A Comparative Study of Future Possible Conventional and Unconventional Gas, Rocky Mountain Region

Abstract

Many studies have been made relative to the gas resource potential of the Rocky Mountain region, but a search of the literature has revealed few forecasts as to what gas may be actually producible under a variety of wellhead price conditions. This study provides such forecasts and shows how the undedicated Rocky Mountain gas resources could compete with the Permian and Anadarko basins in the national gas market. The principal analytic tool used in this study was a model developed by ICF-Lewin Energy, Inc. entitled "The Oil and Gas Replacement Cost Analysis Model" (REPCO).1 This system provides the user with a resource base that is disaggregated by geographic, depth, resource quality, and certainty that is served by a flexible decision oriented software package. The system was designed to assist producers, pipelines, distribution companies and large-volume industrial consumers to respond to the challenge of changes in the regulatory climate and falling product prices. The largest single factor on the horizon for the realization of the Rocky's deliverability potential is the Thermal Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) market in California. The need there for long term, reliable supplies of natural gas has been the subject of great interest to pipeline companies who are competing for that market. The geographic proximity of the Rocky Mountain region together with the large resource base makes the area the prime candidate for providing that supply.