NEW YORK -- The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) continues to excite investors, who are drawn by the leverage being offered by companies that have concentrated acreage positions there. Goodrich Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: GDP) and Halcón Resources Corp. (NYSE: HK) both attracted standing-room-only crowds at the breakout sessions following their presentations this week at the IPAA OGIS conference in New York.

Goodrich, whose stock stumbled late last month in the wake of mechanical issues affecting its TMS program, was upbeat in its assessment of the play.

President and COO Rob Turnham described the TMS as “close to reaching an inflection point and really taking off.” The company currently has three rigs running in the play and plans to scale up to five rigs by year-end. Plans would likely call for a fourth rig to be added in early June and a fifth rig in the second half of the year.

Drilling efficiency has been improving, according to Turnham, with two recent wells, the Blades and the C.S. Lewis, both going down in 36 days. This compares to an expected 45 days that is assumed in a projected TMS well cost of $13 million. Each day of reduced drilling shaves about $100,000 off the well cost, said Turnham.

Just days after the IPAA event, Goodrich released flow test results for its Blades 33H-1 well, with a peak 24-hour average production rate of 1,270 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Analysts were encouraged by the high test rate from just a 5,000-foot lateral well, noting that the adjusted rate per 1,000 feet of lateral length made it the second-best TMS well after the Anderson 17H-2. Oil cut was the highest at 98%.

Located in Tangipahoa Parish, La., the Blades well was drilled on a portion of the 185,000 net acres that Goodrich acquired from Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN). The success of the Blades well—one of three wells that are part of a joint venture (JV) with Sinopec—is viewed by some analysts as potentially opening the door to a broader agreement with Sinopec.

Other wells underway by Goodrich include two wells in Amite County, Miss., and two covered by the Sinopec JV. In Amite County, fracking operations were expected to begin at the C.H. Lewis 30-19H-1 well by the end of April, while drilling continues at the Nunnery 12-1H-1. Drilling is also underway at the joint-venture wells, the Beech Grove 94H-1 and the SLC Inc. 81H-1, which are respectively located in Louisiana's East Feliciana and West Feliciana parishes.

Goodrich noted that the Blades well was drilled and completed under budget. The well landed in the company’s lower target and was fracked with 20 stages using composite plugs that were drilled out prior to flowback. The completion methodology was slightly modified from previously completed wells.

At the IPAA, Turnham expressed confidence that the mechanical issues with the wells were largely “behind us.”

“We’ve come up with what we think is the best drilling and completion procedure going forward. We’re at a point where it’s all about consistency of well results,” said Turnham. And with Goodrich going to a five-rig program by year-end, the company expects to drill 32 gross wells this year, while the industry as a whole will drill 50 to 60 wells in the play. “This is the year of the TMS,” he predicted.

Regarding a possible JV in the TMS, Turnham said Goodrich is “not doing anything for less than $5,000 an acre.” Plans for a JV are not definite, but “hypothetically, that is something that could be on the table,” he said. “But if someone is waiting for it to be a sure thing, then it’s not $5,000 an acre.”

Halcón Resources is currently running one rig in the TMS, which is drilling its Horseshoe Hill well in Wilkinson County. But CEO Floyd Wilson sees plenty of opportunity to expand.

Asserting that the TMS has shown itself to be “already successful,” plans call for Halcón to add a second rig in a week’s time, add a “few more” rigs toward the end of the year and add further rigs to the play in 2015, said Wilson. The second rig will also work in Wilkinson County.

Halcón plans to drill about 10 wells in the TMS in 2014. Projected well costs are $13.5 million per well, assuming 48 days to drill. But costs are expected to come down to $11 million in a couple of years, he said.

Wilson said no capital raises were planned to support the company’s $950 million capex program for 2014. But are there plans for a possible TMS JV?

“We’re considering it. We don’t need it financially right now. It’s not a burning issue for us, but it would probably have the effect of accelerating things, which would be nice,” said Wilson, adding that “there’s plenty of interest.”