In 1821, a shallow well drilled in the Devonian age shale ushered in a new era for the United States when natural gas was produced, transported and sold to local establishments in the town of Fredonia, New York. Following this discovery, hundreds of shallow shale wells were drilled along the Lake Erie shoreline and eventually several shale gas fields were established southeastward from the lake in the late 1800's. Since the mid 1900's approximately 100 wells have been drilled in New York to test the fractured shale potential of the Devonian and Silurian age shales. With so few wells drilled over the past century, the true potential of fractured shale reservoirs has not been thoroughly assessed, and there may be a substantial resource. While the resource for shale gas in New York is large, ranging from 163-313 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) and the history of production dates back over 180 years, it has not been a major contributor to natural gas production in New York. A review of the history and research conducted on the shales shows that the resource in New York is poorly understood and has not been adequately tested. Other shales such as the Silurian and Ordovician Utica Shale may also hold promise as new commercial shale gas reservoirs. Experience developing shale gas plays in the past 20 years has demonstrated that every shale play is unique. A very large number of wells are required to economically and systematically develop a fractured gas shale play. Over 20,000 Devonian Shale wells are producing today in the Appalachian Basin. Over 7,000 Antrim Shale wells are producing in the Michigan Basin and over 1,200 Barnett Shale wells are producing in the Fort Worth Basin today. Each individual play has been defined, tested and expanded based on understanding the resource distribution, natural fracture patterns, and limitations of the reservoir, and each play has required solutions to problems and issues required for commercial production. Many of these problems and solutions are unique to the play. Continued investigation of the shale potential in New York is warranted. More data is needed that address the geologic and reservoir properties of the shale. Modern protocols should be used in drilling, testing, completing, stimulating and producing new wells.
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