The Application
of Hydrocarbon System and Play Fairway Analysis for Unconventional Resource
Plays: The Case for Shale Gas Reserves in New York’s Ordovician Utica Shale
Leonard, Jay E.1, Donald Clark1,
Robert J. Coskey1, Nancy B. Hunter1, Charles P. James2,
China O. Leonard1, Gary G. Lash3, Veit
J. Matt1 (1) Platte River Associates, Inc, Boulder, CO (2) Platte
River Associates, Inc, Boulder, (3) SUNY Fredonia, Fredonia, NY
For the exploration of fractured shale
gas plays, it is desirable to identify “sweet spots” or areas that could be
drilled early to front load the economics. In the Ordovician Utica shale gas
play, critical factors such as hydrocarbon generation and expulsion timing
coupled with fracture timing defines such “sweet spots”. These factors, combined
with reservoir and seal, asses the presence and effectiveness of the play and
the play fairway.
Stratigraphy in
Simulations indicate that the dry gas
window is reached in large areas of
The calculated generated gas and retained
gas maps highlight some “sweet spots“ throughout eastern New York and can be
illustrated as common risk segment and P50 maps. These predicted patterns have
been compared to the gas shows reported in wells.
AAPG Search and Discover Article #90063©2007 AAPG Annual Convention, Long Beach, California