Western gas sands. Technology status report

Technical Report · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:6130759

Western gas sands research is conducted by the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Morgantown Energy Technology Center to encourage the development of very low permeability, lenticular gas sands in the western US. This research is an integral part of DOE's Unconventional Gas Recovery Program, which is a multidisciplinary effort to develop the technology for producing natural gas from resources that have been classified as unconventional because of unique geologies and production mechanisms. The current research is an outgrowth of earlier Government research on tight sands in which nuclear and massive hydraulic fracturing stimulations were tested without definitive results. Based on input from the gas industry, universities, and geologic and engineering consulting firms, activities were broadened to include fundamental research and development. Consequently, the focus of the research for the last several years has been on improving diagnostic instrumentation for reservoir and stimulation performance evaluation, geophysical and engineering interpretation, and stimulation techniques. Integrated geologic studies of three depositional basins that contain tight lenticular sandstone units have also been pursued as part of this new effort. To date, the following tentative conclusions have been formulated: the permeability of the tight gas sands can be as much as three to four orders of magnitude lower than that of conventional gas deposits; ninineteen western geologic basins and trends have been identified that contain significant volumes of tight gas. Gas resources in the priority geologic basins have been estimated as follows: Piceance Basin, 49 Tcf; Greater Green River Basin, 136 Tcf; Uinta Basin, 20 Tcf. The critical parameters for successfully developing tight sandstone resources are: (1) the presence of natural microfractures within a reservoir; and (2) the effective propped length of hydraulically induced fractures. 2 refs., 9 figs., 2 tabs.

• Research Organization: USDOE Morgantown Energy Technology Center, WV
• OSTI ID: 6130759
• Report Number(s): DOE/METC-86/0232; ON: DE86001039
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
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030200* -- Natural Gas-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
030900 -- Natural Gas-- Artificial Stimulation
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COLORADO
COMMINUTION
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
ENGINEERING
EXPLOSIVE FRACTURING
FAILURES
FEDERAL REGION VIII
FRACTURES
FRACTURING
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GEOLOGY
GEOPHYSICS
GREEN RIVER FORMATION
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NATURAL GAS WELLS
NORTH AMERICA
PERMEABILITY
PICEANCE CREEK BASIN
PROPPING AGENTS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
STIMULATION
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
UINTA FORMATION
USA
UTAH
WELL LOGGING
WELL STIMULATION
WELLS
WYOMING