Austin Chalk, Louisiana -- May 3, 2018 -- Peak Oil? What Peak Oil?

Updates

November 19, 2019: COP to sell its Austin Chalk assets for about $4,000/acre. 

June 7, 2019: large seismic study scheduled.

March 12, 2019: must be a slow news day; Rigzone mentions that MRO is looking for the next big play; references the Louisiana Austin Chalk. 

June 18, 2018: "Analysts" are suggesting frackers will move to the Austin Chalk next.

Original Post

A reader alerted me to the Austin Chalk, Louisiana (different from the Austin Chalk, East Texas or Eagle Ford) today:

The Austin Chalk in Louisiana may be the next 'hot' play in the unconventional world, with EOG leading the way.

They have leased about 130,000 acres, along with Marathon and COP leasing about 200,000 acres each.

EOG has drilled a 16,700 foot deep well - Eagles Ranch 1 - that appears to be a success.
The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale us also in this area which could make for interesting times. 

From The Advocate, today:

Houston-based Marathon Oil has confirmed it has a position in Louisiana’s Austin Chalk play, making it one of several large industry players exploring the formation.

Marathon, in its first-quarter earnings report released Thursday (this link will probably break after ninety days), said it has accumulated 250,000 net acres in multiple new plays in the past year, including a “largely contiguous position in the emerging Austin Chalk play at a cost of less than $900 per acre.”

Recent leasing activity has raised the possibility of an onshore drilling resurgence in Louisiana.

ConocoPhillips also recently announced its position in Louisiana’s portion of the Austin Chalk formation, which stretches across Texas through the middle of Louisiana. The formation had little leasing activity here for two decades until the past year or so, when EOG Resources announced last fall it had leased 130,000 acres and drilled a test well.

Also, from the same Advocate link:

From The Hayride:

Just north of I-10 lies the Austin Chalk. The formation stretches from Texas to the Gulf of Mexico and cuts through much of central Louisiana. This play is no “new kid on the block” but more of a seasoned veteran who has to show the rest of the state it still has what it takes to make the band. In 1996, the Austin Chalk was considered “hot” and a source of much drilling and economic activity for Louisiana’s oil and gas industry. Over time it fell out of favor. The resources didn’t meet budgets, and companies moved on leaving billions of barrels in the ground.

The chatter about the Austin Chalk really started to resonate when EOG made headlines for its leasing of more than 130,000 acres in Avoyelles, St. Landry, and Pointe Coupee parishes in September of 2017, just months after Lafayette-based PetroQuest acquired 24,000 acres. The buzz continues to grow. Just this week, ConocoPhillips announced their plans to sell assets in the red-hot Permian Basin and have already purchased approximately 245,000 acres, most under lease happens to be in Louisiana’s Austin Chalk.

From The Hayride link: