The Deer Creek Project (50% interest), San Joaquin Basin, California

Solimar Energy currently has a 50% interest in the Deer Creek Project, located on the eastern side of the oil and gas rich San Joaquin Basin. An existing active oil field 12 miles to the southeast and along structural trend is a direct analog for the trap style and objective reservoirs at Deer Creek. Another active oil field located 8 miles to the northeast of Deer Creek is productive in stratigraphic formations slightly younger than the objective reservoirs at Deer Creek. This portion of the San Joaquin is relatively under-explored as compared to the basin as a whole, yet a discovery at Deer Creek would simply constitute the extension of a known productive trend of analogous oil fields.

Analog fields along trend with the Deer Creek Prospect are characterized by traps that are strongly influenced by stratigraphic pinch-out against basement. The oil field’s trap to the southeast and the Deer Creek Prospect proposed trap consist of stratigraphic pinch-out of Eocene/Lower Miocene sands deposited within shallow basement erosional features.
Of the down-dip offset wells that define the Deer Creek structure and target reservoir interval, at least 5 of these wells have oil shows in the objective sandstones.

The drilling depth for Deer Creek is approximately 4,000 ft. Based on the down-dip oil shows, oil gravity in the Deer Creek trap is expected to be 14°–16° API, similar to the near by analog fields. The trap size potential at the current level of interpretation is estimated at 1,200 acres.

Per-well reserves will vary depending on several factors, including well type (vertical vs. horizontal) and possible enhanced-recovery techniques (steam cycle, steam flood, etc.).

Solimar Energy is aiming to drill a well at Deer Creek in 2008 where the prospect has estimated recoverable resource potential of 3–6 million barrels of oil.