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 prese ...

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 so ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, and

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. 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, McPh ...

, 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. 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 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 a city in and the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. It was named after nearby Fort Dodge, which was named in honor of Grenville Dodge. The city ...

. 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 ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...

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 in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County ...

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

Geology

The Hugoton Field is a stratigraphic trap overlying a

monocline A monocline (or, rarely, a monoform) is a step-like fold in rock strata consisting of a zone of steeper dip within an otherwise horizontal or gently dipping sequence. Formation Monoclines may be formed in several different ways (see diagram) ...

, with the primary pay found in the Krider Dolomite of

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), 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 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

age.Pippin, p. 217 This dolomite 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 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 (Urban Zakapa album), ''01'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011 * ''01011 ...

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