Austin Chalk

259 members

Description

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

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  • Bob Johnston

    Where in Pointe Coupee are they leasing?

    Jul 29, 2011

  • littleasy

    Some leasing approx. 16 miles from the LaCour field (Anadarko), near the new John J. Audubon bridge.  In both cases, properties are just down-dip of the Edwards Shelf edge.

    Jul 29, 2011

  • William C. Morrison

    Response to Edward Caroll.  No, the activity in the Felicianas is Tuscaloosa Marine Shale.  Do a web search on that topic and you will be pleased.

    Jul 29, 2011

  • Bob Johnston

    Has anyone noticed any drilling activity in Pointe Coupee along the east side of the Atchafalaya between Simmesport and McCrea?

    Jul 29, 2011

  • Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant

    BASIN PROPERTIES, INC. Business Corporation LAFAYETTE Active

    Business: BASIN PROPERTIES, INC.
    Charter Number: 34211887 D
    Registration Date: 6/25/1986
    Domicile Address
      105 WHITCOMB CIRCLE
      LAFAYETTE, LA 70503
    Mailing Address
      105 WHITCOMB CIRCLE
      LAFAYETTE, LA 70503
    Status
    Status: Active
    Annual Report Status: In Good Standing
    File Date: 6/25/1986
    Last Report Filed: 6/7/2011
    Type: Business Corporation

    Registered Agent(s)
    Agent: GARY L. SALMON
    Address 1: 118 DEMANDE BLVD.
    City, State, Zip: LAFAYETTE, LA 70503
    Appointment Date: 5/17/1988

    Officer(s) Additional Officers: No 
    Officer: GARY SALMON
    Title: President
    Address 1: 118 DEMANADE BLVD.
    City, State, Zip: LAFAYETTE, LA 70503

    Jul 29, 2011

  • Craig Wascom

    Thanks Skip

     

    That is who we are talking about but does anybody know who they are leasing for?

    Jul 29, 2011

  • Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant

    Previous posts by knowledgeable members have connected Mr. Salmon with Devon Energy.  Whether that is the case here is unclear.

    Jul 29, 2011

  • Craig Wascom

    Thanks

    Jul 29, 2011

  • littleasy

    Thanks, that's interesting.  Could it be a joint venture- multiple horizons?  Anadarko (AC) and Devon (TMS).

    Jul 29, 2011

  • Abington

    Going rate in Avoyelles Parish is now 350 per acre, up from the 125 an acre last year about this time.

    Jul 30, 2011

  • littleasy

    Abington is this in the Turner Bayou project area?  Any idea who is paying this amount?

    Jul 30, 2011

  • Abington

    Yes, Turner Bayou in southeastern corner of Avoyelles. 

    Northern areas of Avoyelles are getting 25 for testing with option of 150 in 6 months.

    Jul 30, 2011

  • littleasy

    Abington is that $125/acre [25] for drilling and testing a well?  And if they successfully test a well, they pay an additional $150/acre in 6 months?

    Jul 30, 2011

  • Abington

    no, 25 for seismic or option or something like that. Then after 6 months they can exercise option to lease at 150, for a total of 175 in 6 months time if they take option.

    I heard one land owner who had 7000 acres in this fashion last year just was renewed 3000 of them, but he said other companies have expressed interest to pick up the dropped 3000. 

    Jul 30, 2011

  • Abington

    Also some smaller tracts of 100 or so acres near marksville in center part of Avoyelles going at the 25/150 deal.

    Jul 30, 2011

  • littleasy

    I see.  Major variables in the absence 3D seismic and well data may include position relative to Edwards Shelf edge and resistivity.  Thanks.

    Jul 30, 2011

  • Craig Wascom

    Avoyelles Today article on recent area activity.

    http://avoyellestoday.com/view/full_story/14838070/article-Latest-D...

     

    Jul 31, 2011

  • Abington

    Little Easy or anyone, what is the Edwards Shelf? Are properties near it suppose to have better minerals?

    Jul 31, 2011

  • Joe Aldridge

    Abington,

    The Edward's Shelf or Reef is the old Continental shelf. In chalk the formation seems to be fractured more below the shelf. Its also much thicker below the shelf.

    Jul 31, 2011

  • Craig Wascom

    Does any body have a detailed map of the edwards shelf? I would like to see something that shows the sections involved. I am so close I can not tell what side I am on from the maps that are available online.

    Aug 1, 2011

  • littleasy

    Craig, I would say that the property is down-dip (to the south) of the ES edge.  This would translate into thicker deposits, relatively speaking.

    Aug 1, 2011

  • littleasy

    Craig

    http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=108178

    The resolution of the ES edge is not clear but this should be helpful for this discussion.  Clearly, potential in both formations.  Good luck.

    Aug 1, 2011

  • Craig Wascom

    littleasy, thank you so much for your information. I found some interesting information on your original question. Though Basin is thought to represent Devon I found a stack of leases transfered from Basin to Anadarko in October.

    Aug 1, 2011

  • littleasy

    Craig, you are welcome.  I think you are in a great location, geologically speaking.  How is the fishing on Old River?

    Aug 1, 2011

  • Craig Wascom

    littleasy I'm living in the Permian Basin. No water, no fish, just oil and Gas.

    Aug 1, 2011

  • Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant

    Hey, any of you Austin Chalk members planning to post the August State Mineral Auction results?  Anadarko continues to be the main bidder but they drew competition on one tract.  And lost it to another bidder by $1.48 on the bonus bid.  The real news is that the winning bid also offered a royalty of 25.5%.

    Aug 11, 2011

  • littleasy

    Please feel free to e-mail me if you have question that I might be able to answer.

    Aug 11, 2011

  • Joe Aldridge

    Skip, I'm having problems picking the info up on the State auction and posting it. I even tried to post the link and it would not work.

    Aug 11, 2011

  • Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant

    Use SONRIS Lite and a browser other than IE, I use Firefox.  Cut and paste the selections into a word document and edit it there.  Then cut and paste the finished product into a site reply.  Links will not work.

    Aug 11, 2011

  • Craig Wascom

    Hi Skip I took a lood at those auction results. I noticed that Basin Properties was a major player in the Pointe Coupee tracts. Any thoughts?

    Aug 11, 2011

  • Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant

    Basin Properties has bid on mineral tracts in previous auctions.  Although they have been discussed I don't think we as yet know what company they are representing.  We know they have worked with Devon Energy in the past.  They are a land company working for a client.

    Aug 12, 2011

  • littleasy

    The word on the street is they represent APC in PCParish.

    Aug 12, 2011

  • Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant

    That would be my guess also from a quick review of wells permitted in Pointe Coupee in the last 4 months.  Only two active operators:  Anadarko drilling Austin Chalk and Neumin drilling Wilcox.

    Aug 12, 2011

  • littleasy

    Skip, what part of PC are they looking at in terms of Wilcox? Do you think they may be targeting the "tight sands" areas in this formation?

    Aug 12, 2011

  • Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant

    Neumin has been drilling Reno (11,500') and Sparta B (11,050') zones in PC.  They are now beginning to permit VUA (Upper Wilcox) but the wells are so new there are no permit application docs available as yet.

    Aug 12, 2011

  • Craig Wascom

    Has anyone seen the application docs for Lacour 42 yet?

    Aug 12, 2011

  • Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant

    Craig, much of the information that you interested in is available on the state mineral database, SONRIS.  There is a SONRIS Help Center Group that has numerous tutorials and links.  If you would like to learn how to do your own searches, click on this link and ask questions if you need help.

     

    http://www.gohaynesvilleshale.com/group/sonris_help_center

    Aug 12, 2011

  • Craig Wascom

    Thanks Skip I found it.

    Aug 12, 2011

  • Martha Nors

    I noticed that most of the drilling has been abandoned in Newton County, Texas.  APC was doing quite a lot of drilling there until about 5 months ago... Are the companies moving to other areas of the Austin Chalk due to greater deposits?  I have noticed there has always been very little activity west of the town of Newton.  No minerals there?  Appreciate any feedback. Thanks

    Aug 12, 2011

  • Abington



    Pryme predicts almost 1000 barrels per day in initial production of second well in Avoyelles Austin Chalk:

    Development of the Austin Chalk in Turner BayouDevelopment model using the following assumptions:

    ---920 barrel per day average Initial Production (IP)

    ---750,000 barrels of oil recovered per well (gross)

    ----Third well to spud in November
    Read more at: http://www.prymeenergy.com/irm/Company/ShowPage.aspx/PDFs/2021-6434...

    Aug 16, 2011

  • William C. Morrison

    Wow.  I hope the well can continue to produce at that rate, or even at half that rate.  That is a monster.

    Aug 16, 2011

  • Joe Aldridge

    That is not a test IP. That is an anticipated production IP. My personal prediction is that if they did everything right the IP could be considerably higher than 920 barrels/day.

    Aug 16, 2011

  • Abington

    This is the typical decline rate, according to Pryme:

    Aug 16, 2011

  • Abington

    Joe, we all like your prediction better than Pryme's!

    Aug 16, 2011

  • Joe Aldridge

    Abington,

    Very good info. I think they are being a little conservative in their estimates though.

    Aug 16, 2011

  • littleasy

    In addition to the AC, the following formations and depths in the Turner Bayou area are a very positive sign for the AC/TMS fairway.

    Frio ~3,000 feet
    Wilcox ~12,000 feet

    Austin Chalk ~15,300 feet

    Eagle Ford ~15,800 feet

    TMS >15,800 feet

     

    Any thoughts from the other members on this matter?

    Aug 16, 2011

  • Abington

    Little Easy, that brings about a simple question from me who has a hard time understanding all of this.

    If they drill for another formation, I assume they have to drill at a new location, at a certain distance away from the first well. Is this correct? Also, could a dry hole of an Austin Chalk well be reworked to drill another formation?

    Aug 16, 2011

  • Joe Aldridge

    littleasy, You left out Sparta at about 6.500 ft.

     

    Abington, There is one company that is drilling 35 wells over in TX from one well pad. They drill a well and skid the rig 25 ft and drill another. There won't be any dry holes in the AC in this area. Anadarko's geologist at one of the Pre-app. hearings stated that "Austin Chalk is everywhere. It just has to be fractured". And it is in this area. 

    Aug 16, 2011

  • littleasy

    For the best answer, we would need a petroleum engineer to weigh-in.  However, I would think it could be done from the same well bore.  IMHO, this bodes well for the long-term resource development.  In other words, they're committed.

    Aug 16, 2011

  • William C. Morrison

    There are wells that have been reused but the developers usually do not like to do that.   There was a developer over in Port Hudson that reused all his Tuscaloosa Trend wells for later oil production.  So it can be done. 

     

     

    Aug 16, 2011