Continuous-type (Basin-Centered) gas accumulation in the Lower Silurian {open_quotes}Clinton{close_quotes} sands, Medina Group, and Tuscarora Sandstone in the Appalachian Basin
- Geological Survey, Reston, VA (United States)
- Geological Survey, Denver, CO (United States)
Following earlier interpretations investigations at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) suggest that natural gas trapped in the Lower Silurian {open_quotes}Clinton{close_quotes} sands, Medina Group, and Tuscarora Sandstone of the Appalachian basin constitute a regionally extensive continuous-type (basin-centered) gas accumulation. Based on the USGS 1995 National Assessment of United States oil and gas resources, this accumulation contains, at a mean value, several tens of trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas estimated as undiscovered. Important characteristics of continuous-type (basin-centered) gas accumulations, such as low-permeability reservoir, abnormal formation pressure, gas fields that tend to coalesce with additional exploration, gas shows or production in most holes drilled, low water yield, lack of well-defined downdip gas-water contacts, production {open_quotes}sweet spots{close_quotes}, and a general lack of structural control on entrapment are all present in the proposed {open_quotes}Clinton{close_quotes}/Medina/Tuscarora gas accumulation. A 17,000 square mile region of western New York, northwestern Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and a small area of westernmost West Virginia-part of which is already gas productive in the {open_quotes}Clinton{close_quotes} sands and Medina Group-is the most favorable corridor for future continuous-type gas resources. Oil and gas produced in east-central Ohio from {open_quotes}Clinton{close_quotes} sands since the early 1880`s, located updip from the most favorable corridor of continuous-type gas resources, are considered conventional-type hydrocarbon accumulations because of their tendency to exist as discrete fields with well-defined oil- and gas-water contacts. The boundary between the conventional- and continuous-type accumulations is transitional and poorly defined.
- OSTI ID:
- 411952
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9610180-; ISSN 0149-1423; TRN: 96:005901-0085
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 80, Issue 9; Conference: American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) gulf coast association of geological societies meeting, San Antonio, TX (United States), 2-4 Oct 1996; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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