Alan Petzet
Chief Editor-Exploration
Several operators have amassed large land positions in Louisiana and are preparing to target oil in the Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale (TMS), stratigraphic equivalent of the South Texas Eagle Ford shale.
The operators will also get to look at the slightly shallower Austin chalk just above the TMS. Several wells were nearing objectives in July 2011.
Indigo II Louisiana Operating LLC, Houston, formed in 2006, has accumulated more than 240,000 net acres of leasehold and mineral fee land in south-central Louisiana that it believes prospective in the TMS, a position nearly equal to that of Devon Energy Corp., which holds 250,000 acres.
Indigo, formed in October 2006, through its relationship with the Martin companies owns the existing oil and gas leases and minerals of two of the largest private landowners in Louisiana, Roy O. Martin Lumber and Martin Timber Co.
Goodrich Petroleum Corp., Houston, said it has purchased 74,000 net acres of leases in Louisiana and Mississippi in the TMS trend. The company, which paid $13 million or $175/net acre, said it plans to begin development in the first quarter of 2012.
Amelia Resources LLC, private Woodlands, Tex., independent, has more than 100,000 acres. Among other announced participants are Denbury Resources Inc., Plano, Tex., Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Houston, and Pryme Energy Ltd., Brisbane.
Indigo said the horizontal TMS play will "involve considerable time and capital to fully develop and it is Indigo's intent to eventually secure a joint venture partner in order to establish oil production over the entirety of its leasehold."
The formation could contain 7 billion bbl of recoverable oil, wrote Chacko J. John and coauthors in 1997 in describing a study conducted by the Basin Research Institute at Louisiana State University (see map, OGJ, Dec. 29, 1997, p. 91).
Drilling under way
Many operators will watch the results of early wells before jumping into the TMS play, which involves costly, technology-heavy horizontal wells with multiple frac stages.
Indigo will horizontally drill the TMS at the Bentley Lumber 23H-1, in 23-5n-5w, Rapides Parish, La., near Flatwoods, La., 24 miles west-northwest of Alexandria. The well is permitted to 15,500 ft measured depth including a 4,000-ft lateral at 10,600 ft true vertical depth. The company plans 15 frac stages in the TMS.
The planned wellsite is 8 miles north of the vertical Bentley Lumber 32-1, in 4n-5w, Vernon Parish, which Indigo drilled and completed earlier this year. The company took full conventional cores through the TMS section, ran a suite of modern logs, and tested the objective section with two frac stages.
The 32-1 well went to 12,020 ft TD and established production of 42.2° gravity oil from the TMS in the center of Indigo's acreage position.
Indigo noted that Devon described the TMS as being 200-400 ft thick at 11,000-14,000 ft across Devon's acreage position. Devon plans two horizontal wells this year, the first of which is projected to include a 5,280-ft lateral resulting in a measured total depth of more than 20,000 ft with as many as 15 frac stages.
Denbury, whose primary business is enhanced oil recovery and not exploration, recently secured a joint venture partner with plans to horizontally drill the TMS.
Denbury in 2010 acquired Encore Acquisition Co., Fort Worth, which had accumulated a gross 210,000 net acres along the Louisiana-Mississippi line and had drilled a total of four wells in both states to the highly overpressured TMS (OGJ Online, Oct. 29, 2008). Denbury now holds a 15% interest in 105,000 acres with TMS potential and a larger interest in a further 45,000 acres in connection with its EOR projects.
Pryme Energy had drilled the Deshotels 13-H-1 well vertically to 15,000 ft in the Upper Austin chalk formation and set intermediate casing by mid-July at the 50,000-acre Turner Bayou 3D seismic project area in North Bayou Jack field in southeastern Avoyelles Parish (see map). The well targets Austin chalk at 15,300 ft and the Eagle Ford-TMS at 16,000 ft true vertical depth. Pryme has 40% working interest.
Deshotels 13H-1 was to continue horizontally with a 4,000-ft lateral in the chalk to a measured depth of 19,000 ft in August.
Pryme Energy's Deshotels 20H-1 well intersected at least 12 oil and gas-bearing fracture zones in its horizontal leg, confirming the chalk's prospectivity in the project area. Earlier this year Pryme Energy said it had generated a development model that provides for the drilling of as many as 30 wells on the Turner Bayou project.
Pryme Energy noted that Anadarko is drilling the Dominique 27-1 well to the Austin chalk along trend west of the Turner Bayou area. That well is projected to 16,500 ft true vertical depth and 23,200 ft measured total depth. Anadarko has permitted several wells on trend with Turner Bayou.
Atinum E&P Inc., Houston, spud in late May a 21,254-ft test in Moncrief field in 20-3s-6e, St. Landry Parish.
Swift Energy Co., Houston, has an Austin chalk program of development and redevelopment wells in 2011-12 in Brookeland field in East Texas and Burr Ferry and Masters Creek fields in Louisiana.
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