Socioeconomic Impact of Infill Drilling Recovery from Carbonate Reservoirs in thePermian Basin, West Texas

摘要

This investigative study presents results on the socioeconomic impact of infilldrilling recovery from carbonate reservoirs in the Permian Basin. The amount of incremental oil and gas production from infill drilling in 37 carbonate reservoir units is established using decline curve analysis. The increase in incremental recovery is used to compute the amount of increased revenue and taxes (local, state and federal). A job market analysis is performed to determine the impact of these increased revenues on primary jobs in the oil industry and secondary jobs in the community. Secondary jobs are generated by oil industry workers spending money in the community. The appropriation of the estimated taxes is analyzed to determine which government agencies benefit most from the infill drilling. The observations from this research are that most of the San Andres and Clearfork carbonate reservoir units in the Permian Basin are potentially profitable to infill drill. The incremental oil and gas production from infill drilling could maintain or create many primary jobs within the local oil industry and also secondary jobs in the community. The incremental production could generate taxes which would greatly benefit certain local, state, and federal government agencies.