re: Tuscaloosa Marine Shale

Quote from The Independent Weekly:

Just as word of the Haynesville Shale began to break, another Louisiana shale play began bubbling up — this one believed to hold an estimated 48 to 60 billion barrels of oil. The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale is a prospective area covering 3.6 million acres in Louisiana’s Florida parishes and parts of southwest Mississippi. In announcing its first quarter 2008 results on May 7, Encore Acquisition Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, disclosed that it has drilled two horizontal wells in the TMS and has amassed 208,000 net acres. Encore is believed to be one of the biggest players in the TMS, where it, too, has been quietly working for the past two years. A 1995 Louisiana State University study estimated TMS’ reserves at 7 billion barrels of oil, but ongoing advancements in horizontal drilling technology increase these plays’ chances of success. Encore’s first well was drilled out about 1,500 feet and has been producing continually since the start of May at a rate of 150 to 200 barrels per day. The second horizontal well was drilled out about 3,100 feet, and the company is awaiting production results.