Unconventional gas sources. Vol. I. Executive summary

Technical Report · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:5754778

Bookout, J F

NPC's analysis of unconventional gas resources concludes that natural gas from coal seams, Devonian shale, and tight gas reservoirs could contribute up to 14 trillion CF/yr by 2000 at gas prices up to $9/million Btu. Production from geopressured brines will probably be negligible, perhaps 0.08 TCF/yr. Considerable uncertainty exists, however, in NPC's estimates of reserves additions and production rates for any specified economic condition; even the resource-base assessments may be in error. The rate of development of all unconventional sources will depend strongly on economics. Because the estimates assume that markets will exist for the producible gas, government actions affecting gas usage could significantly influence production rates. Furthermore, the development of these resources will require substantial risk and huge capital investment (probably more than $200 billion), and unconventional gas will have to compete against conventional production as well as other emerging technologies (such as coal gasification) for its share of the available monies.

• Research Organization: USDOE Energy Information Administration, Washington, DC
• OSTI ID: 5754778
• Report Number(s): DOE/TIC-11417
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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