Joined
·
10,281 Posts
Maybe this could turn Yakima into an energy boomtown! :banana:
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=11398F2796352670&p_docnum=2
PUBLISHED ON August 18, 2006
Columbia Basin could hold huge natural gas reserves
By LEAH BETH WARD YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
A Denver-based petroleum company with significant mineral rights in the Columbia Basin says drilling results so far at an exploratory well near Mattawa indicate the region could hold significant reserves of natural gas.
"There are many different estimates out there, but the reality of the situation is this basin, in all likelihood, represents the possibility of being able to prove up in the tens of Tcfs (trillion cubic feet) reserves if not possibly in the hundreds of Tcfs reserves," Roger Parker, chief executive officer of Delta Petroleum, said Wednesday at an annual oil and gas industry conference in Denver.
If volumes ever approach those levels, the region would rank among the most productive in the nation, alongside or exceeding such hot spots as the Jonah Field and Green River Basin in Wyoming and the Piceance Basin in Colorado.
Parker's comments were available from a replayed Internet broadcast of the conference.
The Mattawa well described by Parker was drilled by EnCana Oil & Gas USA, a Canadian company with U.S. headquarters in Denver. EnCana has leased 800,000 acres in the basin. Delta has an interest in the Mattawa well and another outside Sunnyside.
In 2002, the United States used about 22.8 Tcf of natural gas, making it one of the world's largest consumers of the fuel, according to the federal Department of Energy. A trillion cubic feet of natural gas can heat 15 million homes for one year.
Dave Donegan, Delta's spokesman, said Thursday that Parker's remarks at the conference could be characterized as cautiously optimistic.
"That's a fair assessment," he said.
Delta is not drilling in the Columbia Basin yet, but Parker said it's planning to start later this year or early next year. The company has leased the mineral rights on about 400,000 acres in the region, which state geologists say is the largest unexplored area within the United States.
EnCana has completed one exploratory well, known as the Anderville Farms 1-6 well, on a private farm in the Saddle Mountains east of Mattawa and is nearing completion at a second site eight miles north of Sunnyside in the Rattlesnake Hills. A third well is planned, but company officials haven't revealed a location yet.
EnCana USA President Jeff Wojahn told analysts last month that the company plans to conduct completion studies in the third quarter of this year, with results known sometime in the fourth quarter.
Completion studies have a strict definition in the natural gas business, explained Bill Lingley, lead geologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. The well operator runs the equivalent of a pistol down the well casing and shoots holes through the metal into a potential gas zone. If a fluid forms, it's likely to be gas condensate, a sign of natural gas.
The plan for completion studies means EnCana is encouraged enough to spend at least another $250,000 at the site, said Lingley.
"When I hear completion studies, I perk up. That means the operator is putting his money where his mouth is," he said.
EnCana, as is customary in the speculative business of exploration, is not ready to call the venture a success.
Company spokeswoman Wendy Wiedenbeck said in a telephone interview that it will be sometime next year before it can determine the results of its exploratory program.
If the completion studies are positive, the company will seek permits for delineation wells, which are drilled away from the original location in an efforts to find out how large and prolific the field might be.
Geologists have believed for some time that the Columbia Basin is rich in hydrocarbons. In the early 1980s, a partnership of Shell and Arco hit a reservoir that showed impressive initial pressure. But drilling technology at the time made further exploration in the region's notoriously stubborn basalt layers too expensive.
Parker, the Delta CEO, referenced the Shell experience in his remarks.
"The main thing to say about the Columbia River Basin at this point in time, the geologic theory that we've all kind of operated under here for the last couple years, and really was identified by Shell 25 years ago, has been confirmed, if you will, with another well," Parker said, referring to the well near Mattawa.
"We believe we have encountered what we had hoped to encounter prior to drilling the well and we will be very interested to see what actual completion results are as we go into the remaining part of this year."
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=11398F2796352670&p_docnum=2
PUBLISHED ON August 18, 2006
Columbia Basin could hold huge natural gas reserves
By LEAH BETH WARD YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
A Denver-based petroleum company with significant mineral rights in the Columbia Basin says drilling results so far at an exploratory well near Mattawa indicate the region could hold significant reserves of natural gas.
"There are many different estimates out there, but the reality of the situation is this basin, in all likelihood, represents the possibility of being able to prove up in the tens of Tcfs (trillion cubic feet) reserves if not possibly in the hundreds of Tcfs reserves," Roger Parker, chief executive officer of Delta Petroleum, said Wednesday at an annual oil and gas industry conference in Denver.
If volumes ever approach those levels, the region would rank among the most productive in the nation, alongside or exceeding such hot spots as the Jonah Field and Green River Basin in Wyoming and the Piceance Basin in Colorado.
Parker's comments were available from a replayed Internet broadcast of the conference.
The Mattawa well described by Parker was drilled by EnCana Oil & Gas USA, a Canadian company with U.S. headquarters in Denver. EnCana has leased 800,000 acres in the basin. Delta has an interest in the Mattawa well and another outside Sunnyside.
In 2002, the United States used about 22.8 Tcf of natural gas, making it one of the world's largest consumers of the fuel, according to the federal Department of Energy. A trillion cubic feet of natural gas can heat 15 million homes for one year.
Dave Donegan, Delta's spokesman, said Thursday that Parker's remarks at the conference could be characterized as cautiously optimistic.
"That's a fair assessment," he said.
Delta is not drilling in the Columbia Basin yet, but Parker said it's planning to start later this year or early next year. The company has leased the mineral rights on about 400,000 acres in the region, which state geologists say is the largest unexplored area within the United States.
EnCana has completed one exploratory well, known as the Anderville Farms 1-6 well, on a private farm in the Saddle Mountains east of Mattawa and is nearing completion at a second site eight miles north of Sunnyside in the Rattlesnake Hills. A third well is planned, but company officials haven't revealed a location yet.
EnCana USA President Jeff Wojahn told analysts last month that the company plans to conduct completion studies in the third quarter of this year, with results known sometime in the fourth quarter.
Completion studies have a strict definition in the natural gas business, explained Bill Lingley, lead geologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. The well operator runs the equivalent of a pistol down the well casing and shoots holes through the metal into a potential gas zone. If a fluid forms, it's likely to be gas condensate, a sign of natural gas.
The plan for completion studies means EnCana is encouraged enough to spend at least another $250,000 at the site, said Lingley.
"When I hear completion studies, I perk up. That means the operator is putting his money where his mouth is," he said.
EnCana, as is customary in the speculative business of exploration, is not ready to call the venture a success.
Company spokeswoman Wendy Wiedenbeck said in a telephone interview that it will be sometime next year before it can determine the results of its exploratory program.
If the completion studies are positive, the company will seek permits for delineation wells, which are drilled away from the original location in an efforts to find out how large and prolific the field might be.
Geologists have believed for some time that the Columbia Basin is rich in hydrocarbons. In the early 1980s, a partnership of Shell and Arco hit a reservoir that showed impressive initial pressure. But drilling technology at the time made further exploration in the region's notoriously stubborn basalt layers too expensive.
Parker, the Delta CEO, referenced the Shell experience in his remarks.
"The main thing to say about the Columbia River Basin at this point in time, the geologic theory that we've all kind of operated under here for the last couple years, and really was identified by Shell 25 years ago, has been confirmed, if you will, with another well," Parker said, referring to the well near Mattawa.
"We believe we have encountered what we had hoped to encounter prior to drilling the well and we will be very interested to see what actual completion results are as we go into the remaining part of this year."