Part 4 - Berg - Hughes Center

Pine Island shale, averaging 250 ft in thickness, is widely distributed in Arkansas and
Louisiana and located in the subsurface between 4,000 and 7,000 ft. Minor production
has been reported from its basal Causey, Hogg and Woodruff sandstone reservoirs
(Breedlove et al., 1953; Crump, 1953; Whitfield, 1963). The first well drilled in the Pine
Island found gas and salt water in a sandstone from 5,315 to 5,340 ft at the base of the
formation, but the second in the Causey sandstone was the first commercial gas producer.
Net pay of the reservoir sandstone ranges from 30 to 60 ft with porosity of 10 to 15% and
permeability from 10 to 200 md. Hydrocarbons produced are typically 24º to 30º API
gravity oil, condensate, and gas.
James Formation
Producing Parishes
Bossier, Webster, Claiborne, Lincoln
De Soto, Bienville, Jackson
The James Formation (late Aptian age) overlies the Pine Island Shale and was
deposited in a moderately low energy open shelf environment. The James consists of
burrowed argillaceous miliolid lime mudstone, wackestone, and packstone (Yurewicz
et al., 1993). According to Forgotson (1957), the term “James limestone" was first
applied in the year 1926 to a section of calcareous sandstone that was cored in Union
Parish, Louisiana, from 3,827 to 3,917 ft. Forgotson (1957) described the James as sandy
and chalky, fossiliferous limestone, fine- to medium-grained, and calcareous sandstone
with gray shale interbeds. However, its lithology is quite variable throughout the region,
changing westward to black marl and shale in northwest Louisiana and northeast Texas.
In southwest Arkansas, the James consists of a fossiliferous, dense limestone and red and
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