The Utica shale, which underlies the better-known Marcellus formation, could hold far more oil and gas than previously estimated, the US Department of Energy’s Fossil Energy Office said. If the play’s commercial potential could be realized, it could be, geographically, the nation’s largest gas field, it indicated.
FEO said the 2-year study, which West Virginia University led with financial support from DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratories (NETL) and 14 industry members of the Utica Shale Appalachian Basin Exploration Consortium, estimated that the Utica shale holds technically recoverable volumes of nearly 2 billion bbl of crude oil and 782 tcf of gas.
The results, which build upon and refine previous estimates, far exceed the US Geological Survey’s 2012 assessment and highlight new potential for the Utica shale, FOE said on Oct. 9. The study and its findings have been incorporated into the consortium’s Geologic Play Book for Utica Shale Appalachian Basin Exploration, and made publicly available at the recent Utica Shale Play Study Workshop, which WVU hosted.
The Utica shale underlies most of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, FOE noted. The formation also extends under adjacent parts of Canada, as well as Kentucky, Maryland, Tennessee, and Virginia. FOE noted that in central Pennsylvania, the Utica lies as much as 7,000 ft below the Marcellus, and the interval thins to less than 3,000 ft in eastern Ohio.
