Huge reserves of natural gas under East Texas will fuel the future economy, experts say
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Credit: tylertexasonline.com
Some experts call it ‘unprecedented’. But as the Tyler Morning Telegraph reports: ‘there’s a caveat. Technically recoverable doesn’t mean profitable – yet.’
As far back as 1911, geologists predicted that significant mineral wealth lay below East Texas, in what was then called the Woodbine Stratum – a formation above the Haynesville Shale.
And Columbus Marion “Dad” Joiner proved them right in 1930, when the Daisy Bradford No. 3 well struck oil just outside Henderson in western Rusk County.
It was really just a drill stem test – they weren’t expecting to hit anything. But at 3,592 feet, Joiner tapped into what was for years thought to be the largest oil and gas reserves in the world. But no-one predicted the vastness of the energy wealth available here.
Last month, the U.S. Geological Survey announced a re-evaluation of the Haynesville and Bossier shale formations. Instead of the previously estimated 61.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas available (as of 2011), USGS now said there’s 304 trillion cubic feet.
“These estimates, the largest continuous natural gas assessment USGS has yet conducted, include petroleum in both conventional and continuous accumulations, and consist of undiscovered, technically recoverable resources,” the USGS says.
This is big news for East Texas and the nation as a whole.
“The new maps are very impressive,” said Ernest LaFlure, who retired as vice president of EOG Resources’ Tyler division in 2015. “I’d say they’re unprecedented.”
These huge reserves under East Texas, along with two important trends – the export of liquid natural gas and the conversion of the nation’s electrical generation from coal to cleaner and cheaper natural gas – will have a positive long-term effect on the East Texas economy.
Continued here.
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May 22, 2017 at 06:27AM
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