Austin Chalk

In TX and Western LA - North of shelf edge

As you move East, it tends to be on the shelf and South within a relatively narrow band.

"Tremendous expansion in the immediately underlying Tuscaloosa clastics influenced normal faulting and associated fracturing in the Austin chalk. In theory, these extension fractures would be most concentrated at points nearest to the shelf edge and would diminish toward the basin."

"Bayou Jack, Masters Creek, and downdip Brookeland fields all fall ...." http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-19486531/geological-asse...

This interpretation is from a 1997 O&G Journal article.  I would think that the full story is yet to be written.

Abington,

When did you hear that rumor and where is the well? If this is true then its a fear that I've had for a very long time.

I was told years ago by an old friend that after production begins the chalk formation could collapse and choke the well. He also told me how to keep it from happening. He was a very small independent operator that could not get there from here but he had a drilling plan for the chalk. 

littleasy,

I think he is referring to Cenla. I think Cenal is a typo. 

Sorry, yes it is in Cenla. It was the attorney of an adjacent landowner who did not tell the exact location. But it is a horizontal. He was not sure it it was true either. 

But If it is true. What happens. They drill again?  Would it be just a setback that will be overcome?

Abington,

If it is true and If it was an open hole completion then it could be re-drilled. If its a lined hole I'm not sure what can be done other than to sand or gravel pack it. That amounts to a mini-frack job. That may open the formation enough to get production back. 

http://assets.dnr.la.gov/minlease/092011/pdf0920112/42262-42271.pdf

This State Mineral Lease Auction includes Mississippi River bottom lands from near Bayou Sara (adjacent to St. Francisville) down to near the Profit Island area (just S of Port Hudson).  The distance is approximately 12 miles of River bottom.

Can some tell us what the spacing/acreage requirements are for a vertical Chalk well are?

Thanks

Austin Chalk well update in Avoyelles:

http://www.avoyellestoday.com/view/full_story/15588197/article-Seco...

Craig,

No, this is not the well that he heard the rumor about. Nelson/Pryme can't get the packer to open and they are going to have to go back in and mill it out and do a conventional completion.

Latest update of AC well in Avoyelles:

http://www.avoyellestoday.com/view/full_story/15680483/article-Comp...

FROM AVOYELLESTODAY.com oil discussion:

Survey crew staking out well site three miles south of cottonport on La. 362 (anadarko)

Ab - That's gonna be close to the old Swift - Sonat Minerals well isn't it?

Hearing set for 13 Austin Chalk well units in Avoyelles, St. Landry on Nov. 1

see story:

http://www.avoyellestoday.com/view/full_story/15826405/article-Hous...

Does anybody know of Chalk unit hearings set for the new year?

Tue 10Jan for the Atinum York well (alternate for the old Clark well) Craig. Rumor has it Anadarko is looking at nine new wells but I haven't seen those apps. Haven't heard of any new unit apps though. Everything I've seen has been in existing units.

Is it my imagination or does movement in the Chalk seem slow compared to the TMS?

Patience my friend.  We have been waiting since 1983 when the plantation had six or so acres in production.  That well sanded over and was not reworked which leads me to believe that it was poorly drilled.  It was a Tuscaloosa Trend well.  Since then, our land holdings has been leased three times.  Then the price of oil crashed and the dreams of oil went away.  Well the price of oil is back up and the dreams are renewed.  So count your lease money and wait.  Might have to go through this for the next 10 years.

That is why my grand father used to say getting lease money is like finding money in the road.  It is free.  But you never know what will come a long take it back.  Or worse just raise your hopes.  Been there and done that.

Heard that LaCour #43 was waiting on a special down hole lift system.   Anybody hear anything?  Also heard the rig has moved back to Texas after the Edinburg well was completed.  Any comments?

Chip,

As far as I can tell Anadarko has ruined the Play through there ineptness and arrogance. I was afraid of this from the beginning. I went to the first pre-conference meeting on unitization and was concerned about the large units with the long laterals. The people in that area did not seem to want to hear my concerns. All they wanted was someone to "Drill-baby-drill". I didn't go back after that. I have stated my concerns on GHS in the past and was told that I was wrong by several people that have connections to the industry. If you look at the production history on Kirk's site you can see that all of the wells have problems. Its now the middle of April and since the first of the year there have been only 3 wells permitted or spud - all in Vernon Parish. The wells to the East that were permitted have expired. I said back in December that with the leasing stopping that it was a problem and it was not due to budget problems like some were led to believe.

Now what I don't understand is why Anadarko is using one drilling protocol, which seems to be successful, in Texas and a different one here in LA which is not. Can anyone answer that question?

Well now you know why I told a person to go ahead and take the lease offer.  Frankly we as a family have made more money of leases than production.  We were in production RE the Wilbert well on the back of Stonewall Plantation.  But that well was said to have "sanded over."  I think it was probably poorly drilled and completed.  Not more than a couple of miles another well was reworked and complete four times and is not in production.  So we know that there are minerals beneath our family property.

We have to wait now to see what transpires.  There has to be a solution.  Perhaps as you say it will be the Texas methodology.

The rig that was on LaCour #43 has returned to Texas.  Perhaps to learn how to do the job correctly.  Same rig that was on Odenburg (Rabalais???). 

Activity in Pointe Coupee has ground to a halt.  We have to wait.

BTW this time when we leased we did use a lawyer for the very reasons to spoke of.  We have had some experience in the past and know that the leasor does so in his/her own interest not yours. 

Chip

Well, actually in Texas the entire interval is called the Eagle Ford and then in LA it is broken down into the upper which is called the Eagle Ford and the lower which is the Tuscaloosa.  I'm not sure what is the sweet spot in Texas so I can't tell you which is being produced.  It may be the lower which has been shown to be productive to the East.  One additional thing to remember is that Austin Chalk wells have been around for a while longer in Texas than in Louisiana.  I don't know anything about the AC in TX so please correct me if I have misstated anything.

 5/29/2012

Pryme Energy Limited and its partners in the Turner Bayou project have established arrangements for farming out of a portion of their project interests with the aim of raising capital and accelerating the continuing field appraisal and development of the project.

The arrangements provide an effective structure to attract a substantial industry exploration and production (E&P) company and/or industry financiers as partner(s) in the significant onshore oil resource development opportunity in the Austin Chalk, Tuscaloosa Marine Shale and Wilcox formations, which the Turner Bayou project represents. The arrangements agreed between Pryme and its Turner Bayou partners include:

• The prospective farm-in partner will be offered the right to acquire a reasonable equity interest in the Turner Bayou project area in return for disproportionately funding new well drilling and completion operations. The work program, to be undertaken within a fixed time period, will include drilling and completing wells on prospects adjacent to the existing producing Deshotels 20H and 13H wells;
• If the farm-in partner is an experienced operator with relevant applicable experience it will be offered operatorship of the project. Otherwise a suitably qualified and experienced commercial operator will be engaged;

A successful farm-out as proposed will result in the accelerated drilling and development of wells in Turner Bayou. A number of E&P companies, some with significant experience drilling horizontal Austin Chalk wells, have shown a strong interest in the project.

Should a farm-out not be completed in a timely manner, sufficient primary term on the mineral leases remains to allow for alternate arrangements to be made by Pryme.

"We consider the arrangements to provide a clear and effective strategy that offers the best possible chance for a successful outcome. Pryme is the largest equity owner in Turner Bayou and together with our project partners we control a large acreage position with demonstrated prospectivity for oil. The project area is surrounded by medium to large E&P companies whose focus is not only the prolific Austin Chalk formation but also on the emerging major oil resource play in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale which is also well represented in Pryme's acreage," said Justin Pettett, Pryme's Managing Director.

"Unlocking the significant value of the Turner Bayou Chalk project can be accomplished by drilling the next wells in this project, implementing a low risk completion technique and bringing the wells online without incident. Having confirmed the commercial production characteristics of wells drilled in Turner Bayou we will continue to drill and build a portfolio of producing oil wells."

Permitting of the next two wells, the Deshotels 24H and Rosewood Plantation 21H, is underway. The Deshotels 24H drill site location and the service road to the Rosewood Plantation 21H well site have already been built. The sites for both wells are adjacent to the initial Turner Bayou wells drilled by Pryme and its partners and are located in the area which recent re-interpretation of the project's 3D seismic survey has determined to have the highest fracture intensity, and hence oil prospectivity, of the Austin Chalk formation within the project area.

The article below comes from Oil Online.

david crocket,

That post was on Pryme's web site also. It means that they have lost their funding and are now looking to do a "farm out" to continue the E&P in the area. I don't look for anyone to jump up and do a quick deal. Between Anadarko and them they have ruined the play in Central Louisiana.

All quite in Pointe Coupee.  Had some activity regarding leasing in Avoyelles but me thinks Anadarko is hurting.  Looked at the financials and they have written off $140 million in drilling expenses.  Basically, they lost money in 2011.  Things may turn up for them in 2012 but they must also break the code on how to drill the "chalk."  Just have to wait.

 I would not be surprised to see Anadarko and Halcon teaming up to give it another try in your area before leases expire. IMO

Steve and Chip,

I don't look for any of the past players to do any more in the trend. Pryme is actively looking for a farm out partner and so is Indigo. Of all of the companies Anadarko should have had the best engineering and knowledge of the Chalk. They obviously did not and can't even learn from their mistakes. In my estimation Anadarko has spent over 100 million in the trend and has little to nothing to show for it. They are just a bunch of "bull headed hot dog Texans" that came in here and were going to teach us something. It would be my hope that they would put their acreage up for farm out also and hopefully someone with the right techniques in drilling, completion and stimulation will start drilling wells that show the true capacity and capability of the Chalk. 

 I wonder why Anadarko never showed any interested in the TMS ?

Halcon appears to be leasing and ready to experiment in the TMS on that side of the River. Could they team up with Anadarko or Pryme or Indigo to drill the TMS - these have large lease holdings in parts of the Chalk/TMS. Anadarko even has leases above St. Francisville on the west side of the River.

Anadarko was a major player in the Tuscaloosa play in this area back in 80's. They should have a pretty good data set on logs, mudlogs, cuttings and maybe even core 

Mark, the drilling into the Tuscaloosa is a different kind of cat than drilling into the Austin Chalk.  Most of the Tuscaloosa Trend wells were all vertical while the Austin Chalk wells have long horizontal laterals into the chalk zone.  It is a totally different process.  And clearly Anadarko is suffering from ignorance.

You are correct about the Tuscaloosa (Trend/Sands) wells being all vertical . I am talking about the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale in that area which is a different formation and which would have long horizontal laterals just like the Chalk wells. The only difference I know of would be the fracking. The Chalk wells are not usually fracked where the TMS wells are all fracked. It would not be a big leap for Anadarko to drill to the TMS and have their horizontal leg fracked - esp. since they hire out Halliburton or Bayou Well Services or someone else to do the fracking for them. Anadarko has plenty of money and expertise but it appears they were willing to try to get something for nothing by taking short cuts on their Chalk wells. More often than not you get what you pay for. Joe Aldridge may be correct in his assessment of their " bullheaded hot dog Texan approach". Hopefully they learned something.

If Anadarko drilled the Tuscaloosa Sands then they should have passed through the TMS on the way. I agree with Mark that they should have some data on the Shale formation unless they drilled too far south. IMO

Speaking strictly about geology, why would someone not drill the TMS high resistivity section in Pointe Coupee, for instance?  This would be down dip of the shelf, but up dip of the Tusc Sands that were drilled for gas in the 70's-80's.

Passing through a formation is not the same as "drilling the formation" for production.  And yes, to get to the Tuscaloosa Trend one has to pass through the Tucaloosa Marine Shale.

I have no idea why it is all Austin Chalk in Pointe Coupee and TMS in the Felicianas.  Our place is on the Mississippi directly across the river from West Feliciana, yet the leases in West Feliciana are all TMS and our side, the South side of the river (it generally flows west to east in that region) are all Austin Chalk.  There are those that say the line generally runs along those properties, the line being the Edwards Shelf.  But no one knows exactly where the demarcation is for the Edwards Shelf.  I am sure 3D siesmic studies shows up a lot of things we do not know about or understand.  It could be that the Austin Chalk thins out above the Edwards Shelf and thickens below the shelf.  And AC has got to be easier to drill horizontally through chalk than shale.

It was said the down dip was the Alma Plantation well, False River Field.  Generally Included was Moore Sams (all the Jumonville wells that are no longer producing).  Yet ort place had at one time a few acres in production in the Moore Sams Field.  I have no idea how the Morganza Field plays into the mix but it abuts Moore Sams to the west.  There are wells still producting in both Morganza and Moore Sams Fields.  Of course the big bonanaza is Judge Digby Field that has been producing since the 1980s and was at one time the top gas producer on shore in Louisiana.  It has declined but yet remains in the top 10 gas producers in on shore Louisiana.

I'm guessing that one can describe Judge Digby as being in the down dip.  I do not know where Moore Sams or Morganza fits for sure but I suspect they too are down dips from the Edwards Shelf.  LaCour #43 is an AC well.  The well on or near the New Roads airport was a redrilled as an horizontal well that produced some oil but was not a big success.  And there was a well drilled on the Major's holdings between Hospital Road and I believe Major Parkway in New Roads (generally behind Walmart).  It was a dry hole in the Tuscaloosa Trend and was redrilled for Austin Chalk and was yet dry again.