Unconventional Gas Sources Executive Summary

The long lead time required for conversion from oil or gas to coal and for development of a synthetic fuel industry dictates that oil and gas must continue to supply the United States with the majority of its energy requirements over the near term. In the interim period, the nation must seek a resource that can be developed quickly, incrementally, and with as few environmental concerns as possible. One option which could potentially fit these requirements is to explore for, drill, and produce unconventional gas: Devonian Shale gas, coal seam gas, gas dissolved in geopressured brines, and gas from tight reservoirs. This report addresses the significance of these sources and the economic and technical conditions under which they could be developed.

R and D efforts in enhanced gas recovery of near-conventional and unconventional gas sources are needed in order to augment domestic supplies. Unconventional gas sources could provide 200 to 220 Tcf of additional gas supply, if a combination of economic incentives and publicly sponsored R and D is used, and as much as 2 to 8 Tcf could be delivered per year by 1990. This volume comprises three parts discussing the public policy issues, proposed research strategy in enhanced gas recovery, and methodology. 14 figures. (DLC).

As the shale revolution continues in North America, unconventional resource markets are emerging on every continent. In the next eight to ten years, more than 100,000 wells and one- to two-million hydraulic fracturing stages could be executed, resulting in close to one trillion dollars in industry spending. This growth has prompted professionals ex

This book explains the drivers and implications of unconventional gas at regional, national and global scales with case studies and in-depth analyses.