Austin Chalk in Louisiana: including Avoyelles, Rapides, Pointe Coupee, Florida Parishes, East Baton Rouge, Vernon

Horizontal drilling, improved seismic testing,  and liner casing are offering new hope for the deep minerals in parts of the Austin Chalk which runs from near Austin, Texas through the middle of Louisiana to Biloxi Mississippi. 

In 1995, the USGS determined that the Austin Chalk is one of our Nation's largest, onshore domestic unconventional, continuous-type oil resource. More recently, exploration and production in frontier areas of Texas and Louisiana have shown that the Austin Chalk has additional potential as a continuous-type deep-gas resource mostly to the east and downdip of existing oil plays.

Over a decade later, now leasing and drilling activity is picking up in certain parishes of Central Louisiana following improved technologies.

Austin chalk runs from above New Orleans to Pointe Coupee, Avoyelles Rapides and Vernon Parishes

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As Carla Petroleum is not recognized by the state as an "opertaor", the company is likely a land company acting as third party bidder for a currently undisclosed company or they are a speculator hoping to flip the lease in the first year.

 

CARLA PETROLEUM, INC. Business Corporation (Non-Louisiana) DALLAS Active

Business: CARLA PETROLEUM, INC.
Charter Number: 34688862 F
Registration Date: 9/23/1998
Domicile Address
  16990 DALLAS PARKWAY, STE. 126
  DALLAS, TX 75248
Mailing Address
  16990 DALLAS PARKWAY, SUITE 126
  DALLAS, TX 75248
Principal Business Office
  16990 DALLAS PARKWAY, SUITE 126
  DALLAS, TX 75248
Registered Office in Louisiana
  401 MARKET ST., STE. 600
  SHREVEPORT, LA 71101-3239
Principal Business Establishment in Louisiana
  400 TRAVIS ST., STE. 506
  SHREVEPORT, LA 71101
Status
Status: Active
Annual Report Status: In Good Standing
Qualified: 9/23/1998
Last Report Filed: 10/21/2010
Type: Business Corporation (Non-Louisiana)

Registered Agent(s)
Agent: JOSEPH L. HARGROVE, JR.
Address 1: 401 MARKET ST., STE. 600
City, State, Zip: SHREVEPORT, LA 71101-3239
Appointment Date: 9/23/1998

Officer(s) Additional Officers: No 
Officer: CARLA FRAZIER
Title: Director
Address 1: 16990 DALLAS PARKWAY, STE. 126
City, State, Zip: DALLAS, TX 75248
Officer: JAY R. FRAZIER
Title: Director
Address 1: 16990 DALLAS PARKWAY, STE. 126
City, State, Zip: DALLAS, TX 75248
The area of W. Feliciana that I have knowledge of leasing in 2011 for $25 per acre per year for 5 years was leased in T1South R2West on both sides of Hwy 61 about 10 miles due north of St. Francisville about 10 miles south of Woodville, Ms. There was a well attempted  there near the intersection of Spillman Road and Hwy 61 in the mid 1990's by someone but it never was completed.

I will display my ignorance, which is great.  But first, as one hard of hearing, I must have misunderstood my neighbors when they told of the lease bonus.  For my error, I apologize.

 

Second, if a landowner chooses not to lease, how does that decision impact drilling on the land of near neighbors?  I was under the impression, perhaps mistaken, that a decision not to lease was simply a decision to participate in the play in a different manner?  I do not want to deflect the benefits for anyone but I do not want a well in the backyard of my home. If I were to lease, would it be possible to specify that I do not want any activity near my home?

 

Thank you for any insight you might offer.

Cocodrie Man,

I'm sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I saw where you posted but did not see the post. If that makes any sense.

Yes, you can put a clause in your lease that there are to be no operations on your property. That is generally not a problem unless you own a lot of acreage.

Charleston Energy represents Anadarko in the Austin Chalk fairway.
Wow, little testy there Joe! There has been much drilling, discussion, leasing for going on 3 years (my guess) in connection with the "Tuscaloosa Marine Shale." I thought this thread was mostly about the new Austin Chalk play a bit to your NW, and not the "Tuscaloosa Marine Shale." This is all very new and speculative, so it could extend to you, I guess it isn't that far as the crow flies. I don't know much geology, but have been told the Chalk and Tuscaloosa are discontinuous, so it will be more hit and miss. With high oil prices, I'd guess even shallower Sparta and Wilcox wells with new horizontal technologies may come into play. The following link is somewhat helpful, it looks like we may fall under the "Turner Bayou Project," and you may fall under the "Atocha Project":

http://www.prymeoilandgas.com/projects.htm

WH, I'm simply here to get as much info as I can about the chalk and/or shale. Who's leasing, how much they are paying, etc. So I don't see a problem expanding the thread beyond central Louisiana.

For your information, I have followed the Austin Chalk since the blow out in the Lorman well 35 years ago. One of the problems with drilling the Chalk in this area is that it is so naturally fractured that it steals mud. As an example, I scouted the Tusc wells that were drilled in the area and I know which wells they had to convoy pre-mixed mud to when they were drilling in Chalk because of natural fractures. That mud, once it enters the formation, then sets up quickly and you have problems bringing the well in and producing it. In my opinion that is part of the current problem with the Deshotels well. To compound the mud problem in that well they cemented the liner in. That should not have been done. They should have done an open hole completion as soon as they reached total depth and tried to clear as much of the mud as they could as soon as they could. That did not happen because they waited on completion crews that were tied up on other projects during the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years holidays. Now they are having problems even acidizing. The longer they waited for their completion crews the more the mud that entered the formation had the tendency to setup. I hope someone in the industry learns quickly how to drill, complete and produce this formation because this could be the largest onshore oil discovery of the last 50 years. And yes, I do get testy when someone questions whether I should be here or not.

I never questioned whether you should be here.  You obviously know more than me about all this, as I've been following it roughly 1/35th the time as you.  I was just trying to keep the conversation going on this and define the parameters of what we are talking about.  Thanks for the info.
I understand and I hope you are not offended by what I said. I have talked and tried to get interest in the Chalk for a very long period of time. And yes, I do get testy. Thanks for allowing me to open and take the discussion and thread in a new direction.
As far as Austin Chalk and the Turner Bayou Project. In Avoyelles Parish, the Turner Bayou Project lies within a small part of the geographic area as the Tuscaloosa Trend. I am not a geologist, but simply a land owner in the area. If i understand it correctly, the Austin Chalk and Tuscaloosa trend are two different layers, but they overlap some, at least in Avoyelles parish. And i assume at different depths.  But I did not sleep at a holiday inn express last night, so i reserve the right for someone to correct me. All i am really after, like most land owners, is a nice leasing check. We have been offered 150 an acre for our land in southern avoyelles. Another company indicated to us they may go up to 200 if they can get 5000 acres.  In the norhtern part of Avoyelles, above the map of the austin chalk posted earlier in this discussion, there are two large land owenrs who have leased several thousand acres at 25 bucks an acre to do seimic testing.

Abington,

Let me see if I can clarify somethings. First, you have to look at the strata that we are talking about like they are a layer cake. Starting with the strata that is the most shallow it would be the Austin Chalk, its also known as the Selma Chalk, then Eutaw, which I'm assuming is also known as Tuscaloosa Marine Shale, then Tuscaloosa. These strata refer to the location of their out crops. That means where they actually come to the surface of the earth.  In the case of Austin/Selma Chalk it comes to the surface in both Austin Texas and Selma Alabama. Eutaw comes to the surface in Eutaw Alabama and Tuscaloosa surfaces at Tuscaloosa Alabama. If you drive up I-20 toward Tuscaloosa first you will see a white formation, boulders on the side of the highway, before you get to Eutaw. That is the Austin/Selma Chalk. Now if you draw an arc on a map that connects Austin Texas and Selma Alabama then you see that this arc follows the curve of the Gulf of Mexico. So at one time all of these strata were under water in the Gulf and came to the surface of the earth at these locations. As over burden (sediment) buried each of these strata they formed, collected and trapped oil and gas. That is what we now see in the drilling and exploration in this area. There are other forces and geology at work here but this is the short version. I have followed and studied this for 35+ years and I'm here for the information that you state in the last part of your post. The knowledge of who is making a move in the area, what they are offering and where they are offering it is of GREAT interest to me. The Chalk will be the play of the century in onshore oil exploration and production in the US. That is, if the industry can learn how to drill, complete and produce it without damaging the formation. Its much easier to drill through Chalk on the way to Tuscaloosa than to drill in it for production. I hope this answers some of your questions. And thanks for the info about the leasing activity.

Thanks for the explanation. I always wondered how they were named...very interesting.

 

Received another phone call today from a fellow landowner who said he was in touch with two other brokers who wanted to move in. The clerk's office in the courthouse in Avoyelles has been busier than usual with land men, but nothing like the courthouses in desoto or caddo.

 

The firm that offered 200 an acre is a smaller company out of OK, and said they drill themselves, as they are not a broker. 

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