Industry scours lesser-known fields in search for next big play

On January 26, 2012 — No comments

With record-low U.S. natural gas prices worrying oil and gas companies that have invested heavily in breakthrough shale plays, the industry is sending drilling to tight oil prospects and resources rich in natural gas liquids — better investments as crude prices linger near $100 per barrel.

And with competition already fierce in North Dakota’s Bakken field and south Texas’ Eagle Ford, companies are turning toward lesser-known oil-rich formations in what could be the next chapter in the North American shale story.

The industry is already alight with talk of the Utica Shale in Ohio and the Niobrara Shale in Colorado, where companies are scrambling to secure mineral rights. While no one is yet certain how much crude can be extracted in those emerging shale oil plays, most agree that it is substantial. Anadarko Petroleum Corp., for instance, recently announced that up to 1 billion barrels of crude could be extracted in areas it controls in the Niobrara.

New shale formations are now quickly entering the picture: the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale in Louisiana and Mississippi and the Monterey Shale in California. And there also are new prospects in Texas, including the Woodbine/Eaglebine zones and Hogshooter Wash, a section of the Granite Wash field where one exploratory horizontal well by Forest Oil Corp. reportedly produced 2,800 barrels of crude in its first 24 hours.

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