--> Abstract: Major Rocky Mountain Gas Plays - Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, by T. C. Chidsey, C. D. Morgan, and E. A. Wilson; #90987 (1993).

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CHIDSEY, THOMAS C., and CRAIG D. MORGAN, Utah Geological Survey, Salt Lake City, UT; and ELIZABETH A. WILSON, Methane Resources Group, Ltd., Denver, CO

ABSTRACT: Major Rocky Mountain Gas Plays - Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico

Sixty-six major Rocky Mountain gas plays in 15 basins or structural trends have been delineated in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico based on geologic, engineering, and production characteristics. Reservoirs are grouped into individual plays based on geologic characteristics rather than by established fields. The plays cumulatively contain over 650 reservoirs, each of which has produced more than 5.0 BCF of associated or nonassociated gas from individual fields. Also included are coalbed methane reservoirs such as the Cretaceous Fruitl and Formation play in the San Juan Basin of NewMexico and Colorado. Play boundaries show potential areas for further exploration, and the regional sequence stratigraphic interpretation of the plays may help predict the location of additional reser oirs.

Plays vary in size from the large Cretaceous Mesaverde Group play which has produced 8.1 TCF in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico and Colorado, to the small Triassic Dinwoody Formation play which has produced only 5.6 BCF from just one well at Hogback Ridge field, Utah, in the thrust belt. A typical Rocky Mountain play is the Tertiary Green River Formation play in the Uinta Basin of Utah which has produced nearly 1 TCF of associated gas from stratigraphic traps of fluvial-dominated deltaic sandstone throughout the basin.

The Rocky Mountain region contains 35 TCF of proven gas reserves and an additional 120 TCF of unproven gas resources. The framework used to define these Rocky Mountain gas plays will aid in the continued development of known gas reservoirs and in the exploration for new reserves.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90987©1993 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 25-28, 1993.