chalk formations

ConocoPhillips has pulled out of the much-hyped Louisiana Austin Chalk play after the company’s test wells yielded a gusher of water. Meanwhile, an Australian operator flying under the radar continues to pursue the adjacent-but-even-more-challenging Tuscaloosa Marine Shale.

There is increasing interest in drilling the Austin Chalk formation, with hopes that the latest unconventional development methods can deliver a boom in a play that has seen several over a 90-year history.

This work demonstrates that molecular diffusion may be a viable oil-recovery mechanism in fractured reservoirs during injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).