Usgs

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on Thursday sharply raised its assessments for the Marcellus and Utica shale formations, estimating they hold a mean of 214 Tcf of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas resources — with the Utica now topping the Marcellus.

A new geological study that focused on areas of the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma shows that differences in density between underground water and wastewater from oil and gas drilling injected into the ground corresponds with continued earthquakes long after the drilling stops.

Researchers said an analysis of seismic activity within two geologic regions in Texas supports the assertion that a series of earthquakes that has struck the area since 2009 were caused by human activity, with injected wastewater from oil and gas drilling in the Barnett Shale possibly to blame.

Seismic activity thought to be caused by human actions — mainly drilling wastewater injection — declined in Oklahoma last year, possibly because of limits placed on disposal wells, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said Wednesday.

In the largest estimate ever of unconventional oil in the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey said the Wolfcamp Shale within the Permian Basin’s Midland formation in West Texas contains an estimated mean of 20 billion bbl of oil, 16 Tcf of associated natural gas and 1.6 billion bbl of natural gas liquids.

Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said a 5.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Oklahoma last February was likely caused by nearby oil and natural gas disposal wells, noting that injected volumes of wastewater had increased seven-fold over the last three years.

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT), chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, has urged the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to revise its draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for previously issued oil/natural gas leases in the White River National Forest in Colorado to consider new reserve estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Colorado oil/natural gas industry advocates lashed out on Friday at the Obama administration for “completely ignoring” new U.S. Geological Society (USGS) estimates on the extent of potential reserves in the Mancos Shale along the Western Slope. In play is the industry’s long-held contention that leases on federal lands in the area should not be arbitrarily canceled.

The Piceance Basin’s Mancos Shale in Colorado contains an estimated 66 Tcf of natural gas, sharply higher than a 2003 estimate of 1.6 Tcf, becoming the second-largest assessment of potential continuous gas resources ever conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), officials said Wednesday.