Philip A. Freeman

Role of Stranded Gas from Central Asia and Russia in Meeting Europe’s Future Import Demand for Gas

Stranded gas is natural gas in discovered fields that is currently not commercially producible for either physical or economic reasons. This study examines stranded gas from Russia and Central Asia and the role it can play in addressing Europe’s growing demand for imported natural gas requiring additional volumes of gas in excess of 130 trillion cubic feet. We find sufficient volumes of stranded gas in fields in the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan in the Amu-Darya Basin and in Russian fields in the West Siberian Basin. The analysis focused on the estimated cost of extraction and delivery to a single market location for various concentrations of gas in stranded gas fields in Central Asia and Russia. At import prices of

Empirical Methods for Detecting Regional Trends and Other Spatial Expressions in Antrim Shale Gas Productivity, with Implications for Improving Resource Projections Using Local Nonparametric Estimation Techniques

10 per million British thermal units (MMBTU), there are sufficient gas resources in stranded fields that can be commercially developed and delivered to the European market. If, however, imported gas prices fall below

Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources—Southern Rocky Mountain Basins: Chapter M in Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources

7 per MMBTU, most of the stranded gas evaluated from West Siberia will not be commercial. The costs of delivering gas from the largest stranded gas fields in Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan were calculated to be greater than 30% below the costs of delivering gas from the largest stranded gas fields in Russia, which are located in the Yamal Peninsula. Central Asian gas producers, particularly those east of the Caspian Sea, have limited market options due to the near monopoly position that Gazprom holds in transporting pipeline gas from east of Europe. This study examines several additional options to supply gas to Europe by reviewing expected delivered costs from North African and Atlantic basin suppliers.

Profiles of reservoir properties of oil-bearing plays for selected petroleum provinces in the United States

The primary objectives of this research were to (1) investigate empirical methods for establishing regional trends in unconventional gas resources as exhibited by historical production data and (2) determine whether or not incorporating additional knowledge of a regional trend in a suite of previously established local nonparametric resource prediction algorithms influences assessment results. Three different trend detection methods were applied to publicly available production data (well EUR aggregated to 80-acre cells) from the Devonian Antrim Shale gas play in the Michigan Basin. This effort led to the identification of a southeast–northwest trend in cell EUR values across the play that, in a very general sense, conforms to the primary fracture and structural orientations of the province. However, including this trend in the resource prediction algorithms did not lead to improved results. Further analysis indicated the existence of clustering among cell EUR values that likely dampens the contribution of the regional trend. The reason for the clustering, a somewhat unexpected result, is not completely understood, although the geological literature provides some possible explanations. With appropriate data, a better understanding of this clustering phenomenon may lead to important information about the factors and their interactions that control Antrim Shale gas production, which may, in turn, help establish a more general protocol for better estimating resources in this and other shale gas plays.

Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources: U.S. Gulf Coast: Chapter H in Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources

The U.S. Geological Survey has completed an assessment of the potential geologic carbon dioxide storage resources in the onshore areas of the United States. To provide geological context and input data sources for the resources numbers, framework documents are being prepared for all areas that were investigated as part of the national assessment. This report is the geologic framework document for the Uinta and Piceance, San Juan, Paradox, Raton, Eastern Great, and Black Mesa Basins, and subbasins therein of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. In addition to a summary of the geology and petroleum resources of studied basins, the individual storage assessment units (SAUs) within the basins are described and explanations for their selection are presented. Although appendixes in the national assessment publications include the input values used to calculate the available storage resource, this framework document provides only the context and source of the input values selected by the assessment geologists. Spatial-data files of the boundaries for the SAUs, and the well-penetration density of known well bores that penetrate the SAU seal, are available for download with the release of this report.

Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources: Denver Basin, Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska: Chapter G in Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources

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A Further Investigation of Local Nonparametric Estimation Techniques in Shale Gas Resource Assessment

This report presents 27 storage assessment units (SAUs) within the United States (U.S.) Gulf Coast. The U.S. Gulf Coast contains a regionally extensive, thick succession of clastics, carbonates, salts, and other evaporites that were deposited in a highly cyclic depositional environment that was subjected to a fluctuating siliciclastic sediment supply and transgressive and regressive sea levels. At least nine major depositional packages contain porous strata that are potentially suitable for geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration within the region. For each SAU identified within these packages, the areal distribution of porous rock that is suitable for geologic CO2 sequestration is discussed, along with a description of the geologic characteristics that influence the potential CO2 storage volume and reservoir performance. These characteristics include reservoir depth, gross thickness, net-porous thickness, porosity, permeability, and groundwater salinity. Additionally, a characterization of the overlying regional seal for each SAU is presented. On a case-by-case basis, strategies for estimating the pore volume existing within structurally and (or) stratigraphically closed traps are also presented. Geologic information presented in this report has been employed to calculate potential storage capacities for CO2 sequestration in the SAUs that are assessed herein, although complete assessment results are not contained in this report.

Erratum to: Role of Stranded Gas from Central Asia and Russia in Meeting Europe’s Future Import Demand for Gas

This is a report about the geologic characteristics of five storage assessment units (SAUs) within the Denver Basin of Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska. These SAUs are Cretaceous in age and include (1) the Plainview and Lytle Formations, (2) the Muddy Sandstone, (3) the Greenhorn Limestone, (4) the Niobrara Formation and Codell Sandstone, and (5) the Terry and Hygiene Sandstone Members. The described characteristics, as specified in the methodology, affect the potential carbon dioxide storage resource in the SAUs. The specific geologic and petrophysical properties of interest include depth to the top of the storage formation, average thickness, net-porous thickness, porosity, permeability, groundwater quality, and the area of structural reservoir traps. Descriptions of the SAU boundaries and the overlying sealing units are also included. Assessment results are not contained in this report; however, the geologic information included here will be used to calculate a statistical Monte Carlo-based distribution of potential storage volume in the SAUs.

Economic analysis of undiscovered oil and gas of the central North Slope of Alaska, 2005

Local nonparametric prediction models are used to develop drill site selection strategies for the Devonian Antrim Shale (Michigan Basin) and the Mississippian Barnett Shale (Fort Worth Basin). The presentation illustrates the simplicity and strength of this rather inexpensive approach as a potential additional tool to assist operators in developing shale gas resources.

Heavy oil and natural bitumen resources in geological basins of the world

Figure 7. Graph summarizing volumes of Russian stranded gas available at market prices that offset costs of developing, producing, and transporting the gas to the market point at the EU border at Uzhhorod, Ukraine. (a) The resource cost curves for Volga–Ural, Caspian, and Timan–Pechora provinces. (b) The resource cost curves for Western Siberia and the total stranded Russian gas resource from the above provinces.