The Austin Chalk and Buda Limestone are commercial oil reservoirs along a 250-mile trend extending from Dimmit to Burleson counties, Texas. This south Texas Cretaceous hydrocarbon trend has been the focus during the past six decades of several ‘drilling booms’ which have delimited numerous large oil fields in fractured carbonate reservoirs adjacent to major faults. Data from wells drilled near two newly mapped faults in Caldwell County, Texas, indicate that, despite its maturely drilled status, the Austin-Buda trend has some future exploratory potential. Representative well histories reveal drilling and completion problems and economic risks that characterize the Austin-Buda trend.
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