Deepsepia
12-02-2011, 06:09 PM
Easily the most under-reported economic story of the year has been the continuing massive discoveries of oil and especially nat gas in the Dakotas and the Appalachians/Rust Belt. The amounts are huge, so big that the US is going to end up exporting nat gas, which presently sells at a fraction of the price you see in Europe. Not so long ago we were talking about building terminals for docking LNG tankers coming from other places -- now we're talking about building liquefaction facilities for shipping our nat gas overseas
Utica Shale - The Natural Gas Giant Below the Marcellus?
The Marcellus was the Opening Act
A rock layer below the Marcellus Shale is developing into another incredible source of natural gas.
The Marcellus Shale captured public attention when leasing and drilling activities began pumping billions of dollars into local economies and citizens began debating the environmental, social and economic impacts. All of this began suddenly in 2004 when Range Resources Corporation drilled the first Marcellus well using modern drilling technology.
Now, just a few years later, the Marcellus Shale is being developed into one of the world's largest natural gas fields. However, what we are seeing today from the Marcellus is only the first step in a sequence of natural gas plays. The second step is starting in the Utica Shale.
What is the Utica Shale?
The Utica Shale is a rock unit located a few thousand feet below the Marcellus Shale. It also has the potential to become an enormous natural gas resource. The Utica Shale is thicker than the Marcellus, it is more geographically extensive and it has already proven its ability to support commercial production.
It is impossible to say at this time how large the Utica Shale resource might be because it has not been thoroughly evaluated and little public information is available about its organic content, the thickness of organic-rich intervals and how it will respond to horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. However, the results of early testing indicate that the Utica Shale will be a very significant resource.
Where is the Utica Shale?
The potential source rock portion of the Utica Shale is extensive. In the United States it underlies portions of Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia. It is also present beneath parts of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and part of Ontario, Canada. This geographic extent of potential Utica Shale source rock is shown on the map labeled as Figure 1 in the right column of this page. If the Utica is commercial throughout this extent it will be geographically larger than any natural gas field known today.
The Utica Shale is much deeper than the Marcellus. The Utica Shale elevation map shown as Figure 2 in the right column of this page has contour lines that show the elevation of the base of the Utica Shale in feet below sea level. In some parts of Pennsylvania the Utica Shale can be over two miles below sea level. However, the depth of the Utica Shale decreases to the west into Ohio and to the northwest under the Great Lakes and into Canada. In these areas the Utica Shale rises to less than 2000 feet below sea level. Beyond the potential source rock areas the Utica Shale rises to Earth's surface and can be seen in outcrop. An outcrop photo of the Utica Shale near the town of Donnaconna, Quebec, Canada is show in the right column of this page as Figure 3.
{snip}
Press releases from Chesapeake Energy reported several wells with peak rates of over five million cubic feet of natural gas per day along with hundreds to thousands of barrels of natural gas liquids. Optimism based upon these drilling results prompted Chesapeake to claim that their Utica Shale assets added over $15 billion in value to the company.
Having achieved successful results from recent drilling activities in eastern Ohio, Chesapeake is announcing the discovery of a major new liquids-rich play in the Utica Shale. Based on its proprietary geoscientific, petrophysical and engineering research during the past two years and the results of six horizontal and nine vertical wells it has drilled, Chesapeake believes that its industry-leading 1.25 million net leasehold acres in the Utica Shale play could be worth $15 - $20 billion in increased value to the company.[12]
As part of a $3.4 billion transaction between Chesapeake Energy, EnerVest and an unnamed foreign company, John Walker, CEO of EnerVest, claims that Utica Shale formation assets in ten counties of eastern Ohio were valued at about $15,000 per acre
more at: http://geology.com/articles/utica-shale/
Utica Shale - The Natural Gas Giant Below the Marcellus?
The Marcellus was the Opening Act
A rock layer below the Marcellus Shale is developing into another incredible source of natural gas.
The Marcellus Shale captured public attention when leasing and drilling activities began pumping billions of dollars into local economies and citizens began debating the environmental, social and economic impacts. All of this began suddenly in 2004 when Range Resources Corporation drilled the first Marcellus well using modern drilling technology.
Now, just a few years later, the Marcellus Shale is being developed into one of the world's largest natural gas fields. However, what we are seeing today from the Marcellus is only the first step in a sequence of natural gas plays. The second step is starting in the Utica Shale.
What is the Utica Shale?
The Utica Shale is a rock unit located a few thousand feet below the Marcellus Shale. It also has the potential to become an enormous natural gas resource. The Utica Shale is thicker than the Marcellus, it is more geographically extensive and it has already proven its ability to support commercial production.
It is impossible to say at this time how large the Utica Shale resource might be because it has not been thoroughly evaluated and little public information is available about its organic content, the thickness of organic-rich intervals and how it will respond to horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. However, the results of early testing indicate that the Utica Shale will be a very significant resource.
Where is the Utica Shale?
The potential source rock portion of the Utica Shale is extensive. In the United States it underlies portions of Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia. It is also present beneath parts of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and part of Ontario, Canada. This geographic extent of potential Utica Shale source rock is shown on the map labeled as Figure 1 in the right column of this page. If the Utica is commercial throughout this extent it will be geographically larger than any natural gas field known today.
The Utica Shale is much deeper than the Marcellus. The Utica Shale elevation map shown as Figure 2 in the right column of this page has contour lines that show the elevation of the base of the Utica Shale in feet below sea level. In some parts of Pennsylvania the Utica Shale can be over two miles below sea level. However, the depth of the Utica Shale decreases to the west into Ohio and to the northwest under the Great Lakes and into Canada. In these areas the Utica Shale rises to less than 2000 feet below sea level. Beyond the potential source rock areas the Utica Shale rises to Earth's surface and can be seen in outcrop. An outcrop photo of the Utica Shale near the town of Donnaconna, Quebec, Canada is show in the right column of this page as Figure 3.
{snip}
Press releases from Chesapeake Energy reported several wells with peak rates of over five million cubic feet of natural gas per day along with hundreds to thousands of barrels of natural gas liquids. Optimism based upon these drilling results prompted Chesapeake to claim that their Utica Shale assets added over $15 billion in value to the company.
Having achieved successful results from recent drilling activities in eastern Ohio, Chesapeake is announcing the discovery of a major new liquids-rich play in the Utica Shale. Based on its proprietary geoscientific, petrophysical and engineering research during the past two years and the results of six horizontal and nine vertical wells it has drilled, Chesapeake believes that its industry-leading 1.25 million net leasehold acres in the Utica Shale play could be worth $15 - $20 billion in increased value to the company.[12]
As part of a $3.4 billion transaction between Chesapeake Energy, EnerVest and an unnamed foreign company, John Walker, CEO of EnerVest, claims that Utica Shale formation assets in ten counties of eastern Ohio were valued at about $15,000 per acre
more at: http://geology.com/articles/utica-shale/