Western U.S. Basin Shale Trends
Reimers, David D.
IHS, Houston, TX
Completions in the Rocky Mountain basins of the U.S. have
shown a steady increase over the past five years. The largest overall
increases have been in the Williston, Uinta, Piceance, San Juan, and
Green River basins. Contributing to this increase are the completions
in shale formations in certain of these basins. Analysis of exploration
data shows the successes in shale gas exploration has contributed to
this increased activity. The Williston, Uinta, Green River, and San
Juan are the main gas producing basins and this trend is continuing as
shale completions in the first quarter of 2007 are slightly higher than
the same period last year.
The increased shale success in the Rocky Mountain basins has
resulted in an increase in total overall gas production for most
western basins over the past five years. The Williston, Green River,
Uinta, and Piceance basins show the greatest increase in production
and this increase in drilling and production should continue though
out 2007 and beyond. The increase in natural gas prices coupled with
recent improvement in production technology shale drilling should
help spur further increases in other shales in these western basins.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90071 © 2007 AAPG Rocky Mountain Meeting, Snowbird, Utah