Shale gas is
natural gasNatural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills...
produced from
shaleShale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable...
. Shale gas has become an increasingly more important source of natural gas in the United States over the past decade, and interest has spread to potential gas shales in Canada and Europe. One analyst expects shale gas to supply as much as half the natural gas production in North America by 2020.
Some analysts expect that shale gas will greatly expand worldwide energy supply. A study by the Baker Institute of Public Policy at
Rice UniversityWilliam Marsh Rice University is a private coeducational research university located in Houston, Texas, United States...
concluded that increased shale gas production in the US and Canada could help prevent
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
from dictating higher prices for the gas it exports to European countries.
Because shales ordinarily have insufficient
permeabilityPermeability in fluid mechanics and the earth sciences is a measure of the ability of a porous material to transmit fluids.- Units :...
to allow significant fluid flow to a well bore, most shales are not commercial sources of natural gas. Shale gas is one of a number of “unconventional” sources of natural gas; other unconventional sources of natural gas include
coalbed methaneCoalbed methane or coalbed gas is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds. In recent decades it has become an important source of energy in United States, Canada, and other countries. Australia has rich deposits where it is known as coal seam gas.The term refers to methane adsorbed into...
, tight sandstones, and methane hydrates. Shale gas areas are often known as
resource plays (as opposed to
exploration plays). The geological risk of not finding gas is low in resource plays, but the potential profits per well are usually also lower.
ShaleShale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable...
has low
matrixThe matrix or groundmass of rock is the fine-grained mass of material in which larger grains or crystals are embedded.The matrix of an igneous rock consists of fine-grained, often microscopic, crystals in which larger crystals are embedded. This porphyritic texture is indicative of multi-stage...
permeability, so gas production in commercial quantities requires fractures to provide permeability. Shale gas has been produced for years from shales with natural fractures; the shale gas boom in recent years has been due to modern technology in
hydraulic fracturingHydraulic fracturing is a method used to create fractures that extend from a borehole into rock formations, which are typically maintained by a proppant, a material such as grains of sand or other material which prevent the fractures from closing...
to create extensive artificial fractures around well bores. Horizontal drilling is often used with shale gas wells.
Shales that host economic quantities of gas have a number of common properties. They are rich in organic material, and are usually mature petroleum
source rockIn petroleum geology, source rock refers to rocks from which hydrocarbons have been generated or are capable of being generated. They form one of the necessary elements of a working hydrocarbon system. They are organic rich sediments that may have been deposited in a variety of environments...
s in the thermogenic gas window. They are sufficiently brittle and rigid enough to maintain open fractures. In some areas, shale intervals with high natural gamma radiation are the most productive.
Some of the gas produced is held in natural fractures, some in pore spaces, and some is adsorbed onto the organic material. The gas in the fractures is produced immediately; the gas adsorbed onto organic material is released as the formation pressure declines.
Environment
Chemicals are added to the water to facilitate the underground fracturing process that releases natural gas. The resulting volume of contaminated water is generally kept in above-ground ponds to await removal by tanker or injected back into the earth.
Economics
Although shale gas has been produced for more than 100 years in the Appalachian Basin and the Illinois Basin, the wells were often economically marginal. Higher natural gas prices in recent years and advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal completions have made shale gas wells more profitable. Shale gas tends to cost more to produce than gas from conventional wells, because of the expense of massive
hydraulic fracturingHydraulic fracturing is a method used to create fractures that extend from a borehole into rock formations, which are typically maintained by a proppant, a material such as grains of sand or other material which prevent the fractures from closing...
treatments required to produce shale gas, and of horizontal drilling.
The prices required to make drilling and producing shale gas economic are different for each shale area. One study concluded that a wellhead gas price above $4.25 per thousand cubic feet (MCF) was required to make wells completed in the Fayettville Shale in Arkansas economic, while wells to the Woodford Shale in Oklahoma required a price above $6.50 (approximately $4.30 and $6.57 per mmbtu respectively.) Another study concluded that the Fayettville shale required a NYMEX gas price above $5.95 per million British thermal units (MMBTU), and the Woodford shale a price above $7.24; the same study arrived at break-even NYMEX prices of between $5.40 to $7.39 for the Barnett, and $6.31 for Appalachian gas shale. (The conclusions might appear to be different, but one is in terms of wellhead price, and the other study is in terms of NYMEX price).
To date, all successful shale gas wells have been in rocks of
PaleozoicThe Paleozoic or Palaeozoic Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon...
and
MesozoicThe Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. The division of time into eras dates back to Giovanni Arduino, in the 18th century, although his original name for the era now called the "Mesozoic" was "Secondary" The Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the...
age.
North America has been the leader in developing and producing shale gas because of high gas prices in that market. The great economic success of the
Barnett ShaleThe Barnett Shale is a geological formation of economic significance. It consists of sedimentary rocks of Mississippian age in Texas...
play in Texas in particular has spurred the search for other sources of shale gas across the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Canada
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
has a number of prospective shale gas targets in various stages of exploration and exploitation in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia.
Utica Shale, Quebec
The
OrdovicianThe Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian period and is followed by the Silurian period...
Utica Shale in
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
potentially holds at production rates of 1 MMCF per day Gastem, one of the Utica shale producers, has announced plans to explore for Utica Shale gas across the border in New York state.
The Quebec shale play focuses on an area south of the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City. Interest has grown in the region since Denver-based Forest Oil Corp. announced a significant discovery there after testing two vertical wells. Forest Oil said its Quebec assets may hold as much as four trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, and that the Utica shale has similar rock properties to the Barnett shale in Texas. Quebec has been known to have natural gas reserves, but advanced horizontal drilling techniques and higher gas prices are only now making the play potentially economically viable, observers say. Forest Oil, which has several junior partners in the region, will drill three horizontal wells in Quebec this summer. It has targeted its first production for next year, and full-scale drilling for 2010. Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc. also plans to drill in Quebec in late summer.
Muskwa Shale, British Columbia
The Devonian
Muskwa ShaleThe Muskwa Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Frasnian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.It takes the name from Muskwa River, and was first described in the Western National Gas Fort Nelson a-95-J/94-J-10 well by F.F. Gray and J.R. Kassube, in 1963.-Lithology:The Muskwa Formation is...
of the Horn River Basin in northeast
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
is said to contain of recoverable gas. Major leaseholders in the play are
EOG ResourcesEOG Resources is a Fortune 500 company based in Houston, Texas. This company is one of the largest independent oil and natural gas companies in the United States with proven reserves in the United States, Canada, offshore Trinidad and the United Kingdom North Sea. EOG Resources, Inc...
, Encana, and
Apache Corp.Apache Corporation is an American independent oil and gas corporation. It is headquartered in Suite 100 at 1 Post Oak Central in the Uptown district of Houston, Texas....
The government of British Columbia recently announced lease proceeds for 2008 to be in excess of CDN$2.2 billion, a record high for the province, with the majority of the proceeds coming from shale gas prospects.
Horton Bluff Shale, Nova Scotia
In 2009, Triangle Petroleum Corporation completed two gas wells in the Horton Bluff Shale, of the Windsor Basin,
Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. Its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest province in Canada with an area of...
.
Triangle’s drilling results in the Windsor Block indicate that technical parameters of the Horton Bluff shale are
similar to those found in other successful shale developments
Horton Bluff (Nova Scotia) 2
Barnett (Fort Worth, Texas) 1
Fayetteville (Arkansas) 1
Geological Age
Devonian/Mississippian
Mississippian
Mississippian
Thickness (ft.)
1,000-3,000
300-500
10-400
Depth (ft.)
4,500-9,000
6,000-9,000
1,500-6,500
Total Organic Carbon (TOC)
2-10%
3-8%
4-9.5%
Maturity (Ro)
1.5-3.0
1.2-2.0
1.5-4.0
Gas in Place (bcf/section)
89-109
30-40
55-65
The Horton Bluff constitutes 475,000 acres and is in close proximity to the north east gas pipeline which feeds into the north east united states.
Europe
While Europe has no shale gas production as yet, the success of shale gas in North America has prompted geologists in a number of European countries to examine the productive possibilities of their own organic-rich shales. Potential host formations for shale gas include shales in northeast
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, the
Alum ShaleAlum shale is a variety of shale or clay slate containing pyrites. Decomposition of pyrite by weathering forms sulfuric acid, which acts on potash and alumina constituents to form alum, often efflorescences on the rock.Alum shale contains kerogen originated from algae...
in Northern Europe and
CarboniferousThe Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Ma , to the beginning of the Permian period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Ma ....
shales in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
.
Shell Oil is evaluating the viability of the
Alum ShaleAlum shale is a variety of shale or clay slate containing pyrites. Decomposition of pyrite by weathering forms sulfuric acid, which acts on potash and alumina constituents to form alum, often efflorescences on the rock.Alum shale contains kerogen originated from algae...
in southern Sweden as a source of shale gas.
Eurenergy Resource Corporation has announced plans to drill for shale gas in southern England's Weald Basin.
ConocoPhillipsConocoPhillips Company is an international energy corporation with its headquarters located in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas in the United States. It is the fifth largest private sector energy corporation in the world and is one of the six "supermajor" vertically integrated oil...
has announced plans to explore for shale gas in
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
United States
The first commercial gas wells drillied in the US, starting in 1821 in
Fredonia, New YorkFredonia is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 10,706 at the 2000 census.The Village of Fredonia is in the Town of Pomfret south of Lake Erie...
, produced gas from shales. After the Drake Oil Well in 1859, however, shale gas production was overshadowed by much larger volumes produced from conventional gas reservoirs.
In 1996, shale gas wells in the United States produced 0.3 TCF (trillion cubic feet), 1.6% of US gas production; by 2006, production had more than tripled to 1.1 TCF per year, 5.9% of US gas production. By 2005 there were 14,990 shale gas wells in the US. A record 4,185 shale gas wells were completed in the US in 2007. In 2007, shale gas fields included the #2 (Barnett/Newark East) and #13 (Antrim) sources of natural gas in the United States in terms of gas volumes produced.
Antrim Shale, Michigan
The Antrim Shale of Upper
DevonianThe Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era spanning from . It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied....
age produces along a belt across the northern part of the
Michigan BasinThe Michigan Basin is a geologic basin centered on the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. The feature is represented by a nearly circular pattern of geologic sedimentary strata in the area with a nearly uniform structural dip toward the center of the peninsula.The basin is centered in...
. Although the Antrim Shale has produced gas since the 1940s, the play was not active until the late 1980s. During the 1990s, the Antrim became the most actively drilled shale gas play in the US, with thousands of wells drilled. To date, the shale has produced more than 2.5 TCF from more than 9 thousand wells. Antrim Shale wells produced almost in 2006. The shale appears to be most economic at depths of 1,000-2,000 feet. Wells are developed on units. Horizontal drilling is not widely used. Unlike other shale gas plays such as the Barnett Shale, the natural gas from the Antrim appears to be biogenic gas generated by the action of bacteria on the organic-rich rock.
http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9697/Sep17_96/artcl25.htm
In 2007, the Antrim gas field produced 136 billion cubic feet of gas, making it the 13th largest source of natural gas in the United States.
Barnett Shale, Texas
The
Barnett ShaleThe Barnett Shale is a geological formation of economic significance. It consists of sedimentary rocks of Mississippian age in Texas...
of the Fort Worth Basin is the most active shale gas play in the United States. The first Barnett Shale well was completed in 1981 in
Wise CountyWise County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2000, the population was 48,793. Its county seat is Decatur. The county is named for Henry Alexander Wise, a U.S. Congressman from Virginia who supported Texas' annexation. Wise County is considered part of the Dallas-Fort Worth...
. Drilling expanded greatly in the past several years due to higher natural gas prices and use of horizontal wells to increase production. In contrast to older shale gas plays, such as the Antrim Shale, the New Albany Shale, and the Ohio Shale, the Barnett Shale completions are much deeper (up to 8,000 feet). The thickness of the Barnett varies from 100 to , but most economic wells are located where the shale is between 300 and thick. The success of the Barnett has spurred exploration of other deep shales.
In 2007, the Barnett shale (Newark East) gas field produced 1.11 trillion cubic feet of gas, making it the second-largest source of natural gas in the United States. The Barnett shale currently produces more than 6% of US natural gas production.
Texas Shale Forum
Caney Shale, Oklahoma
The Caney Shale in the Arkoma Basin is the stratigraphic equivalent of the Barnett Shale in the Ft. Worth Basin. The formation has become a gas producer since the large success of the Barnett play.
Conesauga Shale, Alabama
Wells are currently being drilled to produce gas from the
CambrianThe Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic era, lasting from ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux...
Conasauga shaleThe Conasauga Shale is a Cambrian-aged geological gas shale formation lying within the Appalachian thrust and fault region of Alabama and Georgia. The formation consists of shales and carbonates that have structurally thickened to over in certain areas by successive orogenic events impacting the...
in northern Alabama. Activity is in St. Clair, Etowah, and Cullman counties.
Fayetteville Shale, Arkansas
The Mississippian Fayetteville Shale produces gas in the
ArkansasArkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquin name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the...
part of the Arkoma Basin. The productive section varies in thickness from 50 to , and in depth from 1500 to . The shale gas was originally produced through vertical wells, but operators are increasingly going to horizontal wells in the Fayetteville. Producers include SEECO a subsidiary of Southwestern Energy Co. who discovered the play,
Chesapeake EnergyChesapeake Energy is a producer of natural gas in the United States and according to their 3Q 2007 report, is the largest independent producer, third overall and the most active driller of new wells in the US...
, Noble Energy Corp., XTO Energy Inc., Contango Oil & Gas Co., Edge Petroleum Corp., Triangle Petroleum Corp., and Kerogen Resources Inc.
Floyd Shale, Alabama
The Floyd Shale of Mississippian age is a current gas exploration target in the
Black Warrior BasinThe Black Warrior Basin is a geologic sedimentary basin of western Alabama and northern Mississippi in the United States. It is named for the Black Warrior River and is developed for coal and coalbed methane production, as well as for conventional oil and natural gas production...
of northern
AlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its...
and
MississippiMississippi is a state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi . The state is heavily forested outside of the...
.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds-069/dds-069-i/REPORTS/69_I_CH_3.pdfhttp://www.gsa.state.al.us/documents/misc_ogb/Floyd%20Shale.pdf
Gothic Shale, Colorado
Bill Barrett CorporationBill Barrett Corporation is an energy company based in Denver, Colorado. Its core business is natural gas and oil exploration and development in the Rocky Mountains region of the United States....
has drilled and completed several gas wells in the Gothic Shale. The wells are in
Montezuma County, ColoradoMontezuma County is the southwesternmost of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county population was 23,830 at U.S. Census 2000...
, in the southeast part of the
Paradox basinThe Paradox Basin is an asymmetric foreland basin located mostly in southeast Utah and southwest Colorado, but extending into northeast Arizona and northwest New Mexico. The basin is a large elongate northwest to southeast oriented depression formed during the late Paleozoic Era...
. A horizontal well in the Gothic flowed 5,700 MCF per day.
Haynesville Shale, Louisiana
Although the
JurassicThe Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Ma to Ma, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the "Age of Reptiles". The start of the period is marked by...
Haynesville ShaleThe Haynesville Shale is a rock formation mainly composed of consolidated clay-sized particles deposited and buried in northwest Louisiana and East Texas more than 170 million years ago during the Upper Jurassic age...
of northwest
LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
has produced gas since 1905, it has been the focus of modern shale gas activity only since a gas discovery drilled by Cubic Energy in November 2007. The Cubic Energy discovery was followed by a March 2008 announcement by
Chesapeake EnergyChesapeake Energy is a producer of natural gas in the United States and according to their 3Q 2007 report, is the largest independent producer, third overall and the most active driller of new wells in the US...
that it had completed a Haynesville Shale gas well. Haynesville shale wells have also been drilled in northeast Texas, where it is also known as the Bossier Shale.
New Albany Shale, Illinois Basin
The Devonian-Mississippian New Albany Shale produces gas in the southeast Illinois Basin in
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
,
IndianaIndiana is a U.S. state, the 19
th admitted to the Union. It is located in the Great Lakes region, and with approximately 6.3 million residents, is ranked 16
th in population and 17
th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38
th in land area, and is the...
, and Kentucky. The New Albany has been a gas producer in this area for more than 100 years, but recent higher gas prices and improved well completion technology have increased drilling activity. Wells are 250 to deep.
http://www.ogj.com/articles/save_screen.cfm?ARTICLE_ID=21087 The gas is described as having a mixed biogenic and thermogenic origin.
Pearsall Shale, Texas
Operators have completed approximately 50 wells in the Pearsall Shale in the Maverick Basin of south Texas. The most active company in the play has been TXCO Resources, although EnCana and Anadarko Petroleum have also acquired large land positions in the basin. The gas wells had all been vertical until 2008, when TXCO drilled and completed a number of horizontal wells.
Upper Devonian shales, Appalachian Basin
The upper Devonian shales of the Appalachian Basin, which are known by different names in different areas have produced gas since the early 20th century. The main producing area straddles the state lines of
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
,
West VirginiaWest Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland to the northeast...
, and
KentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. Kentucky is a Southern state situated in the Upland South, although the state is infrequently placed, geographically and culturally, in the Midwest. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a...
, but extends through central
OhioOhio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
and along
Lake ErieLake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the thirteenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
into the panhandle of
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
. More than 20,000 wells produce gas from Devonian shales in the basin. The wells are commonly 3,000 to deep. The shale most commonly produced is the
Chattanooga Shale, also called the
Ohio Shale. The US Geological Survey estimated a total resource of of natural gas in Devonian black shales from Kentucky to New York
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1268/
The
Marcellus shaleThe Marcellus Formation, also classified as the Marcellus Subgroup of the Hamilton Group, Marcellus Member of the Romney Formation, or simply the Marcellus Shale, is a unit of marine sedimentary rock found in eastern North America...
in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, once thought to be played out, is now estimated to hold 168-516 TCF still available with horizontal drilling. It has been suggested that the Marcellus shale and other Devonian shales of the Appalachian Basin, could supply the northeast U.S. with natural gas. In November 2008,
Chesapeake EnergyChesapeake Energy is a producer of natural gas in the United States and according to their 3Q 2007 report, is the largest independent producer, third overall and the most active driller of new wells in the US...
, which held 1.8 million net acres of oil and gas leases in the Marcellus trend, sold a 32.5% interest in its leases to
StatoilHydroStatoilHydro ASA is a Norwegian energy company, formed by the 2007 merger of Statoil with the oil and gas division of Norsk Hydro. StatoilHydro is the biggest offshore oil and gas company in the world and the largest company by revenue in the Nordic Region...
of
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
, for $3.375 billion.
- Geology.Com: Marcellus shale
- Go Marcellus Shale A forum for the Marcellus Shale.
- Mammoth resource partners
Mammoth Resource Partners Inc., is a private company specializing in oil and natural gas exploration in the Appalachian Basin of North America. Mammoth Resource Partners, Inc. is majority owned by CEO and founder Dr. Roger L. Cory. Dr. Cory is assisted in the day-to-day management of the company...
Woodford Shale, Oklahoma
The Devonian Woodford Shale in Oklahoma is from 50 to thick. Although the first gas production was recorded in 1939, by late 2004, there were only 24 Woodford Shale gas wells. By early 2008, there were more than 750 Woodford gas wells.
http://www.ogs.ou.edu/pdf/WoodfordOverview.pdf Like many shale gas plays, the Woodford started with vertical wells, then became dominantly a play of horizontal wells. The play is mostly in the Arkoma Basin of southeast Oklahoma, but some drilling has extended the play west into the
Anadarko BasinThe Anadarko Basin is a geologic depositional and structural basin centered in the western part of the state of Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, and extending into western Kansas and southeast Colorado.-Geology:...
and south into the Ardmore Basin. The largest gas producer from the Woodford is Newfield Exploration; other operators include
Devon EnergyDevon Energy Corporation , is the largest U.S.-based independent natural gas and oil producer. The company's operations are focused primarily in the United States and Canada. However, Devon also explores for and produces oil in select international areas such as China, Brazil and Azerbaijan...
,
Chesapeake EnergyChesapeake Energy is a producer of natural gas in the United States and according to their 3Q 2007 report, is the largest independent producer, third overall and the most active driller of new wells in the US...
, Cimarex Energy, Antero Resources, St. Mary Land and Exploration,
XTO EnergyXTO Energy is an American Fortune 500 and S&P 500 energy producing company. Its primary products are oil and natural gas. It is based in Ft...
, Pablo Energy, Petroquest Energy, Continental Resources, and
Range ResourcesRange Resources Corp. is an independent oil and gas company operating in the Southwestern, Appalachian and Gulf Coast regions of the United States...
.
External links