Changes

The Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale (TMS) continues to be a minor and largely undeveloped unconventional shale oil play.  The potential production area spans over 20.4 million acres across central Louisiana (LA), southern Mississippi (MS), southwestern Alabama (AL), and a small southwestern portion of the Florida panhandle (Fig. 1a; Hackley et al., 2018).  However, realized production from the TMS has been confined to a limited area along the east-west LA-MS State boundary (Lohr et al., 2020).  The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 1.5 billion barrels of oil and 4.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in a 2018 assessment of the TMS (Hackley et al., 2018).  This assessment is less than the 7 billion barrels of oil originally estimated by John et al. (1997).

The Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale (TMS) continues to be a minor and largely undeveloped unconventional shale oil play.  The potential production area spans over 20.4 million acres across central Louisiana (LA), southern Mississippi (MS), southwestern Alabama (AL), and a small southwestern portion of the Florida panhandle (Fig. 1a; Hackley et al., 2018).  However, realized production from the TMS has been confined to a limited area along the east-west LA-MS State boundary (Lohr et al., 2020).  The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 1.5 billion barrels of oil and 4.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in a 2018 assessment of the TMS (Hackley et al., 2018).  This assessment is less than the 7 billion barrels of oil originally estimated by John et al. (1997).

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Several recent research articles have been published that use the TMS as a case study to investigate engineering questions related to maximizing well productivity.  These include a study on the performance of inhibitive drilling fluid systems (Konate and Salehi, 2020); optimum fluid soaking time before the flowback of hydraulic fracture fluids (Guo et al., 2020); and the oil recovery potential of silica nanoparticles with enhanced oil recovery techniques in shale oil reservoirs (Afekare et al., 2021).  Funding from the U.S. Department of Energy “Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Laboratory” grant (Project No. DE-FE0031575) supported the research articles by Konate and Salehi (2020) and Guo et al. (2020).  Since the last iteration of this report for 2019-2020, the number of TMS-related papers published since the start of 2019 has not increased much. Google Scholar currently shows 147 publications that mention the TMS while SCOPUS and AAPG Datapages remain at 9 and 2 publication products, respectively, with TMS in the title.  

Several recent research articles have been published that use the TMS as a case study to investigate engineering questions related to maximizing well productivity.  These include a study on the performance of inhibitive drilling fluid systems (Konate and Salehi, 2020); optimum fluid soaking time before the flowback of hydraulic fracture fluids (Guo et al., 2020); and the oil recovery potential of silica nanoparticles with enhanced oil recovery techniques in shale oil reservoirs (Afekare et al., 2021).  Funding from the U.S. Department of Energy “Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Laboratory” grant (Project No. DE-FE0031575) supported the research articles by Konate and Salehi (2020) and Guo et al. (2020).  Since the last iteration of this report for 2019-2020, the number of TMS-related papers published since the start of 2019 has not increased much. Google Scholar currently shows 147 publications that mention the TMS while SCOPUS and AAPG Datapages remain at 9 and 2 publication products, respectively, with TMS in the title.  

Non-endorsement Disclaimer:

Australis Oil & Gas, 2021a, “Completion of Placement—Tranche 1 and SPP Opens,” Australis Oil & Gas, March 8, 2021, https://www.australisoil.com/irm/PDF/fac5af1e-c413-4115-a862-00ee1859e11d/CompletionTranche1PlacementandSPPOpens, accessed June 17, 2021.

Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Australis Oil & Gas, 2021b, “Completion of Placement—Tranche 2,” Australis Oil & Gas, May 21, 2021, https://www.australisoil.com/irm/PDF/e65e539f-0213-4cf0-829e-1d9be64f2c06/CompletionofPlacementTranche2andAppendix2A, accessed June 17, 2021.  

References:

Borrok, D.M., Yang, W., Wei, M., and Mokhtari, M., 2019. Heterogeneity of the mineralogy and organic content of the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale. Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 109, p. 717-731, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2019.06.056.

Afekare, D., Garno, J., and Rao, D., 2021. Enhancing oil recovery using silica nanoparticles: Nanoscale wettability alteration effects and implications for shale oil recovery. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, v. 203, 108897 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2021.108897.

Energy Information Administration (EIA), 2020. “EIA forecasts U.S. petroleum demand will remain below 2019 levels for several more months,” EIA, July 20, 2020, https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=44417, accessed June 17, 2021.  

Australis Oil & Gas, 2021a, “Completion of Placement—Tranche 1 and SPP Opens,” Australis Oil & Gas, March 8, 2021, https://www.australisoil.com/irm/PDF/fac5af1e-c413-4115-a862-00ee1859e11d/CompletionTranche1PlacementandSPPOpens, accessed June 17, 2021.

Enomoto, C.B., Hackley, P.C., Valentine, B.J., Rouse, W.A., Dulong, F.T., Lohr, C.D., and Hatcherian, J.J., 2017. Geologic characterization of the hydrocarbon resource potential of the Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale in Mississippi and Louisiana, U.S.A. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 67, p. 95–109.

Australis Oil & Gas, 2021b, “Completion of Placement—Tranche 2,” Australis Oil & Gas, May 21, 2021, https://www.australisoil.com/irm/PDF/e65e539f-0213-4cf0-829e-1d9be64f2c06/CompletionofPlacementTranche2andAppendix2A, accessed June 17, 2021.

* [[EMD Tight Oil & Gas Committee]]

* [[EMD Tight Oil & Gas Committee Annual Reports]]

* [[EMD Tight Oil & Gas Committee 2019-20 Annual Report]]

Borrok, D.M., Yang, W., Wei, M., and Mokhtari, M., 2019. Heterogeneity of the mineralogy and organic content of the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale. Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 109, p. 717-731, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2019.06.056.

[[Category:Unconventionals]]