ABSTRACT Significant cost savings and improved recovery efficiency was demonstrated by the successful completion of a horizontal well in the south Louisiana middle Miocene trend of Vermilion Parish. This completion also represents the first gravel-packed horizontal well completion in the Gulf Coast. The Amoco No. 104 Watkins well was drilled in South Florence Field to a total depth of 6,878 MD (5,686 TVD) as a horizontal well to minimize coning. The well was completed in November, 1994 from an open hole completion over a 183 m (600) horizontal section (6,278-6,878 MD). The well tested as high as 1,079 BOPD, 769 MCFG, and 27 BW. The completed well cost of $1.2 MM represents $600 M savings over the cost of two vertical wells that would have been necessary to effectively drain the reservoir. The horizontal target interval was the upper 2.4 m (8) of a 45 m (148) sand with a 9.1 m (30) hydrocarbon column. A well was drilled before the No. 104 to serve as both a pilot hole and to test deeper objectives. The No. 104 was then drilled and encountered the top of the objective reservoir within 46 m (150) of the pilot hole. The trap is an upthrown fault closure on a down-to-the-east fault associated with the South Florence graben system, the result of deepseated salt movement. Structural control is provided by numerous wells and a 3-D seismic data set. An oil-water contact defines the downdip limit of this 0.26 km2 (63 acre) reservoir. The completed reservoir, the 5,400 Sand-lower lobe is a very fine-grained, silty deltaic sand with sidewall core porosities of 28.9-32.3% and permeabilities of 1,100-1,050 md.