Upper Devonian Burket / Geneseo Shale

Note: the Upper Devonian Burket / Geneseo shale is tracked at "the Upper Devonian."

Oil: The middle Bakken, the upper Three Forks, and then the benches of the lower Three Forks, in the Williston Basin.

Natural gas: The Marcellus, the Utica, and now the Burket / Geneseo Shale in the Appalachian Basin.

From Gas And Oil Mag.com, May 14, 2015, this is the study recommended by a reader for those interested in the natural gas plays in the Appalachian Basin (archived):

The Marcellus Shale has dominated the energy headlines for news coming out of the Appalachian Basin for the last 8 years or so and for good reason – its vast natural gas resources and production have almost single-handedly transformed the entire energy marketplace in North America.

The Utica Shale has also garnered a lot of attention for continuing consistent success in the wet gas window and some recent eye-popping initial production rates in the dry gas window.

Flying under the radar is Appalachia’s 3rd resource shale play, the Burket/Geneseo Shale. Less flashy, with lower initial production numbers, the shale is unlikely to challenge the other “Big 2” shales for size of resource potential, although total reserves may be significant.

It is likely that the play will benefit from its “stacked pay” potential that allow companies to decrease drilling and production costs through utilization of existing well pads and infrastructure, liquids-rich production in some areas and possible flat decline rates. As of mid-April, 2015 a total of 85 Burket/Geneseo horizontal wells have been completed as productive in Pennsylvania (64 wells) and West Virginia (21 wells).

How much?

Technically recoverable reserves in the Southwest Core of the Core are projected to be 29 TCFe with another possible 52 TCFe if the remaining core areas prove viable. These numbers are likely to expand if the flatter decline is confirmed, leading to increases in EURs.

To put 29 TCFe (trillion cubic feet) + 52 TCFe (almost 100 TCFe) in perspective, it was reported today:

The Italian energy company Eni discovered a "supergiant" natural gas field off Egypt, describing it as the "largest-ever" found in the Mediterranean Sea.

Eni said the discovery — made in its Zohr prospect "in the deep waters of Egypt" — could hold a potential 30 trillion cubic feet of gas over an area of 38.6 square miles.

A natural gas play in the Appalachian Basin my be three times larger than the "largest-ever" found in the Mediterranean Sea, which was described as a "supergiant" -- just one step lower than a "monster-supergiant." (I made that last part up.)