EMD Tight Oil & Gas Committee 2020-21 Annual Report

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ANNUAL REPORT IS UNDER DEVELOPMENT. AS PORTIONS OF THE REPORT ARE COMPLETED, THEY WILL BE ADDED TO THIS WIKI ARTICLE.

Committee Members
Chair - Lucy Tingwei Ko
Vice-Chair - Allison Gibbs
Vice-Chair - Suriamin Fnu Huang
Advisory Group Member - Wayne Camp, Director, Houston Geological Society
Advisory Group Member - Per Kent Pedersen, University of Calgary
Advisory Group Member - Ursula Hammes, Hammes Energy & Consultants
Advisory Group Member - Bruce S. Hart, Freelance Geologist & Adjunct Professor at Western University
Advisory Group Member - Andrew Pepper, This is Petroleum Systems LLC
Advisory Group Member - Keith W. Shanley, Oxy Petroleum
Advisory Group Member - Troy T. Tittlemier, MagmaChem Research institute
Advisory Group Member - Robert J. Coskey, Rose Exploration, Inc.

Report Contributors
• Justin Birdwell, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO, USA [Eagle Ford Shale]
• Kent Bowker, Bowker Petroleum, The Woodlands, TX, USA [Barnett Shale]
• Ben Burke, HighPoint Resources, Denver, CO, USA [Niobrara and Codell]
• Jason Flaum, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO, USA [Vaca Muerta, La Luna Shale, South America)
• Ursula Hammes, Hammes Energy & Consultants, Austin, TX, USA [Haynesville Shale]
• Prof. Yuanjia Han, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei Province, PRC [Bohai Bay Basin] 
• Bruce Hart, Adjunct Professor, Western University, Canada [Mancos Shale]
• Zachary Hollon, Workhorse Geologic LLC, Englewood, CO, USA [Mowry Shale]
• Lucy Tingwei Ko, Bureau of Economic Geology, UT-Austin, Austin, TX, USA [Permian Basin Shale]
• Peng Li, Arkansas Geological Survey, Little Rock, AK, USA [Fayetteville Shale]
• Bei Liu, Indiana University, Bloomingdale, IN, USA [New Albany Shale]
• Celeste Lohr, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, USA [Tuscaloosa Marine Shale]
• Kristen Marra, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO [Bakken and Three Forks]
• Jock McCracken, Egret Consulting, Calgary, AB, USA [Canadian Shale Resources]
• Rich Nyahay, New York Museum, Albany, NY, USA [Utica Shale]
• Claudio Delle Piane, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia [Velkerri Formation] 
• Katie Schmid, PA Department of Conservation & Natural Resources, Pittsburgh, PA, USA [Marcellus Shale]
• Abbas Seyedolali, Oklahoma Geological Survey, Norman, OK, USA [Woodford and Miss.]
• Prof. Dong Tian, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei Province, PRC [Sichuan Basin] 
• Katherine Whidden, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO, USA [Alaskan Shale Resources]
• Zhi Yang and Jiarui Li, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, PetroChina, Beijing, PRC [Songliao Basin and Junggar Basin] 
• Charlie Yu-Chen Zheng, Jackson School of Geosciences, UT-Austin, TX, USA [Austin Chalk]

Executive Summary 2020-2021

Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in shale and “tight” oil and gas formations with very low permeability has resulted in drastic increases in oil and natural gas production since 2008. In general, domestic tight oil and gas drilling and production in the U.S. can be subdivided into seven regions: Anadarko, Bakken, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Appalachia (Marcellus and Utica etc.), Niobrara, and Permian. As of June 2021, the giant Permian Basin of West Texas and southeast New Mexico still produces most oils (around 4,500 thousand barrels per day). The Eagle Ford and Bakken contribute equally as second most oil producers (around 1,000 thousand barrels per day). For the natural gas, the Appalachian region continues to lead the most significant gas production (close to 36,000 million cubic feet per day) with Permian produces second most natural gas (close to 18,000 million cubic feet per day).

Measures of oil and gas activity, spending, and costs went from depressed to up sharply from the 4Q of 2020 to 1Q of 2021, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) also states that the ongoing economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to rising energy use although uncertainty still exists. Although EIA’s drilling productivity report (DPR) released on May 17th 2021 indicated that the base production in North Dakota has fully recovered after a significant reduction in 2020 by Jan 2021. The underinvestment is expected to be sustained. Together with a gradual recovery in operating cash flow and energy demand, oil and gas volume production are projected for a slow growth in 2021.

There are several active TOG developments internationally, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and its French partner Total announced the first delivery of unconventional gas from a jointly operated onshore field in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Nov 10th 2020. The UAE has become the latest country to prove that the unconventional oil and gas sector is becoming firmly an international one. It also signals the expansion of hydraulic fracturing in the UAE’s conventional fields. ADNOC said the gas delivery represents a major advance toward the company’s goal of producing 1 Bcf/D by 2030, enough to meet all the UAE’s domestic natural-gas demand.

Natural-gas production at China’s largest shale-gas development, Fuling gas field in Chongqing, has jumped 20% year-over-year after Sinopec brought 28 new wells on stream. This was based on Q1 2021 results that showed gas production from the reached a cumulative output of 1.78 Bcm, or nearly 63 Bcf. Sinopec announced that they aim for an annual increase in gas output of 10% over the next 3 years. The AAPG EMD Tight Oil and Gas committee kicked off a project putting content available in AAPG wiki. The new format will benefit AAPG members when they look for information in TOG basins around the world. We also continue to recruited several professionals to contribute to our annual report. Chair Lucy Ko and vice chair Fnu Suriamin were invited to contribute to a book chapter title “Geological Foundation for Unconventional Shale Gas Reservoir” in the upcoming Elsevier publication.

Contributions by Lucy Ko, Fnu Suriamin, Allison Gibbs

Summary of Committee News:

     •	Committee chair and vice chairs have been working with AAPG Technical Publication Managing Editor Beverly K. Molyneux, making the annual reports and committee information available in AAPG wiki.
     •	Committee chair and vice chair have contributed to write a book chapter title “Geological Foundation for Unconventional Shale Gas Reservoir” in the upcoming Elsevier publication.
     •	New background documents for resources covered in TO&G annual commodity reports.
     •	Tight Gas Sand/Limestone Reservoir section was added to the website details after Shale Oil and Gas Resources. 
     •	Website updates submitted – new resources & links, updates coming more regularly.
     •	AAPG EMD TOG committee was mentioned in Dec 2020 AAPG Explorer.
     •	Recruited eight new contributors to cover more U.S. and international resource plays.

The following shale system sub-reports are listed and linked respectively below:

U.S. Domestic Reports

International Reports

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EMD Tight Oil & Gas Committee 2020-21 Annual Report

EMD Tight Oil & Gas Committee 2020-21 Annual Report

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