The original paper "The Lower Tuscaloosa Trend of South Central Louisiana: You Ain't Seen Nothing Till You've Seen the Tuscaloosa" was presented to the Houston Geological Society in January, 1980.

Since the original presentation, several new fields have been discovered. The producing structures, reservoir capabilities and regional extent of the play have been more precisely defined. This presentation serves as an update to that paper.

The earlier presentation described the Tuscaloosa trend as a band 220 miles long and 30 miles wide, basin ward of the Lower Cretaceous shelf edge, and extending from the Louisiana-Mississippi border through Lake Pontchartrain to the Texas border. Subsequent drilling has established that the best production is concentrated in an area immediately north, west and east of Baton Rouge, known as the Baton Rouge Mega-structure. Deep tests outside this area have established production, but have resulted in disappointing reserves.

Production within the Baton Rouge Mega-structure has been as prolific as originally projected. The seven original fields in this area have produced more than 38.4 million barrels of condensate and 785 billion cubic feet of gas. Two additional fields, discovered in this same area since the original paper was presented, have produced approximately 2.6 million barrels of liquids and 215 billion cubic feet of gas.

To place the deep Tuscaloosa play in historical perspective, the intense level of drilling activity and establishment of new reserves corresponded with an all-time high in product price and exploration investment. Gas prices during this period ranged from $5 per thousand BTU to a high of $9 per thousand BTU. The Baton Rouge Mega-structure was delineated during this period and must now be considered a mature area. The most attractive future possibilities in the Tuscaloosa trend appear to be in the shallower, normally pressured area north of the shelf edge. New exploration techniques continue to generate interest in these large, undrilled areas. The economics of drilling these prospects are favorable, in spite of today's product prices.

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