In a new deal that could be worth as much as $400 million, Halcón Resources announces it has acquired 95 percent of Encana Corp’s  shale leases in the East and West Feliciana Parishes of Louisiana.  The deal also includes leases as far north as Wilkinson County, Mississippi.

The shale leases lie in the Tuscaloosa shale formations and according to Dan Collins, a Baton Rouge landowner, is a positive development for the region.  In fact, Halcón Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Floyd Wilson first started looking at the region back in 2000 when he was the CEO of Petrohawk.  At the time, Wilson decided to focus on E&P projects in the Eagle Ford Shale play.  Now, he’s turning his attentions toward Tuscaloosa.

While Wilson had great success in the Eagle Ford, Petrohawk had equal success at Tuscaloosa, eventually selling off its interest in the formation to BHP Billiton for $12 billion.  “If anybody can find oil and make it work, it’s Mr. Wilson,” Collins said.

Kirk Barrell, author of the Tuscaloosa Trend blog and head of Amelia Resources, says Halcón has a long track record of successes.  At the same time, the move is a smart one for Encana as it most likely does not have the ability to drill the 300,000 acres before its leases run out.

For now, Encana says it will keep its interests in just three wells, two in Mississippi and one in Louisiana.  The company still retains a 5 percent interest in the other leases.  For the deal with Halcón, the total acreage is unclear, although it does include 5000 leases.

According to UpstreamOnline.com, the deal includes at least 100,000 acres at anywhere between $1000 and $1250 apiece.  If those numbers are correct, that would make the deal worth around $100-$125 million.  But SeekingAlpha.com puts the total acreage count closer to 235,000.  It is estimated that the Tuscaloosa formation contains as much as 9 bbo.  Spokesmen from both companies declined comment.

The new deal is just the latest development for Halcón in the region.  Halcón has been very aggressive.  The Houston-based company increased its interests in the shale-rich region from 75,000 to more than 300,000 acres back in 2013.

CEO Wilson says that the company will spend as much as $95 million to drill 10-12 new wells in the region and is looking for what he calls a “Huge” impact in 2015.