ABSTRACT

Maxie and Pistol Ridge fields are located along the southern boundary of the Mississippi Salt Basin and northern edge of the Wiggins Arch in Forrest and Pearl River Counties, Mississippi. Together, the fields have produced about 12 MMbbls of oil and 600 MMCF of gas, primarily from the Lower Tuscaloosa Formation. A field study utilizing 281 electric logs has been conducted to determine controls on hydrocarbon distribution, emphasizing the Dantzler (uppermost Lower Cretaceous) and Upper Cretaceous section.

Almost all of the hydrocarbon traps in the fields are related to the Maxie-Pistol Ridge Fault, a northward-dipping normal fault which extends about 18 miles in an east-west direction. Maximum throw along the fault is approximately 300 feet (at the Dantzler and Lower Tuscaloosa Formation horizons), with displacement decreasing upward into the lower part of the Tertiary. Several smaller antithetic and synthetic faults trend parallel or subparallel to the main fault.

On the downthrown side of the fault, hydrocarbons occur in two rollover structures designated here as the Maxie Anticline and the Pistol Ridge Faulted Anticline. The former, slightly higher, has trapped mostly Lower Tuscaloosa gas. The latter, structurally lower, contains dominantly oil, spread stratigraphically from the Paluxy to the Eutaw/Upper Tuscaloosa section. Upthrown structural traps are low-relief simple closures or fault-closed noses on what are designated as the East and West Wiggins Anticlines. Hosston and Rodessa production in the latter is referred to as West Pistol Ridge Field.