Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mudbugs20 on February 1, 2012 at 16:51

Better guage hole, OBM more stable than wbm. Less hole problems. HTHP wells enough said. Gas does not cause many problems in OBM.

Permalink Reply by Thomas Maglone on February 2, 2012 at 3:04

I don't what you said, but, it sounds good.

Permalink Reply by Mudbugs20 on February 3, 2012 at 9:52

OBM = oil base mud more stable than WBM(water base mud). HTHP = High Temperature High Pressure wells.

 

Hope that helps

Permalink Reply by William C. Morrison on February 2, 2012 at 5:23

Well I do not understand Mudbugs lingo either.  But my understanding is that the well is an Austin Chalk well which as most of us know is not as deep as Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) or the Tuscaloosa Trend (TT).   The TT is really deep stuff and is rarely if ever horizontal and pressures are pretty high.  Plus there is a glut of natural gas on the market at the moment with producers in the Barnett Shale cutting back (and that is much shallower and a lot of horizontal drilling). 

The location of the well tends to lead me to believe it is yet another Edwards shelf/ridge/reef well.  So I'm thinking they are after oil not gas.

Permalink Reply by Dion Warr, CPL on February 2, 2012 at 7:25

Group:

It's a Tuscaloosa well.  TVD is 19,500' (TMD is 19,700', hardly enough to account for a lateral).  That is below the AC.  Unitized sands in the Tuscaloosa across that contour run from about mid-16s down to almost 20,000.  The edge of the old shelf makes the vertical depths somewhat deceptive as there is a drop of close to a mile within a very short interval (within a couple of miles along a line perpendicular to the trend / shelf-edge.  The well is billed as the unit well for the TUSC RC SUA.

When off of the downdip edge of the shelf (think Judge Digby / False River), these series of sands begin around 19,000 and drop down to the low 23's on the south edge of the trend.  Comparing this well's TD to the TVD's south of New Roads may account for the confusion in the intended target.

 

FYI, this well offsets a recent completion in the vicinity by LLOG's ancestor in title, the Maritech - Acme Brick well (which is also a Tuscaloosa well).

 

Permalink Reply by William C. Morrison on February 2, 2012 at 10:17

I accept you explanation but the LaCour #43 well has a total depth of 21,000 feet but that included a lateral of almost 7,000 feet long.  Could not this well have a lateral that runs, lets say, 4,000 or 5,000 feet long?  Or could it have two short laterals of say 2,000 to 2,500 feet long? 

That region got worked over for Tuscaloosa Trend back in the 1980s.  At least Port Hudson did and that is not to far from Zachary - Baker area.

Late in the game to drill for gas.  The price of gas is rock bottom right now.

Permalink Reply by Dion Warr, CPL on February 2, 2012 at 11:51

William:

As a tip I would suggest checking the total vertical depth of the well versus the total measured depth. The TVD will give the depth of the formation rather than the length of the wellbore (which will include the length of the lateral).

Another tip would be to check the scout reports and perfs as the well progresses. The depth of the start of the radius is roughly equivalent (couple of hundred feet above) to the target depth. The "shallowest" perf measurement is generally a couple of hundred feet greater than the target depth. Obviously for a well that isn't close to TD, this won't be available for a time, but it will be. Generally a planned or actual TVD and TMD within a few hundred feet of each other represents a directional vertical well, whereas a greater difference (>2000') gives the clue of the lateral.

Agree that it's not the best time to drill a gas well in the short term, but if the drilling and/or production from a well will hold the leases, sometimes it is better to do so. Looks to be about an 800 acre unit +/-, with a large amount of scenery to the east that could be held (albeit temporarily) with Pugh rental payments. But you would have to establish production to be able to use them.

Permalink Reply by Joe Aldridge on February 5, 2012 at 14:29

Chip,

Its a vertical Tusc well. They evidently see a trap in the 19,000 ft. range on 30D seismic. The Irene field produced for years in the 17,000 ft strata. This is something that they saw in the ACME Brick well and are extending to play. 

Permalink Reply by William C. Morrison on February 6, 2012 at 3:19

Of course I understand.  It is just that deep wells are very expensive and gas is dirt cheap and will stay dirt cheap for years to come.  Wells in the Barnett Shale are only about 6,000 feet and the surface area is 500 to 800 above sea level.  So it is much cheaper to drill here than there.  Plus there is all that Haynesville and Marcellus sources too.  While I can understand a pocket like Judge Digby (Parlange/Wurtell) where there are dozens of wells very close to each other makes it easier for reduced cost of infrastructure, gas is still dirt cheap.  Me thinks one ought to save it for later use.

I hope they are very successful.

Permalink Reply by Joe Aldridge on February 6, 2012 at 3:44

Chip,

When I posted this I was not sure of their intent. I'm with you; I don't understand why they are drilling a deep Tusc well with the price of gas so low. I was hopeful that it was an Austin Chalk well in the beginning. Its interesting that another company drilled a well South of this one a couple of years ago and its a deep Tusc. They only produce it for a couple of months and then shut it in for a couple of months. I'm assuming that the reason for shuting it in is because of the price of gas. Some things with this business just don't make sense at times.

Permalink Reply by Elise on March 17, 2012 at 14:00

Is this well off of Carney Rd?

Permalink Reply by Snoopy on March 17, 2012 at 20:35

No, the Crumholt is on the west side of Hwy 964 (Old Scenic), north of Groom Rd and south of Heck Young. 

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