Utica shale

From Wikimarcellus

Revision as of 07:54, 7 December 2009; view current revision
←Older revision | Newer revision→
Jump to: navigation, search
Here is where some info about Utica shale should go.  
This article is still a stub and needs your attention. It does
not have a template and contains minimal information. Please 
dive in and help it grow!

The Utica shale formation ranges between 300 and 1,000 feet thick. It is an Upper Ordovician shale that is 440 to 460 million years old. It is considerably deeper than the Marcellus shale which is part of the Middle Devonian formation. It is immediately below the Lorraine shale formation. These rocks are porous, thick, brittle and over-pressured. These factors are very conducive to artificial fracture stimulation.

This shale play is located in the Saint Lawrence Lowlands of Quebec, Canada, Montreal and in central New York especially in Chenango, Delaware, Herkimer, Oneida and Otsego Counties. The Canadian and U.S. parts of the play are separated by the Adirondack dome.

The Utica shale formation is relatively underdeveloped, so the quantity of natural gas there and its commercial viability are difficult to assess given so little drilling experience. However, there has been apparent success in drilling the Utica shale formation in Quebec Province, Canada in the Saint Lawrence Lowlands.

Personal tools