The United States added more than 2 Tcf to its proved natural gas reserves stockpile in 2003, making it the fifth year in a row that gas reserves have risen, according to a new report issued by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) last week.

Proved dry gas reserves stood at 189,044 Bcf at the close of 2003, up 1.1% from the 186,946 Bcf of proved dry gas reserves reported in 2002, the Department of Energy (DOE) agency said in its 2003 annual report on reserves and production. Natural gas reserves additions last year replaced 111% of 2003 gas production, which was estimated at 19.43 Tcf, the EIA said.

Total discoveries of dry gas reserves in 2003 rose 8% to 19,286 Bcf from 17,795 Bcf in the prior year, the agency noted. The majority of gas total discoveries last year were from extensions of existing conventional and unconventional gas fields (16,454 Bcf). This was up 11% from extensions in 2002. New field discoveries were 1,222 Bcf, or 8% less in volume than in 2002, and new reservoir discoveries in old fields dropped 5% to 1,610 Bcf in 2003, the DOE agency said.

The Rocky Mountain states and Texas saw the largest gas reserves additions in 2003, driven mostly by the continued development of unconventional gas fields in the Powder River Basin (coalbed methane or CBM), Green River Basin in Wyoming (deep and tight sand), and the Wattenberg Field (tight sand) and the San Juan Basin (CBM) in Colorado and New Mexico, the EIA noted.

CBM proved reserves rose 1% to 18,743 Bcf in 2003 from 18,491 Bcf in the previous year, and accounted for 10% of U.S. dry gas proved reserves. The majority of the CBM reserves came from Colorado (6,473 Bcf), New Mexico (4,396 Bcf), Wyoming (2,759 Bcf) and Alabama (1,665 Bcf). At the same time, CBM production fell by less than 1% to 1,600 Bcf last year from 1,614 Bcf in 2002, with the bulk of the production coming from Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming.

The Gulf of Mexico proved natural gas reserves dropped by 2,825 Bcf in 2003, with total reserves estimated at 22,522 Bcf compared to 25,347 Bcf in 2002. The majority of the total Gulf reserves came from offshore Louisiana (17,168 Bcf), with nearly 40% located in deep waters. Total Gulf of Mexico gas production fell by 147 Bcf last year to 4,397 Bcf from 4,544 Bcf in 2002.

Proved reserves are the estimated quantities that geological and engineering data have demonstrated with “reasonable certainty” to be recoverable in future years from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions, according to the EIA.

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