INTRODUCTION LA PLATA SAN JUAN MTS. MTS. INDEX MAP FOUR CORNERS AREA P P K P J US 160 J TR Tv The Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation covers approximately A J CORTEZ J Salt Lake City Pc ARCHULET DURANGO 35 one million acres in north-central New Mexico on the eastern edge of MONOCLINAL RIDGES SALT ANTICLINES UTE K RIVER RIVER AH K MTS. the San Juan Basin, comprising parts of townships 22 to 32 north and 34 BASIN EDGES UT 0 25 50 ANTICLINE ranges 1 east to 5 west (Figures J-1 and J-2). The San Juan Basin 34 SCALE IN MILES 20W 19 18 15 14 13 PLATA 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 1W 1E 2 contains the second largest natural gas field in the coterminous Unit TERTIARY INTRUSIVES A SYNCLINE LA 33 ed States and has produced more oil from fractured Mancos shale CORNERS RIVER 32N than any other basin in the Rocky Mountain province. The Jicarilla Riv er MONTEZUMA COUNTY LA PLATA COUNTY COLORADO ARCHULETA COUNTY U T A H Apache Tribe is the single largest mineral owner in the basin, exclud NEW 32N MEXICO TFORM ing the United States government. During more than 35 years of gas 31 UPLIFT RIDGE K FOUR ANIMAS and oil activity within the Reservation, over 2,700 wells were drilled, SAN AELRAFSAN AELRAFSAN C O L O R A D O AZTEC SAN JICARILLA SHIPROCK 30 predominantly on the southern half. The 1993 production from 2,200 FARMINGTON Grand Junction PLA US 550 Green APACHE active wells was nearly 900,000 barrels of oil (BO) and 30 billion cu JU BLOOMFIELD J AN 29 T JUAN J A' bic feet of gas (BCF). SWELL K RIVER UNCOMP C INDIAN A 28 666 B Two recent discoveries highlight the new potential in this mature Moab G O basin. Fruitland coal seam gas has more than doubled the basin's gas HENRY AHGRE US H 27 BASIN RESERVATION MOUNTAINS production. Additionally, a 1992 horizontal Mancos oil well has tap ST 26 TR UPLIFT Tv ATE 44 ped an estimated 5-10 million barrel oil (MMBO) reservoir on the BASIN P CIRCLE T relatively unexplored northern half of the Reservation. 25 J SAN TR The Jicarilla Apache Indian Tribe has successfully financed, dril PARADOX JUAN MTS. TR CLIFFS Riv er 24 led, produced and marketed oil and gas reserves from Tribal proper BLANDING TR ARP BASIN CORNERS RIO ARRIBA COUNTY ties for more than 15 years. The Tribe plans to continue to expand its TFORM J 23 San Juan FOURPLA SANDOVAL COUNTY ARCHULETA CHUSKA P own operations and participation as a working interest owner. For en BASIN P TR UPLIFT MONUMENT Mexican UPW Hat 22 NA 1E 2 3E tities interested in working with the Tribe, Tribal oil and gas explora 20W 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1W Riv UPLIFT er Pc MTS P DEFIANCE 21 CIMIENT tion and development agreements are negotiated and structured indi UPLIFT Farmington . SAN JUAN COUNTY CUBA ado Color ado vidually to address the needs of the outside parties and the Tribe and UPLIFT McKINLEY COUNTY K 20 the specific concerns relative to the reservoir. Agreements will follow TV SAN TR J basic industry standards as applicable and are governed by federal JUAN 19 NA BASIN ARIZONA O laws protecting all parties. CIMIENT KAIBAB CK Pc The basin contains a complete infrastructure of gas gathering and ZUNI 18 UPLIFT BLA CHA UPLIFT CO O CHACO delivery systems, oil pipelines, and refineries to process, market and J 17 K P deliver oil and gas. Gas transportation systems such as the Williams MESA Gallup SLOPE P 16 Company, El Paso Natural Gas, West Gas and The Gas Company of UPLIFT GALLUP SLOPE TR Flagstaff BASIN J J New Mexico provide competitive markets in almost all directions. GALLUP Albuquerque ZUNI PUERCO A R I Z O N A N E W TV RESERVATION PRODUCTION OVERVIEW TR J 14 M E X I C O SAG FAULT Tv 13 T T UPLIFTTR Figures J-2 and J-3 shows the outline of the Jicarilla Apache Res RIO VALENCIA COUNTY BELT Figure J-1. Regional index map of the the Four Corners area showing major uplifts and P ervation, on the eastern side of the San Juan Basin, and the general T basins with superimposed minor features (after Peterson, 1965, p. 2078). T BERNALILLO COUNTY distribution of the primary producing fields. A stratigraphic chart of PUERCO GRANTS T the eastern part of the San Juan Basin is shown in Figure J-4. In gen ping monocline on the east edge of the Reservation. Despite prolific production over the T R Pc ALBUQUERQUE TR J J J Tv US 66 eral, the producing formations are Cretaceous-age fluvial, deltaic, and decades, more hydrocarbons are yet to be found as additional sequence stratigraphy, seis P J Q B US 66 J RIO SAN nearshore sandstones, offshore siltstones and shales and coal deposit mic interpretation, completion analysis, stimulation technology and creative geologic J Pc JOSE J 9N T TR QB J ed during numerous transgressive and regressive cycles. Typically, thinking are applied to the natural gas and oil resources of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation. TR land was to the west and southwest shedding sediment toward the SCALE IN MILES At the present time, oil and gas production on the Reservation is from Cretaceous rocks 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 sea, and open to the east and northeast. including the Dakota, Mancos, Mesaverde (both Cliffhouse and Point Lookout) and Pic LEGEND Most of the gas in the sandstones are stratigraphically trapped K CRETACEOUS ( WITH MINOR Qai ) INDEX MAP tured Cliffs Formations. In addition, there is coal seam gas production in the Cretaceous J JURASSIC Pc PRECAMBRIAN against shales in a structural setting of regional west dip. However, Kirtland-Fruitland interval. There is no production from the underlying Jurassic Entrada TR TRIASSIC TvQB CENOZOIC VOLCANICS TECTONIC FEATURES P PERMIAN TERTIARY localized structures may enhance trapping and productivity. Oil pro formation, but because it is possible the Entrada may yield oil or gas in the future, a discus P PENNSYLVANIAN TERT. INTRUSIVES ducing sandstones such as the Dakota may require more structural sion of the interval is included in the play information in a later section of this atlas. Figure J-2. Index map of the San Juan Basin with major tectonic features. Position of cross section A-A' (see Figure 5) is closure. The Mancos Shale occurs in fractures along the steeply dip shown (after Peterson, 1965, p. 2079). JICARILLA APACHE INDIAN RESERVATION Reservation Overview - Production Overview 1 NEW MEXICO REGIONAL GEOLOGY COLORADO NEW MEXICO Dakota Formation The Dakota Sandstone is a transgressive marine unit formed as the Late Creta ceous sea moved from east to west across the land. It contains coastal barrier ma ERA SYSTEM SERIES LITHOLOGIC UNIT THICKNESS (ft) rine sandstones and continental fluvial sandstone units. It is a dominantly strati Recent & Pleistocene Alluvium in valleys 0 -100' + graphic gas play in the basin and a structural and stratigraphic oil and gas play Quaternary Pleistocene Terrace gravel & gravelly stream channel 0- 100' +/- along the basin's flanks. The rocks represent a wide variety of depositional envi alluvium in the upper parts of some valleys ronments, ranging from braided and meandering stream complexes to nearshore Quaternary or Tertiary Pleistocene or Plicoene Gravel capping high terraces 0- 100' +/- PRIMARY IGNACIO / BLANCO MESA VERDE GAS FIELD JICARILLA deposits. Lithologies vary considerably, as do reservoir quality and trapping mech Miocene (?) Lamprophyre dikes BLANCO EAST anisms. Eocene San Jose Formation 200' +/- 1800' CENOZOIC Tertiary APACHE The first Dakota discoveries were made in the early 1920's on the northwestern Nacimiento Formation < 537' - 1,750' Paleocene INDIAN flank of the basin and a central basin discovery well was drilled in 1947 south of Ojo Alamo Sandstone 70' - 200' Bloomfield, New Mexico in the Angel Peak area. A few additional discoveries Kirtland Shale and Kirtland Form. Undivided 100' +/- 450' * Pictured Cliffs Sandstone 0 - 235' RESERVATION were made in the 1950's. In 1961 several fields were combined to form the Basin * Upper Lewis Shale 500' - 1,900' Dakota field, which by the end of 1976 contained 2,400 producing wells that had La Ventana Tongue of 37' - 1,250' Total Cliff House Sandstone * produced over 2.7 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas with an estimated total produc erde 560' - Cretaceous v Cretaceous Menefee Formation 345' - 375' 1,825' Group * tion of over 5 TCF. The field produces from a combination of hydrodynamic and Point Lookout Sandstone 110' - 200' +/- +/- BOULDER Mesa * PRIMARY FRUITLAND stratigraphic traps. Dakota fields range in size from 40 to 10,000 acres with most Mancos Shale 2,300' - 2,500' * COAL TREND production from fields of 100 to 2,000 acres (Huffman, 1987). Production of oil ranges from field totals of 1-7 MMBO. Over 14 BCF of associated gas has been Upper & Lower Dakota Sandstone 150' - 200' Cretaceous * produced. RIO ARRIBA COUNTY Potential still exists for future discoveries in the Dakota interval and the limits Upper Morrison Formation 350' - 600' SANDOVAL COUNTY of the Basin Dakota field have not yet been defined. Exploration in the Dakota is MESOZOIC BEAR Jurassic BLANCO CANYON challenging and demands an understanding of basin structure and complex Dakota Tocito Formation 60' -125' SOUTH TAPACITO SLEEPER PUERTO depositional patterns. New production techniques for tight gas sandstones and new Jurassic interpretive tools such as 3-D seismic and the application of sequence stratigraphy Entrada Sandstone < 227' CHIQUITO * will be critical in the development of future Dakota reserves.