We Is or We Is Not . . .

Back to minerals again.  I spent about an hour looking at Amelia's material on Tuscaloosa Marine Shale/Austin Chalk again.  The good news is that there is a lot of oil in those two geological zones, the bad news is (note one the ises) no one really knows how to get it out.  There are good wells and not so good wells scattered about into that zone.

Our place seems to have the infamous Edwards Shelf literally run right under it.  It can be note to the south of us lies the "down dip of the Edwards Shelf" and a number of gas fields in the Tucsaloosa Trend (which lies below the Austin Chalk and below that is the Tuscaloosa Trend - pretty damn deep is the trend).  Could be we are out of it since we are north of the shelf down dip, though no one really knows just where the edge of the shelf is (another is).  It would take a number of wells to log the structures way down the hole to really figure it out exactly where the shelf begins or ends, not something that is ever really going to happen.

The LaCour #43 well is into the Austin Chalk (note that I found out if you go east it is referred to as the Selma Chalk - go figure).  The well has had its problems producing oil and gas.  They killed the well in August, removed the Blow Out Protector (COP) located down hole and the gasket between the casing and the inner casing.  Since then, we have noticed on SONRIS Lite the oil production has quadrupled since their rework.  That is a good thing but still may not be sufficient to deem the well a success.  Oil production companies want all their money back PDQ, they are loathe to have to deal with a low producing well for years to get the gold back.

To the north of us is West Feliciana Parish and the big interest there is the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS).  Indeed the area extends into Mississippi too.  East Feliciana Parish is considered an even hot play for the TMS.  TMS is above the Tuscaloosa Trend but below the Austin Chalk formations.

It still appears the magic will be in the ability to get the wells to produce.  Long laterals have been drilled to increase the area of production with the idea I am guessing to make mega wells.  They all seem to start okay but decline rapidly, like with in a couple of months.

One land man theorizes that the laterals are collapsing or otherwise getting stopped up (a loose term or description).  He thinks the naturally fractured shale collaspses and gradually blocks up the oil flow.  It is his idea to pump the lateral full of gravel thus keeping the hole from collapsing on itself.  Others say use a casing that is slotted.  I stress we do not know what they did or did not do.  We do know that they open up the lower well and put the BOP up on top at the surface area.

There is more drilling activity to the northwest in Avoyelles Parish in to the Austin Chalk zone.  There is a well over in Edinburg, also an Anadarko well and drilled by the same crew as was used on LaCour #43.  We do not know if any subsurface treatments similar to LaCour #43 have been performed on that well.  That well is basically located across the Atchafalaya River from McCrea area of Pointe Coupee Parish.

Mean while we is leased.  That is the last is.  Yes, we along with many others have an active mineral lease for both Tuscaloosa Trend (Down Dip stuff) and Austin Chalk but not for Tuscaloosa Marine Shale.  Could be a good thing or who knows what.  Mean while the lease money was a nice token of their appreciation.  As Harry Potter said, "And now we wait."