Jonah Field
Jonah Field is a large natural gas field in the Green River Basin in Sublette County, Wyoming, in the United States. The field is approximately 32 miles (51 km) south of Pinedale and 65 miles (105 km) north of Rock Springs in southwestern Wyoming, and is estimated to contain 10.5 trillion cubic feet (300 km3) of natural gas. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the field has a productive area of 21,000 acres (8,500 ha).
The presence of natural gas in and around Sublette County was known for years, but it was not deemed practical to extract. El Paso Natural Gas Company in the 1970s, in cooperation with Federal Government of the United States and the Atomic Energy Commission, proposed a project called Wagon Wheel Nuclear Stimulation Project, which was an attempt to detonate 5 small nuclear explosions to fracture the sands and enable natural-gas production. The project was abandoned and the Jonah Field and surrounding areas, including the Pinedale Anticline, were left undeveloped for years.
Jonah Field was discovered by geologist Ed Warner working with McMurry Oil, Ft. Collins Consodiated Royalties and Nerd Enterprises. The field proved viable after the drilling of the McMurry Oil Company Jonah-Federal #1-5 in January, 1993 where McMurry placed their operations office.
The development of Jonah was enabled by new approaches to the geology and engineering. The McMurry group with the help of their engineering consultant, James Shaw, experimented with energized and multiple stage fracture treatments, revolutionizing gas development where 2,500 feet of section was treated (instead of only 250 feet) and wells were drilled on very close spacing - as little as 10 acre centers. The 'Basin-centered' geology model was radically changed by Warner to the 'Compartmentalization model' which enabled the entire field to be developed with virtually no dry holes, a cost savings of several hundred millions of dollars. Citations: Warner, Edward M., 2000, Structural Geology and Pressure Compartmentalization of Jonah Field Based on
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