HISTORY and PERFORMANCE of the COLDWATER OIL FIELD, MICHIGAN Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/jpt/article-pdf/6/02/23/2238397/spe-278-g.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 C. R. CRISS SOHIO PETROLEUM CO. MEMBER AIME OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. R. l. McCORMICK T.P.3748 ABSTRACT tion in the west central part of the Michigan basin. Except as influenced by the extent of closure and the Thi~' paper summarizes the development and perform· thickness of the oil column, reservoir performance is ance of the Coldwater Oil field, Isabella County. Mich. believed to be representative of Rogers City fields in Production is obtained at a depth of 3750 ft from a this part of the basin. For this reason, it is felt that dolomite reservoir, which is probably both Rogers City the following presentation of factual data for the field and Dundee. There appears to be no persistent barrier will be of general interest. to vertical fluid movement between the Rogers City and Dundee, and both formations are believed to have a common original oil-water contact. No wells are open HISTOR Y AND DEVELOPMENT to production at the level of the Dundee. The discovery of the field in 1944 was followed by Discovery of the Coldwater field during Aug., 1944, the drilling of 81 producing wells and nine dry holes. followed favorable subsurface geological correlations By the end of 1952, the field had produced 12,763,000 and core tests drilled to a shallow stratigraphic marker bbl of oil, at which time 69 active wells were producing horizon. The field is located in the west central part 3600 BID oil and 21,000 BID water. of the Michigan Basin in Coldwater Township (TI6N­ The reservoir has an effective natural water drive, R6W), Isabella County. It is 60 miles west-northwest and bottom-hole pressure has declined 75 psi from an of Bay City, and near the geographic center of the original pressure of 1453 psi. Oil is undersaturated at southern peninSUla of Michigan. The discovery well reservoir conditions with a solution GOR of 512 cu flowed 200 bbl of oil the first 24 hours from the ftlbbl and a saturation pressure of 1190 psi. Rogers City dolomite at a depth of approximately 3750 ft. Field production is principally from the Rogers City with a minor amount assumed to come from the under­ INTRODUCTION lying Dundee dolomite, although none of the wells are open to production at the level of the Dundee. Both Although the Coldwater Field is now in its ninth the Rogers City and Dundee formations belong to year of production, it ranks seventh in cumulative the Devonian system (See Geologic Column-Fig. 1.) recovery, and second in current daily oil production In addition to Rogers City-Dundee oil production, in the State. Following complete development of the sweet gas is produced from the Michigan Stray sand field in 1946, it has consistently contributed approxi­ of the Mississippian system at a depth of 1400 ft. The mately 11 per cent of Michigan's daily production. gas reservoir has approximately the same areal extent Coldwater appears to have a greater pay thickness as the underlying oil reservoir. Although gas production than most fields producing from the Rogers City forma- is an important feature of the Coldwater field, this report is concerned only with the oil reservoir. Manuscript received in the Petroleum Branch office Aug 17. 1953. Paper presented at the Petroleum Branch Fall Meeting in Dallas, The productive area is approximately 3200 acres. The Tex., Oct. 18-21, 1953. pool is developed on a 40 acre spacing pattern with Discussion of this and all following technical papers is invited. Discussion in writing (3 copies) may be sent to the offices of the wells drilled in the center of the north half of 40 acre Journal of Petroleum Technology. Any discussion offered after Dec. 31, 1954, should be in the form of a new paper. tracts, except for a few off-pattern wells drilled along Trans. AIME SPE 278-G FEBRUARY, 1954 • JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY· • 23 SYSTEM FORMATION LITHOLOGY DEPTH Since the Rogers City-Dundee has an active water PLEISTOCENE GLACIAL DRIFT SAND, GRAVEL, CLAY 0-550 drive, oil production has been accompanied by steadily PENNSYLVANIAN SAGINAW GYPSUM 550-850 increasing water production rates. There has been a RED CLAY SHALE, SANDSTONE slight drop in reservoir pressure; however, it has re­ PARMA SANDSTONE 850-1000 mained above saturation pressure. MISSISSIPPIAN BAYPORT LIMESTONE. SOME SANDSTONE 1000-1100 Daily oil and water production rates, cumulative oil DOLOMITE production, number of producing wells and reservoir MICHIGAN SHALE, ANHYDRITE . 1100-1500 SANDSTONE, LENSES (GAS) pressure are plotted versus time on Fig. 2. WHITE SANDSTONE 1500-1700 RED SANDSTONE COLDWATER GRAY SHALE 1700-2500 COLDWATER OIL RESERVOIR MISSISSIPPIAN SUNBURY- BEREA- BEDFORD BROWN SHALE 2500- 3100 & DEVONIAN & ANTRIM (UNDIFFERENTIATED) STRUCTURE DEVONIAN TRAVERSE GROUP LIMESTONE 3100-3650 LIMY SHALE IN LOWER PARTS Fig. 3 shows the Rogers City structure to be an BELL SHALE GRAY SHALE, LIM"!' IN BASE 3650-3700 irregularly shaped, gently rounded dome. It is located ROGERS CITY BROWN S(CONDAi<Y DOLOMITE 3700-3i3~ 15 to 20 miles west of the center of the synclinal axis DUNDEE TAN PRIMARY DOLOMITE of the Michigan basin. Regional dip is to the northeast, FIG. 1 - GEOLOGIC COLUMN, COLDWATER FIELD. and, the steepest dips of the Coldwater structure are found along the northeast side of the field with slightly lesser dips toward synclinal re-entrants along the north the edge of the producing area. A total of 81 pro­ and south sides of the field. The structure has two Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/jpt/article-pdf/6/02/23/2238397/spe-278-g.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 ducing wells and nine dry holes have been drilled with axes, the major axes trending northwest-southeast, and development substantially completed by the end of the minor axes trending northeast-southwest. 1946. Subsequent to 1946, seven producing wells and two dry holes were drilled on the extreme edges of PAY ZONES the field. Oil production rates have been regulated since dis­ Long standing usage by the oil industry of the term covery of the field. The total field allowable was 4600 "Dundee," to include both the Rogers City and Dundee BID at the end of 1946 when development was sub­ formations, has resulted in "Rogers City" being an stantially complete, and has varied up to 6700 BID. unfamiliar term to many who are well acquainted with Except as influenced by allowable changes, by the end its contents and characteristics. This usage developed of 1952 oil production had declined slowly to 3600 BID since, in many areas, the contact between these forma­ and water production increased from 1800 B/D to tions could not easily be determined from cable tool 21,000 BID. At this time cumulative production was cuttings. With continuing oil development plus a few 12,763,000 bbl of oil and 25,800,000 bbl of water, and rotary cores in the Central Michigan basin and quarry­ there were 69 active producing wells. ing operations in outcrops on the rim of the basin, it 0 22 f 150 :> ~ ~ ) el45 0 -.......... 20 "v; t---.. BOTTOM HOLE PRESSURE r~ 0. I r-- i ~140 0 rL In! I <D r-- P-TI <3 -- I - ::I~ ~ i a: 0 I I 6 ~ 80 ~" 135 ! i:: I '" I 7 ~ :i U o ~ 1300 l.r : ~ ~ I 4 0"' 70 ~ t---' u Z NUMBER PRODUCING W,LLS r- In r-' I ,.1 U ~ ~ I o IU I x ~) ALLOWABLE CHA~ I ! 2 r v I 2 ~ 60 j.J I z ,.1 \..r tL. Ii--- r ./v o -' ~ '"-' 'flcLr' ~ I : in ALLOWABLE CHANGE /'" w 0 I o 50 :. I I ~ If ~ I-'1..n I \ .- / "": a: u ~_• .J ,;;:;: w ::> r ........... [7 ~ ~ o 6 ~ 8 ~ 400 f1-I DAILY OIL PRODUCTION r ~ g: z ./v r r" f------ h- ::l ~ ~ o o "u v~ a: ~ a: o 3 I Inl 6 'U 1.// " 30 ~ ,IT CUMULATIVE OIL PRODUCTION :> ~ ::> r _1- /W z 1(; 4 /0 4 20 J /' Vn. I~ v ...... 2 /" 1\ 10 DAIL Y I WATER PRODICTION f-r v 'r- 1 f-..-""" 0 1.rJ ~ o 1944 -I 9 4 ~ 1946 194 "I I I 948 I 1949 19 SO 1951 19 5 2 19 oS 3 FIG. 2 - DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTION RATES AND PERFORMANCE DATA, ROGERS CITY - DUNDEE RESERVOIR, COLDWATER FIELD. 24 •• JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY· FEBRUARY, 1954 Trans. AIME L E Co f. N 0 Core data at Coldwater was limited to two wells £&$... L'f W",TER OI$f>O$"'I,..WELL$ cored with conventional barrels. Matrix porosity meas­ f!i!:, .... S ... NQONED S"'I.T WA.TER DISPOS"'I,. WELLS I urements average 4.2 per cent for 39 Rogers City core plugs, and 2.5 per cent for 16 Dundee core plugs. The i I - contribution of vugs to the effective porosity in the :- I ' t/: Rogers City is unknown but probably is appreciable. The I 1/· '<\ ~ ~ m,1. V.L¥ v contribution of vugs to Dundee porosity is also un­ 1 (~ --- - r 0~~",+--, known but probably is negligible, or at least much less .-~ .. <~~ than in Rogers City. Horizontal permeabilities ranged /..// from zero to 1368 md and vertical permeabilities from ~ (1 1( T r--"" I zero to 62 md. N Forty-five ft were cored at one well with 84 per cent I:I '~ ,~'l i Ii .1. '~0--~ '~r'~ '-:::::~i':' ~ recovery and 48 ft cored at the other well with 83 . D'\~\ ,\ \ per cent recovery. The lost section at both wells is < ./::::r~ presumed to have been vugular sections too fragile to \~~II' .,30 I~ 3> 17~;' lV V.