Open AccessReserve estimates in western basins: Unita Basin. Final report, Part III
Publication year - 1995
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/245656
Subject(s) - wellhead , exploit , resource (disambiguation) , structural basin , tight gas , drainage , production (economics) , environmental science , natural gas field , water resource management , natural resource economics , petroleum engineering , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , natural gas , engineering , economics , computer science , hydraulic fracturing , geomorphology , ecology , computer network , computer security , macroeconomics , biology , waste management , geotechnical engineering
This study characterizes an extremely large gas resource located in low permeability, sandstone reservoirs of the Mesaverde group and Wasatch formation in the Uinta Basin, Utah. Total in-place resource is estimated at 395.5 Tcf. Via application of geologic, engineering and economic criteria, the portion of this resource potentially recoverable as reserves is estimated. Those volumes estimated include probable, possible and potential categories and total 3.8 Tcf as a mean estimate of recoverable gas for all plays considered in the basin. Two plays were included in this study and each was separately analyzed in terms of its tight gas resource, established productive characteristics and future reserves potential based on a constant $2/Mcf wellhead gas price scenario. A scheme has been developed to break the overall resource estimate down into components that can be considered as differing technical and economic challenges that must be overcome in order to exploit such resources; in other words, to convert those resources to economically recoverable reserves. About 82.1% of the total evaluated resource is contained within sandstones that have extremely poor reservoir properties with permeabilities considered too low for commerciality using current frac technology