploration wells. One of those wells was the Robinson 1-1 well. The expansive Hunton natural gas field was thought to be split into two distinct producing zones at 23,000 ft and around 29,000 ft. In 1981, drilling began on the Robinson 1-1 well near southwest Elk City, Beckham, OK. By late 1982, the well reached 29,241-ft TD in the Devonian Hunton formation. It was then cased to 28,581-ft MD. When gas economics turned negative in 1983, the deep Hunton well was plugged and abandoned, to wait for higher gas prices that would make re-entry cost effective.