Looks to be about 22 trillion CF
Posted on 01/17/2008 2:05:56 PM PST by decimon
Natural gas distributed throughout the Marcellus black shale in northern Appalachia could conservatively boost proven U.S. reserves by trillions of cubic feet if gas production companies employ horizontal drilling techniques, according to a Penn State and State University of New York, Fredonia, team.
"The value of this science could increment the net worth of U.S. energy resources by a trillion dollars, plus or minus billions," says Terry Engelder, professor of geosciences, at Penn State.
The Marcellus shale runs from the southern tier of New York, through the western portion of Pennsylvania into the eastern half of Ohio and through West Virginia. In Pennsylvania, the formation extends from the Appalachian plateau into the western valley and ridge. This area has produced natural gas for years, but the Marcellus shale, a deep layer of rock, is officially identified as holding a relatively small amount of proven or potential reserves. However, many gas production companies are now interested in the Marcellus.
Engelder, working with Gary Lash, professor of geoscience, SUNY Fredonia, has conservatively estimated that the Marcellus shale contains 168 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in place and optimistically suggests that the amounts could be as high as 516 trillion cubic feet.
"Conservatively, we generally only consider 10 percent of gas in place as a potential resource," says Engelder. "The key, of course, is that the Marcellus is more easily produced by horizontal drilling across fractures, and until recently, gas production companies seemed unaware of the presence of the natural fractures necessary for magnifying the success of horizontal drilling in the Marcellus."
The U.S. currently produces roughly 30 trillion cubic feet of gas a year, and these numbers are dropping. According to Engelder, the technology exists to recover 50 trillion cubic feet of gas from the Marcellus, thus keeping the U.S. production up. If this recovery is realized, the Marcellus reservoir would be considered a Super Giant gas field.
Engelder, who has studied this area of the U.S. for most of his career and began looking into fractures under a National Science Foundation grant 25 years ago, has identified and mapped natural fractures in the Marcellus shale. He and Lash will present some of their recent work at the 2008 American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Convention and Exhibition this spring.
The researchers look at the patterns of fractures in the shale and determine which are important for gas production. Fractures that correlate with the folding of the ridge and valley system are less common in black shale. However, because of their orientation, the fractures that formed prior to the folding will release gas if the wells cross the fracture zones.
These fractures, referred to as J1 fractures by Engelder and Lash, run as slices from the northeast to the southwest in the Marcellus shale and are fairly close together. While a vertical well may cross one of these fractures and other less productive fractures, a horizontally drilled well aimed to the north northwest will cross a series of very productive J1 fractures.
"It takes $800,000 to drill a vertical well in the Marcellus, but it takes $3 million to drill a horizontal well," says Engelder.
Companies that drill gas wells need to be certain that horizontal drilling will produce the gas they expect and the work by Engelder and Lash suggests that it will.
"We know that the Marcellus shale appears as an outcrop near Batavia, N.Y., east of Buffalo," says Engelder. "And we can see the fractures in the Marcellus in the exposed sections of the ridge and valley areas to the southeast. Because we see them going through the folded areas, we know they were there before the folding. If it happened earlier, then we know they have to be in the intervening basin as well."
The natural fractures in the Marcellus shale are the key to recovering large amounts of gas. As heavily organic sediments were laid down 365 million years ago, the black shale of the Marcellus formed. As the organic material decayed and degraded, methane and other components of natural gas formed and dispersed through the pores in the rock. About 300 million years ago, the pressure of the gas caused fractures to form in the shale. It was not until 280 million years ago that the eastern portion of Pennsylvania was pushed into the folding of the ridge and valley province that makes up that area. Gas that occurs in pockets underground is considered a conventional reservoir; gas that is distributed throughout the rock, like the Marcellus, is called an unconventional reservoir.
The Penn State-Fredonia approach is not restricted to production of the Marcellus shale, but can be applied to any gas-bearing shale with this type of fracture. Because the approach begins with a vertical well and then drills horizontally in the direction that will crosscut the productive fractures, old vertical wells can be reused.
"We can go back to wells that are already drilled and played out, and then drill horizontal from there," says Engelder. "Reusing old wells has both economic and environmental value."
###
Engelder and Lash are principals in Appalachian Fracture Systems Inc., a consulting firm.
The article doesn't say how much natural gas we (the U.S.) use each year.
Expect the Granola Chicks and Eunuch-Dudes to file a flurry of lawsuits, since according to Al Gore we should all be living in a tree, eating sticks and dirt.
Did Murtha die?
Cue the Taco Bell jokes.
A dozen years ago, a friend of mine inherited 20 acres out in the backwoods of Pennsylvania. He got it because nobody else in the family wanted it.
He recently sold the natural gas rights for $2,500. There’s potential there. Don’t know how the rest of his family feels.
Looks to be about 22 trillion CF
Thanks. That would make this drilling significant.
MMcf per year starting with 2000:
23,333,121 22,238,624 23,007,017 22,276,502 22,388,975 22,010,596 21,653,086
You can walk the NY/Penn border line and smell the stuff in the air in some places. There are huge boulders around...as big as a small house. Interesting terrain..but tough walking uphill for a mile....
Or the Pulp Fiction jokes.
"Gonna go medieval on your shale!"
Gee, it has to be the bean consumption in one of these countries!
Fear not - the politicos are running out of things to tax in this part of the country so drill we must.
If this could materially benefit Americans then look for the greens to tie it up in court and the EPA for many years until it becomes irrelevant.
The signing bonus for my neighborhood was $15,500 per acre.
Sittin’ here in Indiana Co, Pa (western Pa) eating a big bowl of chili.
That could explain it.
Are they ever drilling for it here in northwestern Pennsylvania (Crawford county). Everywhere you go you see a drilling rig and Universal Well Services down the road from us is going like gangbusters.
He probably leased the (surface) land for the drilling site. PA has weird mineral rights laws on the books...when you buy a house/acreage you only own the surface...the mineral rights are owned by some other entity. It is not unusual to see drill sites in backyards in neighborhoods. Usually the land (surface) owner gets a small stipend (your friend’s 2500) and free gas for use on the property (I have good friends who run most of their electrical on gas powered generators...as the natural gas is free).
My backyard is totally shale (when you dig down even 6 or 7 inches).
Sneakers take the Beano now...I am down wind of you in Westmoreland County....
Is that near Pennsylvania Co., Indiana? I'm guessing that chili is the sole source of natural gas in your locale.
Prudhoe is a fifty trillion cu ft gas reservoir. This would be a super giant and would use two million tons of steel to build a pipeline from Prudhoe to any possible market.
$30 billion project cost. Or more, probably a lot more.
Good. Now maybe it won’t cost me $200 a month to keep a small house at 67 degrees.
Good luck:
""It takes $800,000 to drill a vertical well in the Marcellus, but it takes $3 million to drill a horizontal well," says Engelder."
We signed the other day for $16,850/acre with a 25% royalty. Did you happen to read in the S-T last week about the people buying new trucks with their signing bonus money? This is going to be good the area.
And Pennsylvania has fewer desperate polar bears than Alaska.
Those may be the people in DWG that have the 2-5 acre lots.
Yep, somehow, someway this has got to be damaging to the environment. Are there any caribou or tundra in the Appalachains?
The company I used to work for in Buffalo got fed up with the fuel bills, so they spent $16K and drilled their own gas well (in the middle of the parking lot). They now get all the free gas they can burn and sell their excess to a local gas company. 15 years ago they were netting about $75K a year after maintenance costs, it’s probably a lot more now.
A number of years ago, my grandfather sold his paper mill in Coshocton, Ohio to Stone Container (now Smurfitt-Stone).
Shortly after Stone took over, they hit a HUGE natural gas deposit on the property and the mill — now one of Smurfitt’s largest — is energy self-sufficient.
Granddad was seriously hacked off when he heard the news.
This is an interesting find. A drop in the bucket compared to Powder River Basin, of course, but the enviroMarxists have jammed that area up for the time being. Depending on whose estimates you trust, there are between 100 TCF and 900 TCF recoverable from Powder River.
LOL!! Coming your way, like it or not!
Good story. It would be good to hear more such stories. That gas would likely not be worth drilling to a large gas company but well worth it to the occupying company.
LOL! Our gas company used to be called “Peoples Gas”. They changed it to “Dominion Peoples”. Can’t understand why! ;-)
And probably suspicious that Stone Container knew of the deposit when they purchased the property.
true
Don't you know we have an endangered bioreserve of trees in PA? It's one of the last forests of it's kind, and everything has to be done to preserve it's biodiversity. Right down to killing of the deer and importing western elk. Oh, wait, that doesn't really preserve anything does it? Maybe it's just a preserve. PA Wilds - DCNR's star project for revitalizing rural PA. Or is that re-wilding?
They are interfering with everything else to preserve the trees, I'm sure they will be trying to stop the drilling in the name of preserving the trees. It must be contiguous forest, you now - even a dirt road destroys biodiversity because salamanders can't cross it, and consequently 'can't' reproduce because they can't find other salamanders like them. The eco-radicals have taken of PA's Department of Environmental Protection, Department for the Conservation of Natural Resources and the Game Commission. Everything is geared toward creating the huge undisturbed un-fragmented forest that will be their cathedral to gaia.
It is. The stinky stuff is mercaptan, which is added so you can easily recognize the scent if there is a leak.
Great timing on this post. I just spent part of my day looking into the economics of converting our home from oil to gas heat. The heater is 45 years old, and with oil so expensive, it just may be time to bring gas service in from the road and scrap the old burner.
That DID cross his mind...
Natural gas has no odor you buffoon. (unless you’re walking through your trailer park which had a bunch of leaky pipes)
WOW!!!
Good thing Alaska waited getting started on the gas pipeline. < /sarcasm>
My G-Grandfather built a house on land with a small (stinky) natural gas deposit, sank a pipe in the ground that at one time would power a small streetlamp. It barely supports a flame, now ... almost 100 years later. When I was a child, there was a 10ft diameter "dead spot" around the pipe, and that whole corner of the property stunk. It's all grass, now, and has no noticeable odor.
So ... you might, perhaps, want to reconsider who you're calling a buffoon. Maybe.
To me, at least, you're looking a tad bit buffoonish.
Must be sour gas - “rotten egg gas,” full of sulfur. It’s always *fun* to drive through parts of East Texas and some places in OK with strangers (such as business clients) in the car with you when you hit *that* air.
Everyone looking at each other with the “first smeller” question.
That’s it! The envirowhackos go nuts over hydrogen sulfide (well, for good reason) ... can’t have that anywhere near anyone’s house, ya know.
Where is the Powder River Basin?
Joe, does this area abut the Bakken formation? Can't recall and don't have a map to hand.
(SuziQ, the Bakken is another area enormously rich in petro. It's been tough to get product out of there for some years, but now it's really rolling, and our FReeper colleague Joe works there).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.