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Geologists search Appalachians for oil Department of Energy, states, energy companies to study foothills area, centered in Ohio, looking for deeper deposits The Associated Press
A consortium of the U.S. Department of Energy, several states, 17 energy companies and an industry group plans an exhaustive study in search of new oil reserves beneath the Appalachian foothills.
The two-year review is being sparked by record-high prices for crude oil and the country’s continuing need for it.
Standing in the way of the revival of the Appalachian basin as a top oil-producing region are the same factors that sent speculators elsewhere after the area’s heyday: the expense of and technical obstacles to finding the reservoirs, digging deep enough to strike and moving the oil where it needs to go.
Appalachian oil made the Rockefeller family fabulously wealthy when some of the world’s first wells were dug in 1859, and the region remained a significant producer through the early 1900s.
A 260-mile stretch centered on northwest Ohio saw nearly 100,000 wells that produced about 600 million barrels. But eventually coal trumped crude as the area’s most valuable and accessible natural resource.
Now scientists are poring through existing records to make educated guesses as to the existence and location of bigger, deeper oil deposits. Geological similarities between the basin and the oil fields of west Texas have them excited about the possibilities.
“It won’t replace Saudi Arabia, but it could be important,” said Brandon Nuttall, a petroleum geologist from Kentucky who is part of the project. Earlier wells shallow Earlier wells typically were dug to a depth of about 1,400 feet. If jackpot reservoirs at extreme depths — elephants, in industry slang — exist in the basin, researchers estimate they could lie as far down as 20,000 feet.
“A way to think of the basin is as a closed, big Webster’s Dictionary. In the past, we drilled down to about the letter ‘D,”‘ said Kathy Flaherty, a petroleum geologist with Abarta Oil & Gas Co. in Pittsburgh.
“Now, just think of what is past the letter ‘D’ in your dictionary. Geologists are starting to imagine that. If we put a hole deep enough down, who knows what we will find.”
A 20,000-foot well would cost at least $6.82 million to dig and maintain, according to the Energy Department.
“If you don’t know you’re going to find anything, it is hard to get somebody to give you that kind of money,” said James Drahovzal, an earth scientist with the Kentucky Geological Survey.
But with crude oil selling at $60 a barrel and gas going for $2 a gallon, industry officials are hoping they’ll find something worth bringing up.
“There’s all that sedimentary rock out there we’ve not explored. There could be a world-class field out there,” Drahovzal said.
“But we’re not sure. All we can say is there might be. Conditions appear favorable.”
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