Hugoton Gas Field is a large

natural gas field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

in the

U.S. states In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Its name is derived from the town of

Hugoton, Kansas Hugoton is a city in and the county seat of Stevens County, Kansas, Stevens County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 3,747. History Settlers from McPherson, Kansas establi ...

, near which the Hugoton Field was first discovered. Panhandle Field 1

History

Natural gas in the Hugoton area was first discovered in 1922 in the Boles #1 well, in Seward County, two miles west of

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

. The well was drilled in 1919 to a depth of 2,919 feet by the Defenders Petroleum and Traders Oil and Gas Company, but was shut in for three years because it did not find oil. In 1922 the well was completed as a gas well, but there was little demand for natural gas in the area and it was years before another gas well was drilled in the field. In 1927, gas was discovered at the Independent Oil and Gas Company's Crawford No. 1, about 2,600 feet (790 meters) below the surface southwest of

, in Stevens County. This is now considered the center of the Hugoton Field. By the end of 1928, five wells had been drilled in the field and the first pipeline was transporting gas to local markets. In 1929, Argus Pipe Line Company started construction of a pipeline to furnish gas to

Dodge City, Kansas Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge (US Army Post), Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The c ...

. Construction of major pipelines in the 1930s encouraged further drilling in the area. In 1977, gas was discovered at the Brown and Woolsey in the M. MAUNE, Well 1. In 2007, the Hugoton gas area produced 358 billion cubic feet of gas, making it the 5th largest source of natural gas in the United States.

Helium

The natural gas in the Hugoton field of Kansas and Oklahoma, plus the Panhandle Field of Texas, contains unusually high concentrations of helium, from 0.3% to 1.9%. Because of the large size of these fields, they contain the largest reserves of

helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...

in the United States. Helium is separated out as a byproduct from natural gas, from the Hugoton field, the Panhandle field in Texas, the Greenwood field in Kansas, and the Keyes field in Oklahoma. Much of the recovered helium is piped to the

National Helium Reserve The National Helium Reserve, also known as the Federal Helium Reserve, is a strategic reserve of the United States holding over 1 billion cubic meters (109 m3) of helium gas. The helium is stored at the Cliffside Storage Facility about northwes ...

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

, where it is stored underground in geologic formations for future use.

Geology

The Hugoton Field is a

stratigraphic trap In petroleum geology, a trap is a geological structure affecting the reservoir rock and caprock of a petroleum system allowing the accumulation of hydrocarbons in a reservoir. Traps can be of two types: stratigraphic or structural. Structural trap ...

overlying a monocline, with the primary pay found in the Krider Dolomite of

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

age. This

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

and the overlying Herington dolomite make up the Wolfcampian carbonates. Above these carbonates is the Wichita, an

anhydrite Anhydrite, or anhydrous calcium sulfate, is a mineral with the chemical formula CaSO4. It is in the orthorhombic crystal system, with three directions of perfect cleavage parallel to the three planes of symmetry. It is not isomorphous with the ...

and dense dolomite forming the reservoir seal, which thins to the west. Marine carbonates were being deposited from the

Late Pennsylvanian The Pennsylvanian ( , also known as Upper Carboniferous or Late Carboniferous) is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the younger of two subperiods (or upper of two subsystems) of the Carboniferous Period. It lasted from roughly . As with most ot ...

until

Early Permian 01 or '01 may refer to: * The year 2001, or any year ending with 01 * The month of January * 1 (number) Music * '01 (Richard Müller album), 01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001 * 01 (Son of Dave album), ''01'' (Son of Dave album), 2000 * 01 (Urban ...

when the western portion of the area was uplifted which resulted in erosion and the deposition of red clays and sands, the future red beds consisting of shales and sandstones. Marine carbonate deposition followed, resulting in the interfingering of the red beds and carbonates, the basis of the stratigraphic trap and a tilted gas-water contact.Pippin, pp. 217-218

References

External links

History of the Hugoton Natural Gas Area
{{Coord, 37.1800, N, 101.3490, W, source:wikidata, display=title Natural history of Kansas Natural gas fields in the United States Geography of Seward County, Kansas Geography of Stevens County, Kansas Geography of Ford County, Kansas

History

Helium

Geology

See also

References

External links