Assessing Subeconomic Natural Gas Resources in the Anadarko and Uinta Basins, by K.K. Rose, A.S.B. Douds, J.A. Pancake, H.R. Pratt III, and R.M. Boswell, #10069 (2004).

K.K. Rose¹, A.S.B. Douds², J.A. Pancake², H.R. Pratt III², and R.M. Boswell¹

*Adapted from poster presentation at AAPG Annual Convention, Dallas, TX, April 18-21, 2004.

Natural gas resource assessments are a commonly used tool by industry, academia, and government to understand the current and near-term recoverability of the nation’s resource base. However, these resource assessments tend to be static pictures of a resource that is, in reality, highly dynamic. Assessment based on gas-in-place (GIP) analysis and iterative modeling of resource recoverability under a variety of technology/policy scenarios provide improved means to identify the most promising approaches to expanded resource recoverability.

This study collects detailed, spatially distributed, geologic and engineering information on key segments of the nation’s under-utilized gas resource base. Phase one of this study, completed February 2003 for the DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, provided detailed GIP resource assessments for the Greater Green River and Wind River basins. Phase two of this effort focuses on the Tertiary and Cretaceous sections of the Uinta Basin, and the mid-Pennsylvanian and older strata of the deep Anadarko Basin.

Through the correlation and analysis of hundreds of log suites, and drilling and completion records, key geologic and engineering parameters including depth, potential pay thickness, porosity, pressure, water saturation, and temperature were determined and used to produce detailed characterizations of the GIP for each unit analyzed. In conjunction with DOE modeling efforts and permeability analyses, this study provides a detailed, disaggregated, geologic and engineering database for modeling the impact of different technology scenarios on the future of U.S. natural gas exploration, production, and supply.

Abstract