Located above the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin, the Burket-Geneseo Shale “could be the next super giant field,” but the play is still well in its infancy and the current Marcellus development could jeopardize the ability of operators going back in down the road to pull those additional reserves, according to Gregory Wrightstone of Wrightstone Energy Consulting.
Speaking before a crowd at DUG East in Pittsburgh, PA, on Thursday, Wrightstone said the Burket-Geneseo, which could be classified as a super giant field — 30 Tcf or greater — is often overlooked and overshadowed by the Marcellus.
The Burket refers to most of Pennsylvania and the West Virginia portions, while the Geneseo is considered to cover northeast Pennsylvania and southern New York. It lies just above the Marcellus, from less than 100 feet of separation in West Virginia to more than 800 feet in northeastern Pennsylvania. It is the black organic rich shale that lies immediately on top of the Tully Limestone, and is an Upper Devonian formation.
Stats on the play are a bit hard to come by as there are less than 30 wells on record with public production data.
“In 2014 we saw an explosion of permitting activity for the Burket-Geneseo, but it should be interesting to see what happens in 2015 with the downturn,” Wrightstone said. “We might look back to 2014 or 2015 and say one of these marked the breakout year for the Burket, much as 2008 was the breakout year for the Marcellus. Today, there are about 85 producing Burket-Geneseo wells…and about another 100 wells that are drilled or drilling. There are 19 operators that have completed wells as productive in the Burket,” and the leading operator is EQT Corp., which is planning 40 additional wells in 2015.
Wrightstone said the play shares many of the traits of its big brother, but that there are some concerns surrounding low pressure potential and the economic viability with current fundamentals.
According to Wrightstone, the average six-month cumulative production of a northeastern PA Burket-Geneseo well is 530 MMcfe, which is nearly half the 1,023 MMcfe that is seen from a northeastern Pennsylvania Marcellus well.
“Half a Bcf is pretty good… but probably not economic [currently]. If we are a company drilling in the area, you’re really not driven to exploit this reservoir at about the same cost, for half the reserves. It looks like companies are voting with their feet in this area. Since 2010 there have only been two permitted Burket-Geneseo horizontal wells in this whole area.”
The economics are a little better in southwestern Pennsylvania, where the six-month cumulative production value of a Burket-Geneseo well is 656 MMcfe, compared to 1,021 MMcfe for a similarly located Marcellus well.
Wrightstone said the better results in southwestern Pennsylvania are likely tied to the closer proximity of the Burket-Geneseo to the Marcellus in Washington County, PA. “We have only 200 feet of distance between the top of the Marcellus and the base of the Burket-Geneseo. We’ve got about 30 feet of Tully underneath it, but it is not very well developed. I’ll argue that it is certainly likely that we have interaction and communication between the Burket-Geneseo and the underlying Marcellus.”
He explained that a number of wells in Washington County were drilled in a stack pattern with 1,000 feet. spacing for the laterals for the Marcellus and about 500 feet above it for the Burket-Geneseo. “A key well is Consol’s NV39F well. Consol reported that the initial production rate indicated that well would perform at 5.8 Bcfe,” he said. “That well actually came in at 9 Bcfe…which is a stellar well. They also reported that the two Marcellus wells underneath it were greatly impacted, and those wells had initial production rates of 9 and 10 MMcf/d. So this is more evidence that perhaps we are having some interaction, perhaps maybe in a positive effect for the underlying Marcellus.”
However, Wrightstone warned there could be ramifications down the road. “If a company elects today not to develop its Burket-Geneseo reserves in this area and goes ahead and completes their Marcellus well, what is going to happen eight to 10 years later when they want to complete the Burket, and we have this possibility of interaction? You’ll probably have a low-pressure sink under the Burket, and a possible negative interaction with the frack being drawn down into the Marcellus. So you may be sacrificing those reserves in the Burket-Geneseo if you elect to do it later.”
Apneaman on Mon, 29th Jun 2015 7:36 pm
Fossil fuel energy you release to power global warming is 100,000 times greater than your own use
Time scales and ratios of climate forcing due to thermal versus carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GL063514/full
coffeeguyzz on Mon, 29th Jun 2015 8:54 pm
Three weeks ago, Rex Energy drilled 4 wells simultaneously from one pad. Three of the wells targeted the Marcellus, one the Upper Devonian (described in the above post as the Burket-Geneseo).
Two of the wells were fractured and flow tested – one Marcellus, one UD.
The shallower UD well was significantly more productive than the deeper Marcellus.
The results coming from the sparsely drilled Utica dry gas areas dwarfs even the Marcellus.
The half dozen monster wells that Rice Energy has online are producing 17MMcfd/20MMcfd on restricted chokes.
The ‘oldest’ of the group – Bigfoot 9H – has surpassed 5 1/2 Bcf in its first year.
In Ohio and Pennsylvania, there are currently 7,500 producing horizontal wells.
There are also over 3,000 wells in the two states that have been drilled, some frac’d, and awaiting takeaway pipelines to go into production. The pipelines are starting to be rolled out shortly.
The amount of Nat gas that will be produced from these formations is massive and will be forthcoming far into the future.
apneaman on Mon, 29th Jun 2015 9:29 pm
The future – good luck with that.
Gwynne Dyer commentary: 6th mass extinction under way, and humans are reason why
“We are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event,” said Gerardo Ceballos of the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, lead author of the Science Advances study. “If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover, and our species itself would likely disappear early on.”
“All this even before global warming really gets under way and starts to take huge bites out of the ecosphere. We are on the Highway to Hell, and it’s hard to see how we get off it.”
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2015/06/25/1-6th-mass-extinction-under-way-and-humans-are-reason-why.html
Mass extinction: This time, we are the volcanoes, asteroids
Proof that a sixth is upon us lies in showing that current rates of extinction are above the ‘background’ rate prevailing in the previous five extinctions.
http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/mass-extinction-this-time-we-are-the-volcanoes-asteroids/99/
steve on Mon, 29th Jun 2015 9:35 pm
Huh….sorry I was watching Greece implode…cue the money printers for Greece and we will have just missed another catastrophe!! I have said it before and I will say it again financial collapse is coming sooner than you think just not quite yet
Makati1 on Mon, 29th Jun 2015 10:08 pm
Money, or lack of it, will end the fraking in most areas of the world.
And then there is the fact that all of this rah rah is from a gas pimp rag.
BTW: Has anyone looked at the DOW today? ^_^
Plantagenet on Mon, 29th Jun 2015 11:10 pm
Obama said we had a 100 year supply of NG. Looks like he was right on that one.
Davy on Tue, 30th Jun 2015 2:24 am
Mak, speaking of your boomerangs you are throwing. Whats up with your beloved China?
CHINEXT (China’s Nasdaq) is down another 6% today (down 25% in 3 days)
Compare the DOW to that and get back to me.
^@^
(@ = boomerang bloody nose)
apneaman on Tue, 30th Jun 2015 1:30 pm
Shocking Documents Reveal Fracking Health Complaints Swept Under the Rug in Pennsylvania
“This first came to light in 2014, when a StateImpact Pennsylvania report revealing that DOH health workers were told not to respond to fracking-related health complaints. According to two former DOH employees, the department instituted policies to prevent field staff from addressing complaints from residents regarding natural gas drilling and fracking related health impacts. Employees were given specific instructions to refrain from engaging with residents who called with health complaints containing specific “buzzwords,” according to these retired workers. One of the two stated, “We were absolutely not allowed to talk to them.” The other indicated their department “wasn’t told to be silent on any other topic that I can think of.”
http://ecowatch.com/2015/06/30/fracking-health-complaints/?utm_content=buffer0e2d6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Makati1 on Tue, 30th Jun 2015 8:04 pm
Apneamnaq, the ‘gag rule’ is becoming law in the Empire of Chaos. No real news is allowed unless it is something unimportant that can distract the sheeple from reality: Confederate flag, same sex marriage, Kardashians, Super Bowl, etc.
Makati1 on Tue, 30th Jun 2015 8:05 pm
Apneaman, sorry for the misspell. I need another cup of coffee. lol
apneaman on Tue, 30th Jun 2015 8:56 pm
A world tour of idle oil rigs reveals opportunities for the bold and nimble
http://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/a-world-tour-of-idle-oil-rigs-reveals-opportunities-for-the-bold-and-nimble
apneaman on Wed, 1st Jul 2015 1:13 am
Methane leaks cancel climate benefits of natural gas use, cost taxpayers millions – report
http://rt.com/usa/270565-methane-gas-leaks-cost-climate/