Potential Barriers to Increased Production of Natural Gas from Unconventional Sources

摘要

For Western Sands, Eastern Shales and Coalbed Methane, application of environmental controls currently in use in gas field production should result in environmental effects being localized and temporary. Environmental concerns do not appear to represent significant barriers to commercial production of gas from these resources. The principal barrier to commercial production of gas from Western Gas Sands remains one of gas price. The barrier appears to be disappearing. Lack of adequate geological information for use in selecting potential drill sites appears to be the principal barrier to production of gas from Eastern Shales. The legal question of gas ownership and the conflicting interests of coal and gas producers seems to be the principal hurdle that must be overcome before significant quantities of Methane from Coalbeds will be utilized commercially. For Geopressured Aquifers, the environmental barriers of subsidence and disposal of produced brine water appear to be major constraints. These are expected to preclude significant production of gas from this resource in the near future. The resource with the largest near-term capability for commercialization appears to be Western Gas Sands. This resource is estimated to yield 1 to 2 Tcf/year by 1982. It is more difficult to estimate the probable contribution from the next two most likely resources; Methane from Coal and Eastern Gas Shales. These resources might be capable of yielding from .01 to 1 Tcf/year by the mid-1980's. Current engineering evidence seems to indicate that no significant quantities of gas will be produced from geopressured aquifers in the foreseeable future. Information from current tests now underway in Texas and Louisiana should permit better evaluation of the long-term viability of this resource. (ERA citation 06:014201)