Oil and gas exploration in the Santa Fe-Galisteo-Hagan area of New Mexico
— Bruce A. Black

Oil and gas exploration in the basins and subbasins of the Rio Grande rift of New Mexico and southern Colorado generally has been a sporadic endeavor. The first sustained exploration effort in the rift area has been centered in the Albuquerque basin. Here, Shell Oil Company drilled five wells between 1972 and 1976 to test the pre-Tertiary rocks, followed by a sixth deep test well by TransOcean Oil Co. in 1978.

 

Exploration in the Santa Fe area also was very sporadic until 1973. Table 1 is a chronology of oil and gas tests in the Santa Fe, Galisteo and Hagan areas. Figure 1 shows the locations of these wells. The heavy hatchured line on Figure 1 is the author's estimate of where the Cretaceous rocks still are preserved, and generally outlines the basinal areas. In most of this hatchered area, the Cretaceous is covered by Tertiary sand- stones, conglomerates, shales and volcanics. No discussion of the wells drilled outside of the basin outlines on Figure 1 will be attempted in this article. The majority of these wells are relatively old (pre 1960) tests in the Paleozoic.