The Northwest Shelf area of Southwest New Mexico has had an exceptionally rapid growth as an oil producing province. The Anderson Ranch field, discovered by the Continental Oil Company in 1953, is one of the typically prolific oil fields in this Northwest Shelf area. This field (Figure 1) is the most southwesterly of a series of Devonian oil fields in the Northwest Shelf area of New Mexico. It is located 22 miles west of Lovington, New Mexico in sections 2 and 11, T. 16 S.‐R. 32 E., Lea County, New Mexico. The Anderson Ranch area was first found to be anomalous by a shallow oil well drilled in 1927 which found the Rustler Anhydrite unusually high. Core drilling carried out in 1940 developed an Anhydrite nose over the area. A reflection seismograph survey was carried out in the period from 1950 to 1951 which succeeded in mapping a closed anticline in the face of many difficulties in obtaining usable seismograms. It is believed that the seismic map prepared for the deepest horizon was caused by multiple reflections. The anticline so revealed was drilled in a unitized drilling program and a well was completed in the Devonian for an initial potential of 1,968 barrels of oil per day. This was the discovery well.