October 21, 2021
The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale, or TMS, is the middle member of the Tuscaloosa Formation. It was deposited as a transgressive shale unit which is sandwiched between the sandier Lower and Upper Tuscaloosa. The target of the TMS play is its basal resistive zone. In southwest Mississippi and Louisiana's Florida Parishes the zone varies in thickness between 90' and 150' at a resistivity of 8 ohms. It is an oily, calcareous shale with thinly bedded siltstones. Initial evaluation and production was conducted by Sun, Callon, and Texas Pacific in the 1970's. The first horizontals were drilled by Worldwide and Petroquest in 1999 and 2000. Encore entered the play in 2008, but experienced low production rates. The current effort has yielded much greater IP's due to improved completion techniques and longer laterals. These latest operators include Encana, Goodrich, and Devon. EOG and Indigo II are attempting to extend the play to central and west Louisiana. GEOMAP's TMS map service isopachs the basal resistive zone, and maps the structure of the Lower Tuscaloosa. Well locations and completions are tracked on an activity map, and four cross-sections help delineate the zone.