Western U.S. Basin Shale Trends

Reimers, David D.
IHS, Houston, TX

     Completions in the Rocky Mountain basins of the U.S. have shown a steady increase over the past five years. The largest overall increases have been in the Williston, Uinta, Piceance, San Juan, and Green River basins. Contributing to this increase are the completions in shale formations in certain of these basins. Analysis of exploration data shows the successes in shale gas exploration has contributed to this increased activity. The Williston, Uinta, Green River, and San Juan are the main gas producing basins and this trend is continuing as shale completions in the first quarter of 2007 are slightly higher than the same period last year.
     The increased shale success in the Rocky Mountain basins has resulted in an increase in total overall gas production for most western basins over the past five years. The Williston, Green River, Uinta, and Piceance basins show the greatest increase in production and this increase in drilling and production should continue though out 2007 and beyond. The increase in natural gas prices coupled with recent improvement in production technology shale drilling should help spur further increases in other shales in these western basins.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90071 © 2007 AAPG Rocky Mountain Meeting, Snowbird, Utah