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Permalink Reply by Jack Straw on August 13, 2012 at 6:42am

RE: "These shales here are very widespread and consistent compared to the pockets found in shallow drilling."

I concur. In traditional (old school) plays, hydrocarbons migrated out of a source rock (typically a shale) and migrate into a reservoir rock - seeking a trapping mechanism.

The reservoir rock needed to be porous (although in tight sands such as PA, WV, NY and OH the porosity is low) and the reservoit rocks need to be permeable (fluids and gases need to have the ability to travel through the rock). For resevoir rock to contain hydrocarbons, a seal and a trapping mechanism needs to be present.

 

The above is a brief and approximate explanation of what drove the industry for its first 150 years.

 

The Shale plays are different. The shales are the source rocks. The shales have porosity but lack effective permeability. The change is that long horizontal drilling opens thousands of feet of the shale to the bore hole and fracing provides the needed permeability that was otherwise lacking.

The shales are blanket deposits. The shales do not depend upon structural highs or other forms of traps. The shales are the source rocks and the shales (once horizontally drilled and fraced) do not require a traditional trapping mechanism.

Eventually and essentially all of the areas in which shales are of an appropriate thickness, depth, thermal maturity, and organic content (and that is most of the area that contains the Marcellus) - will be exploited (though it may take 40 years, or longer).

 

All IMHO,

                  JS

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Permalink Reply by mark ayers on August 13, 2012 at 12:01pm

We are leased in Lackawanna County in N.E. Pa. and in this area we are near the anthracite that runs thru the Wyoming Valley. There has been alot of talk about the shale being overcooked north of that line. The coal is at 600ft and the shale is at 8,000ft. What is the relationship between the coal and what the paper calls the "Line of Death" in the Marcellus?

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Permalink Reply by cheliped on August 13, 2012 at 2:33pm

i agree with you Jasper - i have leased twice now and need to wait two more years for another opportunity to lease.  Some neighbors are holding out - that is fine they could have got more than me this round, however they could have signed two leases of free money and never had a single piece of dirt removed. Hopefully we will get one more shot.

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