Shale-gas production in the U.S. is ballooning. I was recently doing a back-of-the-envelope calculation, and I think gas production from shales could easily be north of 5 Bcf per day at present. Here's my thinking: the Barnett shale currently produces 3.5 Bcf a day, according to the Powell Barnett Shale Newsletter. The Antrim made 136.1 Bcf in 2007, according to the state of Michigan. That comes to 370 million a day. The Fayetteville in the Arkoma Basin made 47 Bcf in the first three months of this year, according to the state of Arkansas. That's 530 million a day. I'm less certain about volumes for the Woodford in Oklahoma, but Newfield says it has nearly 200 million per day net, and it's running 12 of the 46 rigs active in the play. So it's probably safe to double its number to get current play-wide rates. When you add in production from Big Sandy in Appalachia, Lewis in the San Juan and New Albany in Indiana and Kentucky, it's easy to get past 5 Bcf a day. That's truly amazing, as IHS Inc. reports that U.S. shale-gas production was 2 Bcf a day in 2005. Now burgeoning plays in Appalachia's Marcellus and Ark-La-Tex's Haynesville shales are on the horizon, and development of shales from the Pierre in the Raton Basin, Baxter in the Greater Green River, and Mancos in the Piceance/Uinta are under way. So shale-gas production is only going to rise. by Peggy Williams, Senior Exploration Editor, Oil and Gas Investor Contact me at pwilliams@hartenergy.com
Recommended Reading
Defeating the ‘Four Horsemen’ of Flow Assurance
2024-04-18 - Service companies combine processes and techniques to mitigate the impact of paraffin, asphaltenes, hydrates and scale on production—and keep the cash flowing.
Tech Trends: AI Increasing Data Center Demand for Energy
2024-04-16 - In this month’s Tech Trends, new technologies equipped with artificial intelligence take the forefront, as they assist with safety and seismic fault detection. Also, independent contractor Stena Drilling begins upgrades for their Evolution drillship.
AVEVA: Immersive Tech, Augmented Reality and What’s New in the Cloud
2024-04-15 - Rob McGreevy, AVEVA’s chief product officer, talks about technology advancements that give employees on the job training without any of the risks.
Lift-off: How AI is Boosting Field and Employee Productivity
2024-04-12 - From data extraction to well optimization, the oil and gas industry embraces AI.
AI Poised to Break Out of its Oilfield Niche
2024-04-11 - At the AI in Oil & Gas Conference in Houston, experts talked up the benefits artificial intelligence can provide to the downstream, midstream and upstream sectors, while assuring the audience humans will still run the show.