ZaZa Energy Corp. has been playing the Eagle Ford since its early days, and now the company is hip-deep in the emerging Eaglebine. Thomas D. Bowman, vice president, evaluation, geology and geophysics for ZaZa, offered comparisons and contrasts between the traditional Eagle Ford south of the San Marcos Arch and the Eaglebine area to the north. Bowman talked about the emerging hybrid Eaglebine play at Hart Energy’s DUG Eagle Ford 2012 Conference & Exhibition.

The Eaglebine is the East Texas extension of the Eagle Ford play. Eaglebine is a coined term that encompasses the Eagle Ford Group and the Woodbine Group, including all of the section from the base of the Austin Chalk to the top of the Buda Lime. The interval hosts both conventional and unconventional reservoirs.

Unlike the Maverick Basin, which is dominated by carbonate deposition, the East Texas Basin contains abundant clastics. Silica-rich sands and silts are intermixed in the entire Eaglebine section, said Bowman. The very thick interval contains more than 1,000 feet of mixed lithology sediments. Within the Eaglebine, there are two broad divisions: the upper Eaglebine has numerous sandstone packages interbedded with organic-rich shales, and the lower Eaglebine is more of a shale resource play.

Additionally, deeper Lower Cretaceous targets such as the Buda, Georgetown, Edwards and Glen Rose also exist in the area.

Since 2007, about 100 horizontal wells targeting Woodbine clastic targets have been drilled in the East Texas area. Recently, operators have begun to focus on the lower portion of the Eaglebine. Interest was spurred by two recent wells that had IP rates of more than 600 bbl. of oil per day -- Weber Energy’s Lewis #1H and Crimson Energy Partners’ Jackie Robinson, both in Brazos County.

Both of the lower Eaglebine completions are in the area ZaZa is particularly intrigued with: a restricted sub-basin that lies between the Angeline-Caldwell Flexure and the Sligo/Edwards shelf edges. This sub-basin, in portions of Brazos, Madison, Grimes, Walker and Leon counties, features considerable thicker sections of several formations including the Kiamichi and the Paluxy shales, noted Bowman.

At present, ZaZa has its own test under way -- in Walker County -- and another permitted in Grimes County. Other active operators include Woodbine Acquisition, Apache Corp., Halcon Resources, Devon Energy, Chesapeake Energy, Range Resources, Apollo Energy, Encana, Navidad Resources, SM Energy and more.