Date/Time
Date(s) - 06/11/2026
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Location
Wynkoop Brewing Company
Categories
June 11 DGS Luncheon: Mark Nell “From Expiring Leases to Play Extension: A Lewis Play Case Study in the Washakie Basin”
Wynkoop, Thursday, June 11th
11:30-1:00
“From Expiring Leases to Play Extension: A Lewis Play Case Study in the Washakie Basin”
Mark Nell, Wexpro
The emerging Lewis Formation play of the Washakie Basin in southwestern Wyoming is gaining traction as a liquids-rich, horizontal gas play.
Wexpro holds more than 20,000 legacy acres in the distal part of the Washakie Basin, tens of miles from the nearest producing horizontal wells. Faced with the potential expiration of over 18,000 acres, Wexpro was required to rapidly characterize the Lewis play potential in order to determine whether to retain this acreage.
The key challenge of the play is the significant variation in landing zone characteristics over short distances. This variability necessitates the application of 3D seismic interpretation to better understand these changes and assess them in terms of prospect risk and uncertainty. Compared to well log data alone, 3D seismic provides a fundamentally different framework for interpreting everything from basin evolution to pilot well target selection.
This talk presents the narrative of the work conducted to extend the Lewis play into the most distal part of the basin. This effort resulted in the retention and expansion of Wexpro’s acreage position, the drilling of a pilot well, and plans to test the play extension with multiple horizontal wells – all supported, despite significant challenges, by 3D seismic data.
Speaker Bio
Mark Nell is a career exploration geologist and geophysicist. Starting at ExxonMobil Mark gained international offshore exploration experience working Atlantic conjugate margins, and the Canadian / Russian Arctic. After 15 years at XOM, Mark moved to Wexpro and has been working to bring 3D seismic interpretation and horizontal drilling into Wexpro’s toolkit.
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