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Putting numbers on shale gas
The U.S. Energy Information Administration has delivered a staggering assessment of the shale gas potential in 33 countries, estimating technical recoverable resources at 6,622 trillion cubic feet.
An EIA report said that raises the world’s total recoverable gas of all kinds by more than 40 percent to 22,600 tcf.
The calculation assigns 862 tcf to the United States and 388 tcf to Canada, more than a six-fold hike in Canada’s proved gas reserves of 62 tcf.
World proven reserves of gas as of Jan. 1, 2010, were placed at 6,609 tcf and the technically recoverable global rates were estimated at 16,000 tcf, largely excluding shale gas, the EIA said.
The numbers were based on 48 shale gas basins containing almost 70 formations and concentrated on some level of near-term promise along with a sufficient amount of geologic data.
Canadian details For Canada, the risked technically recoverable resource for the five Western Canadian basins was rated at 355 tcf, while risked gas-in-place in a 3,320-square-mile area of the Horn River shales is 378 tcf, while the risked total for 1,940 square miles in the Liard basin is 125 tcf, of which 31 tcf is deemed technically recoverable.
Although uncertain about the demarcation line between shale and tight gas resource areas, the EIA said the Montney resource play holds more than 1,000 tcf of conventional, tight and shale gas-in-place. Risked technically recoverable gas is estimated at 49 tcf for the Montney shale and 20 tcf for the Doig Phosphate shale.
The Colorado Group, which has seen only limited exploration and development, has 408 tcf of risked gas-in-place, with 61 tcf thought to be technically recoverable.
The Utica shale of the St. Lawrence Lowlands in Quebec has technically recoverable gas of 31 tcf, the report said.
—Gary Park
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