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Drilling
Report released on shale properties, resource estimates and well-spacing details
September 29, 2014 By Ground Water Canada
Sept. 29, 2014, London, Ont. – A new report discusses the role North American shale gas plays by giving the
details of geological setting, resource estimate, reservoir properties,
companies operating in that shale area and competitive landscape.
Sept. 29, 2014, London, Ont. – A new report discusses the role North American shale gas plays by giving the
details of geological setting, resource estimate, reservoir properties,
companies operating in that shale area and competitive landscape.
The use of horizontal drilling along with hydraulic
fracturing have expanded the ability of the producers to economically
recover crude oil and natural gas from low-permeability geologic
plays-particularly shale plays, says the report, entitled
North American Shale Business – Overview, Shale Properties,
Resource Estimates, Opportunities, EUR And Well Spacing Details.
Shale gas production did not occur on a
large scale until Mitchell Energy and Development Corporation
experimented during the 1980s and 1990s to make deep shale gas
production a commercial reality in the Barnett Shale in North-Central Texas, said a news release from ReportBuyer.
Then the companies aggressively entered the play as the success is
apparent, so that by 2005, Barnett shale was alone producing about 0.5
trillion cubic feet of shale gas per year. As producers gained
confidence in the ability to produce natural gas profitably in the
Barnett Shale, with confirmation provided by results from the
Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas,
they began pursuing other shale plays, including Haynesville,
Marcellus, Woodford, Eagle Ford, and others. Although the shale gas
development has been happening for the past three to four decades, it
was not until the past 15 years that it has seen as a "potential game
changer" for the U.S. gas market. The proliferation of activity into new
shale plays has increased dry shale gas production in the United States
from 1.0 trillion cubic feet in 2006 to 4.8 trillion cubic feet, or 23
percent of total U.S. dry natural gas production, in 2010. Oil
production from shale plays, particularly Bakken in North Dakota and Montana has also grown up rapidly the recent years.
The oil and gas industry in Canada
was founded upon production of oil and natural gas from "conventional"
reservoirs, because they are the easiest to get out of the ground.
However, conventional reservoirs are the smallest portion of Canada's
total oil and gas resources. Ironically, what are referred to as "unconventional" reservoirs contain a far greater proportion of Canada's
hydrocarbon resources. The terms conventional and unconventional'
actually refer to the reservoir rock quality because oil and gas cannot
be distinguished.
Industry needs to develop unconventional
resources, such as tight oil, tight gas and shale gas, in order to have a
continued supply of oil and gas now and into the future. Unconventional
gas already accounts for more than 25% of the Canadian natural gas
supply. Most of the activity directed at new production in Canada is unconventional so it is fair to say that unconventional has become conventional.
Currently, between Alberta and British Columbia over 175,000 wells have been stimulated using hydraulic fracturing.
Canadian
regulators and the natural gas industry are focused on the protection
of surface and ground water and the mitigation of risk. All Canadian
jurisdictions regulate the interface between water and the natural gas
industry, and the application of evolving hydraulic fracturing
techniques for unconventional gas development is no exception.
The full report may be downloaded at https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/2378087/
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