Presentation given at the 2012 Alaska LNG Summit by Mark Myers, Vice Chancellor Research University of Alaska Fairbanks & former Director of U.S. Geological Survey.• US market transformation: Low gas prices and declining import needs of Lower 48.
• Valdez LNG economics and global gas demand forecasts
• Post-Fukushima: Asia in need of an energy alternative and the Alaskan LNG answer – how does Valdez LNG compare to Japan’s gas supply alternatives?
• Growing interest in LNG exports from the USA: market opportunities
• A spotlight on Alaska’s vast energy resources – tapping into a giant
2. Alaska’s Natural Gas Potential
Alaska LNG Summit
Mark Myers, PhD
Vice Chancellor for Research
University of Alaska Fairbanks
13 September 2012
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
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3. The North Slope is Not a
Mature Petroleum Basin!
Question: What do the North
Slope and Samuel Clements
share in common?
Answer: A premature obituary
It has been reported that I was seriously ill--it was another man; dying--it
was another man; dead--the other man again...As far as I can see, nothing
remains to be reported, except that I have become a foreigner. When you
hear it, don't you believe it. And don't take the trouble to deny it. Merely
just raise the American flag on our house in Hartford and let it talk.
- Letter to Frank E. Bliss, 11/4/1897
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
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8. Natural Gas Classifications
• Resource Categories
• Proven Reserve
• Undiscovered Resource
Type of Accumulation
Conventional Natural Gas
Associated with oil
Non-associated with oil
Unconventional Natural Gas
Methane Hydrates
Basin Centered Gas
Shale Gas
Coal Bed Methane
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
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9. Advancing Resource Assessment From In-
Place to Technically and Economically
Recoverable Resource Estimates
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Source: USGS 9
10. North Slope Land Ownership and Known
Petroleum Accumulations
a
Se
c hi Beauf
Chuk ort Se
a
coas
tal pl
ain
NPRA
ASR
C ANWR 1002
footh
ills
ANWR
ASRC
Noatak
Gates of the Arctic
Source: AK DOG
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
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11. 35 TCF of Natural Gas Reserves and 5 BB Oil
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Source: AK DOG 2009
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12. North Slope and Alaskan Arctic OCS
Conventional Undiscovered Technically
Recoverable Oil and Gas
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Compiled by AK DOG 12
14. Shale Oil and Gas
Area of Potential Interest Shale Oil and Gas – Hue Shale/HRZ
ea
hi S Beauf
ukc ort Se
Ch a
coas
tal plain
NPRA
AS
RC ANWR 1002
footh
ills
ANWR
ASRC
Noatak
Gates of the Arctic
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
From P Decker AK DNR (mature area after Peters and others, 2006) 14
15. Shale Oil and Gas
Area of Potential Interest Shale Oil and Gas – Shublik and Lower Kingak Formations
ea
hi S Beauf
ukc ort Se
Ch a
coas
tal pl
ain
NPRA
ASR
C ANWR 1002
footh
ills
ANWR
ASRC
Noatak
Gates of the Arctic
From P Decker AK Dog (mature area after Peters and others, 2006)
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
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16. The Evolution of Commercial Natural Gas Production
Natural Gas Hydrates?
Shale Gas
Tight Gas Sands
Coalbed Methane
Non-Associated Conventional
Conventional Associated With Oil
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
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17. Factors Necessary For Commercialization
of North Slope Unconventional Petroleum
Resources
Identification Unconventional natural
of Resource Production gas delineation on the
Technology North Slope needs to
evolve from resource
identification to
production testing
Favorable
Economics
Modeling and reservoir production simulations of North Slope hydrate
accumulations within high quality sandstone reservoirs indicate that
production using existing technologies could be commercially viable
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
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18. Shale Oil and Natural Gas Hydrates – Largest
Known Potential Sources of Oil and Gas
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/feats/2008/exploration_innovation.html 18
19. Great Bear
Great Bear
Petroleum
Petroleum
approximate land
approximate land
position
position
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
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20. 70 acres total surface impact (14 pads, 5 acres
each) 17,920 acres of subsurface
development (2 mile-long laterals on each side
of road times 7 miles length times 640 acres/mi2)
(Canadian Business Resources
(courtesy Lynn Helms NDIC, DMR, 2011 )
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
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22. Three Proposed Methods For Producing Natural
Gas Hydrates
or CO2
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Modified from USGS/BLM /DGGS 22
23. Estimated In-place Resource
Alaska gas hydrate
resource assessment
- Estimated volume of
gas trapped within
permafrost
associated gas
hydrate
accumulations in
northern Alaska
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Source: USGS 23
24. Mt. Elbert Stratigraphic Test Well – Milne Point in
February, 2007 Significantly Advanced Our
Knowledge of North Slope Hydrates
•Confirmed Seismic Identification
of Accumulation
•430 Feet of Core Recovered
•Pressure and Short Term Test
Data
•Well Successfully Produced
Natural Gas Hydrates to Surface
DOE and Hunter (2007)
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
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25. 2011- 2012 Hydrate Test Program – Prudhoe Bay
• Six week successful short term production flow test and
technology demonstration
• CO2 and N2 injection with recovery of CH4
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
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26. North Slope and Alaskan Arctic OCS
Undiscovered Technically Recoverable
Oil and Gas
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Compiled by AK DOG 26
27. Shale Oil and Natural Gas Hydrates – Largest
Known Potential Sources of Oil and Gas
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/feats/2008/exploration_innovation.html 27
It is in the potential for undiscovered resources that the gasline is so important for Alaska and the future of the North American gas supply. This slide offers some comparisons of Alaska’s North Slope and the mature gas province of Wyoming. Alaska is one of the United State’s sleeping giants. While Wyoming has seen almost 20,000 exploration wells with almost 250 wells drilled per 1,000 square miles. The North Slope has barely been explored. We seen only 500 wells that might be generously described as exploration with just 3 wells per 1,000 square miles. The next slide shows why this perspective is so important.
Turning to unconventional resource potential: Little is said about these resources because their development is fairly remote and the technology to develop these resources is only now emerging. It is these resources that correspond to the unconventional resources estimates that we recently are hearing about in the trade press. In the far west of the North Slope, exploration of coalbed methane is underway for possible local consumption. In my opinion, the most exciting of these unconventional gas resources are gas hydrates Exciting because the North Slope is one of the few places on the planet where the resource is found in shallow, easy to reach depths. The resource is huge!
Basin centered gas and timeline
Joint Effort NETL, USGS, BP, ARSC, UAF U of Arizona and others