Pettet

STARR Pettet Regional Initiative

STARR researchers Bob Loucks, Kelly Hattori, and Eric Radjef are working on a regional-scale assessment of the Early Cretaceous Pettet Formation of East Texas. The Pettet Formation is a long-standing carbonate hydrocarbon target that is well-known for its widespread oolitic-skeletal shoal reservoirs. Despite being one of the most active conventional plays in East Texas, very little literature is published on its facies, rock properties, and depositional setting.

Cross-section demonstrating delineation of sequence-based subunits, and shoal trajectories within each unit (red). See Hattori and Loucks (2021).

Oil and gas production camparison — Comparison of well oil and gas production to Pettet shoal unit; see Hattori and Radjef (2024).

Hattori and Loucks (2021) published the first sequence stratigraphic framework for the Pettet Formation in a large study centered around Rusk County, establishing a baseline for the area and comparing to better-studied time-equivalent Sligo strata from South Texas. This work showed that shoal complexes can be mapped at a finer resolution and attributed to four individual sequences, allowing a better understanding of the compartmentalized reservoir.

Since then, field- to regional-scale characterization efforts have continued, and researchers are seeking further data to increase our understanding of this important reservoir.

Loucks and Hattori (2024) characterized the Wright Mountain Field in Smith County and tied it into the regional framework to demonstrate the importance of a locally subsiding feature on shoal deposition.

Hattori and Radjef (2024) compared oil and gas production data to four mapped shoal intervals. They found that although the shoals are generally comprised of similar facies in similar successions, shoals belonging to certain subunits are more productive than others.

Photomigrographs of typical Pettet shoal facies, demonstrating differences in allochems and porosity