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Haynesville Play Dominates Louisiana O&G Activity
Louisiana/East Texas’s Haynesville
shale gas play accelerated quickly in late 2007 when
Chesapeake Energy went public with some of its drilling
results and assessment. Chesapeake noted that, “based on geoscientific, petrophysical and engineering research and
the results of three horizontal and four vertical wells they
believed the Haynesville Shale could potentially have a
bigger impact on the company than any shale play to date.”
Cubic Energy, a smaller early player, had a similarly bright
early assessment, noting that the play definitely has the
potential to be a company maker. Recent deals confirm that
others agree that the potential is there.
In early July
Chesapeake entered into a joint venture with Plains
Exploration & Production Co. (Plains). Plains bought a 20%
interest in Chesapeake’s Haynesville Shale leasehold for
$1.65 billion in cash. It will also fund 50% of Chesapeake’s
80% share of drilling and completion costs for future
Haynesville joint venture wells over a several year period,
until an additional $1.65 billion has been paid. As a result
of the deal, Plains will hold about 110,000 net acres of the
leasehold while Chesapeake will hold about 440,000 net
acres. Chesapeake plans to continuing buying acreage and
Plains will have the right to a 20% participation in any
additional Chesapeake acreage. Reserve volumes of 4.5 to 8.5 Bcf per well were reported. Just a couple weeks later
Chesapeake announced another deal where they sold their
Woodford Shale interests to BP, allowing them to redeploy
their capital to the Haynesville, Barnett and Marcellus
shales.
The overpressured Haynesville shale, which is 200 to
300 feet thick, is considered to be a source rock for
shallower formations such as the Cotton Valley, Travis Peak
and Petit formations. Depths are 10,500 to 13,000 feet in
northwest Louisiana. Reservoir pressure increases to the
southwest. Being located at greater depth, recoveries will
need to be higher than with Barnett wells to exhibit similar
economics. Petrohawk Energy, another company active in the
Haynesville, has cited recoverable gas in the 40 to 50 Bcf
per section range, admitting there is still lots of
conjecture on just what the gas-in-place and recovery
volumes are going to be. The reality though is that they are
going to be—the wheel is set in motion.
Excerpted from
several sources. |
North Louisiana Coalbed Methane Evolving
Although certainly not as exciting as the Haynesville, or
even coalbed methane (CBM) plays in other basins, CBM has
not been forgotten in Louisiana. There are now around 100
CBM wells with about a third of them being drilled during
2007. In early years activity was focused in Winn, LaSalle,
Caldwell and Quachita Parishes. More recently, drilling has
been focused in Caldwell and Richland Parishes. Initial
production from the recent wells varies widely, from 1 mcfd
to 275 mcfd, with average initial production in the 45 to 50
mcfd range. Water production also varies greatly, from 45
bwpd to 1,200 bwpd. Water is generally disposed of through
reinjection in water disposal wells. Inquiries to the
Louisiana Geological Survey about CBM in Louisiana are on
the increase.
Excerpted from Louisiana Geological Survey’s
Summer 2008 newsletter available online
www.lgs.lsu.edu/deploy/
uploads/Summer%2008%20
LGS%20Newsletter.pdf.
Deepwater (> 1,000 ft
water depth) Contributes
72% of
GOM Production
Deepwater (> 1,000 ft
water depth) Contributes 72% of GOM Production In a report
released at this year’s Offshore Technology Conference, the
Minerals Management Service (MMS) provided data that
confirmed just how important the deepwater Gulf of Mexico is
to domestic oil production.
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In 2007 54% of all GOM leases
were in water depths greater than 1,000 feet.
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At the end
of 2007, there were 130 producing projects in deepwater,
which is double the number from just five years ago.
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Operators drilled 94 exploratory wells and 48 development
wells in 2007. Of the development wells, 60% were in
ultra-deepwater at water depths greater than 5,000 feet. In
2007 eight new deepwater discoveries were announced, with
the deepest being in 7,400 feet of water.
Further
information available online at
www.peoplelandand
water.gov/mms/mms_05-12-08_
advances-in-oil.cfm.
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NEW! Oil and Gas
Fields of Louisiana
2008 (by Louisiana Geological Survey) |
Central
and Eastern Gulf
Coast Region