Another Horse On The Hill

Encana has petitioned the Mississippi Oil & Gas Board for a 963 acre unit adjacent to the current Horseshoe Hill location.

Source: Mississippi Oil & Gas Board

Devon Soterra: Frac Job In Progress

Devon's Soterra 6H-1 frac job is progressing well.



Big Red's frac trucks lined up in staging area



Encana Weyerhaeuser IP Confirmed

The Encana Weyerhaeuser 73H-1 initial production is now confirmed. The well was completed on 11/22/11.  Eight days of production equates to 784 bopd and 309 mcfgd.

Source: SONRIS

Encana Announces Weyerhaeuser 73H-1 IP

Encana has just released an initial potential for the Weyerhaeuser 73H-1 in St. Helena Parish.

COMPLETED 11/22/2011 AS A OIL WELL IN THE TUSCALOOSA MARINE SHALE RES;PM F 280 BOPD; 98 MCFD; 3090 CP; 14/64 CK; 1277 BWPD; 5% BS&W; 350 GOR; 40 GRVTY PERFS 12862-18019' (ST: 10)

Those "on the ground" claim that it's been consistently flowing 650-800 barrels of oil per day.

Scout Report - January 23, 2012

This week's Scout Report:
https://sites.google.com/site/tuscaloosatrend/scout-reports

Encana Permits 3 TMS Wells

Encana has permitted three more TMS wells in Mississippi.

Tuscaloosa Trend: Drilling Activity; Encana new TMS permits (yellow arrows)

Devon Pursues TMS Unit in St. Helena Parish

Devon plans to apply for a 880 acre unit in St. Helena Parish.

Devon: TMS RA SU A - NW Liverpool Field

Scout Report - January 18, 2012

This week's Scout Report:
https://sites.google.com/site/tuscaloosatrend/scout-reports

Encana Pursues Three More TMS Units

Encana is pursuing three more units in West Feliciana Parish (Spillman, Northeast Spillman Fields).

Planned TMS Units (Encana)

Planned TMS Units (Encana)

Encana Raises The Drilling Bar

Encana has just finished drilling the Anderson 17H-1 in Amite County, Mississippi.  The well, originally permitted for 19,117' with a TVD of 12,220', reached a total measured depth of 19,547'.  Drilling of the well only took 39 days which represents a significant increase in drill time and cost reduction.  The lateral length calculates to be 7327' which is a TMS record.  Encana continues to be the aggressive leader in the TMS play.  An offset, the Anderson 18H-1, is currently setting surface casing.

Tuscaloosa Marine Shale: Drilling Rates

The Name Game

I received numerous calls and emails this week after two articles were published about the TMS in industry magazines.  The questions regard the naming of the "shale of interest" across central Louisiana.  Some parties use the name "Louisiana Eagle Ford" versus the "Tuscaloosa Marine Shale" (aka TMS).  The desire to associate with the Eagle Ford Shale of south Texas is obvious from a marketers stand point.  As they say, "perception is reality".  No one can be faulted for that.

I personally don't care for the name "Tuscaloosa Marine Shale", but the naming convention was created before I was born.  There are many marine shales in the Tuscaloosa interval, so that name is not very unique or descriptive.  Lithostratigraphic nomenclature usually loses its value once you "leave the neighborhood".  Technically, based on over twenty years of sequence stratigraphic work across the trend, I identify this interval as the "upper portion of the Tuscaloosa A Transgressive Systems Tract".  The acronym UPTATST might be hard to sell. 

Type Log:
http://www.ameliaresources.com/documents/tuscaloosatrend/Amelia%20Resources%20LLC%20WEBSITE%20TUSCALOOSA%20MARINE%20SHALE%20Type%20Log%20June%202011.pdf

The shale being pursued across Vernon, Rapides, and Sabine Parishes is the UPTATST as it is to the east in the Florida Parishes and Mississippi.  They are age equivalent, but are part of different hydrocarbon systems and don't share the same rock properties.  In a broad sense, I don't believe that they share the same hydrocarbon saturations.  The drilling results will deliver the "proof in the pudding" over the coming years.  High initial production rates with stable declines will be the ticket to profitability.

At the end of the day, the name of the interval is irrelevant.  The age equivalency is also irrelevant. The only relevant criteria are the properties of the rock and the hydrocarbon saturation within it.  Those will determine the economics of the play.

TMS Core

I believe that the silica-richness of the TMS-East along with the increased calcareous content in the southern portion of the TMS-East will be key properties driving the success in this region of the play.  The clay richness historically experienced in certain areas of the play might have been incorrectly and broadly extrapolated over a very large region.

"Shale-gas and shale-oil plays are not necessarily strictly 'shale' plays as hybrid system - those systems with mixed lithofacies present - appear to be the most productive.  Strictly speaking shale is defined by particle size, but in shale-gas plays it is more important to know mineralogy as well as having clay speciation." 
Dan Jarvie, Worldwide Geochemistry LLC

I'm working on a comparison of the TMS to the Eaglebine (Madison, Grimes, and Brazos Cty, TX) and the Eagle Ford of Burleson County, Texas.  This might be the best analog for the TMS if one is required.  The Eagle Ford of south Texas stands alone.  Using the rock properties and lithology of the south TX Eagle Ford as an analog for any areas of the TMS is inaccurate and misguided.

I hope that the play works from Texas to Mississippi.  It would be a great boom for my home state.  Seeing oil booms occur in areas with poor economies is always a great thing.  For reasons of simplicity and consistency, this blog will continue to refer to the shale across the entire state as the TMS.

Email Alerts

A new option has been added to the blog that provides email alerts when new content is added to the site.  Type your email in the FOLLOW BY EMAIL box to the right to subscribe.

Scout Report - January 11, 2012

This weeks Scout Report:
https://sites.google.com/site/tuscaloosatrend/scout-reports


View Tuscaloosa Trend in a larger map

Devon Presentation - Pritchard Capital Partners

Devon has just posted a PDF and webcast of their presentation at the Pritchard Capital Partners LLC Energize Conference.  Slide 12 indicates that they plan to participate in 10 wells.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=67097&p=irol-EventDetails&EventId=4693520

Devon's Rig Moves To The Richland Farms Location

Devon's rig, the Nabors #7, has moved to the Richland Farms location in East Feliciana Parish and spud on Tuesday.

Oil & Gas Investor - Emerging Plays

Indigo Minerals has provided a link to Oil & Gas Investor's January article on emerging plays:
http://www.indigominerals.com/docs/Emerging_Plays.pdf

Scout Report - January 5, 2012

This week's Scout Report:
https://sites.google.com/site/tuscaloosatrend/scout-reports

Atinum P&A's the Indigo 16-1

After many challenges, Atinum p&a's the Indigo 16-1 Austin Chalk well.

SONRIS:

17265'; CONTROL LOST CIRC; LOGGED WELL; 7 5/8" CSG COLLAPSED; TOF @ 15020'; SET CMT PLUGS; P&A WELL;

Tuscaloosa Trend - Google Maps

The TMS and Austin Chalk locations can now be found on Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=204256365055521729132.0004b5bbdae554174421a&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&vpsrc=6&ll=31.083518,-92.013245&spn=1.256067,3.34259&z=9

Encana Seeks Three More TMS Units in Mississippi

MISSISSIPPI

• Jan-2012: Docket

•http://www.ogb.state.ms.us/docs/Jan%202012%20DOC.pdf

• Amite County (ENCANA): requesting the Board to integrate, with alternate risk charges, all interests in an exceptional sized 972.81-acre oil unit, situated in Sections 25, 36 and 37, Township 1 North, Range 5 East, to horizontally drill the Lawson 25H-1 Well, from an exception surface location due to topographical reasons 150’ FNL and 1,300’ FEL of Section 25, to a depth of 11,800’ to test the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Formation and all other formations and pools that may be encountered at an exception bottomhole location 330’ FSL and 660’ FEL of Section 36, with the right to horizontally drill up to three additional increased density wells with an unrestricted eighteen month test period for each well to establish a maximum efficiency rate (MER). Alternatively, Petitioner requests the Board to integrate all interests in said unit without alternate risk charges

• West Enterprise Field (ENCANA): requesting the Board to reform the presently-existing 640-acre oil unit for the Joe Jackson 4-13H Well, to a new exceptional sized 1,327.56-acre oil unit, situated in Sections 4 and 9, Township 2 North, Range 3 East, for production from the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Formation and to integrate, with alternate risk charges, all interests in said new unit. Petitioner is also requesting authority to horizontally drill the Joe Jackson 4H-2 Well as an increased density well, from an exception surface location due to topographical reasons 846’ FNL and 1,522’ FEL of Section 4, to a depth of 11,600’ to test the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Formation and all other formations and pools that may be encountered at an exception bottomhole location 330’ FSL and 660’ FEL of Section 9, with the right to horizontally drill up to two additional increased density wells on the unit, with an unrestricted eighteen month test period for each well to establish a maximum efficiency rate (MER) . Alternatively, Petitioner requests the Board to integrate all interests in said new unit without alternate risk charges.

• Amite County (ENCANA): requesting the Board to integrate, with alternate risk charges, all interests in an exceptional sized 1,951-acre oil unit, situated in Sections 28, 31 and 40, Township 1 North, Range 2 East, to horizontally drill the Ash 31H-1 Well, from an exception surface location due to topographical reasons 7,839.59’ FNL and 1,886’ FEL of Section 31, to a depth of 12,500’ to test the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Formation at an exception bottomhole location 660’ FNL and 1,893’ FWL of Section 28. Petitioner also requests authority to drill the Ash 31H-2 Well as an increased density well from an exception surface location 8,018’ FSL and 1,887’ FWL of Section 31, to a depth of 12,500’ to test the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Formation at an exception bottomhole location 660’ FNL and 1,953’ FWL of Section 40, with the right to horizontally drill up to six additional wells on the unit, with an unrestricted eighteen month test period for each well to establish a maximum efficiency rate (MER). Alternatively, Petitioner requests the Board to integrate all interest in said unit without alternate risk charges.

Devon Signs Shale Partner

Devon has signed a joint venture deal to pursue their shale projects.  The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale is one of the five.

"China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.’s Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration & Production unit agreed to buy a one-third stake in five Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) exploratory oil projects covering 1.2 million acres in the U.S. for $900 million. Sinopec will pay $900 million in cash and as much as $1.6 billion in Devon’s future drilling costs in exchange for the stakes in Ohio’s Utica Shale and petroleum deposits in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Michigan, Colorado and Wyoming, Devon said today in a statement.  Devon began receiving offers in November for the package that includes the Utica Shale in Ohio, the Tuscaloosa Shale in Louisiana, the Niobrara Shale in Wyoming and Colorado, and tight-oil deposits in Michigan and Oklahoma, Richels said then."
Source: Bloomberg

Entire Article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-03/sinopec-agrees-to-pay-900-million-for-stakes-in-five-devon-shale-projects.html

Devon Press Release:
http://www.dvn.com/Newsroom/Pages/NewsRelease.aspx?id=1644020#terms?disclaimer=yes

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all in the Tuscaloosa Trend. May 2012 bring you your "Jett Rink discovery" (minus the fist fight).