North Monroeville Field, Monroe County, Alabama

Gregory J. Zerrahn and Michael T. Roberts

Palmer Petroleum, Inc., 401 Edwards St., Ste. 1400, Shreveport, Louisiana  71101

ABSTRACT

North Monroeville Field, discovered in 1997, is the second largest and northern-most field in the Upper Jurassic Frisco City sand (Lower Haynesville) trend of Monroe County, Alabama.  The field, which only covers 840 acres, has produced 3,019,361 BO through December of 2008.  The trap, like the other fields in the trend, is structural/stratigraphic in nature.  The stratigraphic component is the deposition of thick (>100 ft [30 m]) well to moderately sorted very fine to medium grained sand with high porosity and permeability on the flanks of a cluster of erosional knobs of basement rocks (inselbergs).  The sand pinches out towards the crestal positions.  At North Monroeville the porosity is occluded by anhydrite cement in the structurally highest well.  The structural component of the trap is four way closure due to differential compaction over the inselberg complex, which is capped by impervious Lower Haynesville shale.  The proven productive hydrocarbon column is 155 ft (47 m) at North Monroeville.  The closure was filled to spill-point which is -10,500 ft (-3200 m).  North Monroeville Field was discovered using the northern edge of a 3D seismic grid that was shot to define Monroeville Field, which is located about 1.5 mi (2.4 km) to the south, and a proprietary vibroseis/dynamite 2D line.  North Monroeville Field is situated beneath the city of Monroeville, Alabama.  Therefore, a post-discovery 3D grid was acquired using a combination of vibroseis and dynamite shots.  Development of North Monroeville Field was guided by this 3D survey.  The field is currently developed with seven productive wells and one dry hole.  Peak production occurred in 2005 at 579,678 BO.

Zerrahn, G. J., and M. T. Roberts, 2009, North Monroeville Field, Monroe County, Alabama:  Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 59, p. 847-863.

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90093 © 2009 GCAGS 59th Annual Meeting, Shreveport, Louisiana