Boosting gas flow

Although the US has vast resources of natural gas, domestic production of supplies that are easy to reach could peak as early as 2015.

So to help prepare for the day when US demand for gas will have to be met by gas trapped in denser, more difficult-to-produce 'unconventional' formations, the US Department of Energy has selected two firms to develop advanced methods for locating these low permeability gas reservoirs.

For its part, Laramie, WY-based Innovative Discovery Technologies proposes to remove some of the risks and uncertainty of drilling low-permeability wells by developing a basin-wide, 3D model that gives detailed information about the reservoir before drilling begins.

The model maps a well's water and gas content, porosity and its likelihood of producing gas by identifying its high-production areas. It also locates pressure boundaries and characterises them. IDT proposes to demonstrate this technology in the Wind River Basin of Central Wyoming.

The University of Texas at Austin, on the other hand, plans to improve the performance and reduce the cost of creating hydraulic (man-made) fractures in tight areas of sandstone where gas is frequently trapped and difficult to recover.

The university will create a model using laboratory tests, improved fracture simulations, and implementation and analysis for the Bossier play (field) southeast of Dallas. To confirm the predictions of such a model in the field, the university has proposed a fracture-monitoring program with a detailed analysis of current and future fracture treatments.

The two projects are valued at just over $5 million. Once negotiations are completed, they will join the US Energy Department's fossil energy research portfolio. Currently, the department has nearly a dozen projects underway to develop better ways to find natural gas locked within low-permeability formations, produce more of it per well, and reduce the number of dry holes.