This investigation revealed two important future petroleum provinces--gas in Texas and oil in Louisiana--related to the Wilcox Group. A possible future oil province, covering parts of Texas and Louisiana, is predicted also for the Claiborne Group. No new province is foreseen for the Jackson Group. The new provinces predicted for the Wilcox and Claiborne Groups more appropriately might be described as coastward extensions of existing trends. Possible petroleum provinces associated with Eocene-Paleocene sedimentary rocks to 30,000-ft (9,144 m) depth in the western Gulf basin are considered on the assumption that technological advances will permit drilling and producing of wells to such depth.

No significant production in the western Gulf basin has been associated with Paleocene rocks; the Paleocene section consists mainly of shale and other nonreservoir rock. Considerable quantities of both oil and gas have been found in the established Eocene trends. Currently, there are 501 gas, 1,048 oil, and 377 oil and gas fields which have produced from the Eocene. Cumulative production to January 1, 1969, totaled more than 4.2 trillion cu ft of gas and 2.8 billion bbl of oil. These figures, and all similar figures quoted in this report, are exclusive of casinghead gas, natural gas liquids, and gas flared in past years.