ABSTRACT

Recent Upper Jurassic Norphlet oil discoveries associated with the West Bend fault system in Clarke County, Alabama, and the Foshee fault system in Escambia County, Alabama, have renewed interest in exploring for hydrocarbons along the regional peripheral fault trend in Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida panhandle. The recently discovered Chavers Creek and Sizemore Creek oil fields and the Strickland 10-4 No. 2 oil discovery in Escambia County, Alabama, are upthrown to the Foshee fault system. The trap at Chavers Creek field is a faulted salt anticline, and the trap at Sizemore Creek field is an elongate salt anticline. The reservoir at Chavers Creek and Sizemore Creek oil fields includes eolian and wadi sandstones of the Norphlet Formation. Porosity is estimated to be 11 to 22%, and permeability is estimated to be 14 to 47 millidarcies. The oil in Chavers Creek field has an API gravity of 42.7°, and the oil in Sizemore Creek field has an API gravity of 59.9°. The 1985 Womack Hill Field Unit No. 14-5 oil discovery in Clarke County is upthrown to the West Bend fault system.

The Norphlet oil discoveries in Clarke and Escambia Counties, Alabama, and the distribution of established productive Norphlet hydrocarbon fields in Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida panhandle demonstrate the petroleum potential along the regional peripheral fault trend in central and eastern Mississippi, southwestern Alabama, and the Florida panhandle. The keys to successful prospecting for hydrocarbons along this fault trend are the delineation of faulted salt anticlines or salt anticlines, and the identification of associated reservoir grade eolian, wadi, and/or marine sandstones of the Norphlet Formation.