Coalbed and Shale-Gas Reservoirs

Oil & Natural Gas / Coalbed Methane / Development Technology

Date posted: 09/26/09

Annual natural-gas production from coalbed and shale-gas reservoirs in the US is approximately 2.7 Tscf, which represents 15% of total natural-gas production. Approximately 1.7 Tscf of this gas comes from more than 40,000 coalbed gas wells completed in at least 20 different basins. The remaining 1.0 Tscf comes from more than 40,000 shale gas wells completed in five primary basins. While the pace of coalbed-gas drilling is starting to slow, shale gas continues to be one of the hottest plays in the US, and drilling is expanding rapidly, especially in the south-central US (the Barnett shale and its equivalents), the Appalachian basin, and numerous Rocky Mountain basins.