Chattanooga Shale Natural Gas Field - Tennessee Shale Formation
Looking for a job in the Chattanooga Shale? Click Here
The Chattanooga Shale is located in Eastern Tennessee, Northern Alabama,
Southern Kentucky, and Northeast Georgia. In Alabama, this Natural Gas Formation is located below the Floyd Shale which extends
2,500-6,500 feet below the earths surface. The Chattanooga Shale, while still in It's infancy, is a fairly small
gas shale play in the USA but companies such as Atlas Energy ATN, CNX Gas Company CXG , and GeoMet GMET
are actively pursing this shale deposit. These companies are snapping up Mineral Rights ( Drilling Rights ).
Location - The Chatanooga
Shale has been around for a long time. Only several years ago did geologists discover one thing. The Chattanooga
Shale Formation does not stop at the Tennessee and Kentucky state line. The Chattanooga Shale
Field is actually an extension of the Appalachian Basin Devonian Shale, which is known to most as the Marcellus Shale. As described in the above paragraph, the Chattanooga Shale also extends in Alabama as well. The area in
Alabama is referred to the Black Warrior Basin.
The Devonian Chattanooga Shale is an organic, hydrocarbon rich shale found throughout Eastern Tennessee. This
natural gas field is located beneath the Mississippian Fort Payne Limestone at a depth of between 3,000 and 4,000 feet.
The shale thickness ranges from 80 to over 200 feet and is thought to be the source rock for the hydro-carbons produced from
many of the conventional reservoirs in Tennessee. The Chattanooga Shale is the stratigraphic equivalent of the Lower Huron
found in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia.
The Chattanooga Natural Gas Field in eastern Tennessee
averages 80-200 feet in thickness. As you go North into Kentucky, the Chattanooga Shale thickens greatly to over 1,000
feet and holds rich areas of natural gas. The thin Chattanooga Shale in eastern Tennesee and high natural gas
prices back in 2008 sparked a lot of interest in Tennessee for drilling in this area. Since that time, low
natural gas prices have basically halted drilling. However, when natural gas begins to rise again, companies believe
this shale formation could be very profitable.
Companies involved in the Chattanooga Shale Play - Chattanooga Shale Stocks
- Atlas Energy ATN - Atlas Energy ATN has a strong presence at Chattanooga Shale - Atlas Energy has accumulated 105,000 net acres
located in Eastern Tennessee. The Company believes that its acreage contains up to 500 potential horizontal drilling locations
in the Chattanooga Shale. Furthermore, most of this acreage is prospective from conventional reservoirs, such as the Monteagle
(Big Lime), the Fort Payne Limestone, the Stones River and the Knox Group, for which the Company believes it has up to 750
locations.
- CNX Gas Company CXG - CNX Gas has acreage in the Chattanooga Shale Play - Total production in Central
Appalachia, which includes Virginia CBM and Chattanooga Shale, was 19.2 Bcf in the quarter ended December 31, 2009. This was
1.2 Bcf higher than the 18.0 Bcf produced in the quarter ended December 31, 2008. The Central Appalachia December run rate
was 199 MMcf per day.
CNX Gas drilled
201 vertical frac wells in its Virginia CBM Operations during the year, exceeding the goal of 175. CNX Gas expects to drill
175 wells in Virginia in 2010 with a drilling budget of $50 million.
For 2010, CNX Gas expects to drill 25 Chattanooga
Shale wells for about $28 million, and five Huron Shale wells for about $12 million.
- Range Resources RRC - Range Resources tested the Floyd Shale section of the Chattanooga Shale Field - Let me quickly
update you on the three plays in which we’re followers. In the Floyd Shale play Range has 50,000 acres in Alabama. We
drilled one vertical well there last year. We tested the Chattanooga
Shale section and it was disappointing. The well was abandoned without testing the Floyd Shale. It was written off in the
fourth quarter as a dry hole.
- Chesapeake Energy CHK - CHK is testing Chattanooga Shale Formation - The Alabama shale plays, we were targeting both the Conasauga
and Chattanooga and we are drilling our second
well there in our 50-50 partnership with Energen and in respect and deference to them, I will let you approach them for information
about that play. We are the operator but they have home team there and so we'll move on from that.
- GeoMet Inc. GMET - GMET has acreage in the Chattanooga Shale Natural Gas Field
- At our Garden City Chattanooga shale prospect
we had drilled five core holes and three production wells at the end of 2007. Since then we have drilled our first horizontal
well in the prospect area and plan to drill two additional horizontal wells and one vertical well in 2008. We expect to connect
three wells to gas sales this quarter in order to facilitate longer term testing. We are continuing to expand our 72,000 gross
acre lease old position in this area. At our
Garden City Chattanooga shale prospect we had
drilled five core holes and three production wells at the end of 2007. Since then we have drilled our first horizontal well
in the prospect area and plan to drill two additional horizontal wells and one vertical well in 2008. We expect to connect
three wells to gas sales this quarter in order to facilitate longer term testing. We are continuing to expand our 72,000 gross
acre lease old position in this area.
Chattanooga Shale Map
Tennessee Shale Map
Energen EGN - CHATTANOOGA SHALE WELL UNDER WAY - Energen Resources' new Chattanooga shale test well, the Westervelt
19-2 #1 located in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, has been drilled to a vertical depth of approximately 8,700 feet and logged.
The company plans to drill a 3,000-foot horizontal leg, test the well, and make an assessment of the Chattanooga shale's economic
viability this summer.
Energen also has re-entered the Marchant well in Bibb County as a means of cost effectively evaluating
the Conasauga shale potential in Alabama. The Marchant well was drilled to a total depth of 12,400 feet in 2008 in conjunction
with Chesapeake Energy Company; as reported in December 2008, the well had good shows on the mud logs and 6-8 potential pay
zones but did not produce meaningful amounts of gas when operator Chesapeake fracced the lowest interval at 11,500-11,700
feet. Results of additional testing in the Marchant well will help the company determine the feasibility of drilling a new
well in the Conasauga play, as originally planned.
