Lewis Shale
United States
United States
| Location | In San Juan basin (SJB) that stretches into New Mexico and Southern Colorado. |
| Area | over 1,100 square miles |
| Reserves | 96 trillion cubic feet of natural gas |
| Thickness | 1,200 - 1,500 feet. |
| Formation Details | In the past, the Lewis shale, which lies between the Mesaverde and Pictured Cliffs formations, was completed in only the few wells where large Lewis flow rates were encountered while air-drilling for deeper targets. However, the Lewis shale lies behind pipe in thousands of existing wells across the SJB. In a large number of these wells and in new Mesaverde/Dakota wells, the Lewis can be completed. In 1998, Burlington Resources (BR) initiated a study to characterize the Lewis shale gas potential in the San Juan basin (SJB) and to optimize exploitation. Historically, most SJB production has been from naturally fractured, low permeability, cretaceous sandstones (Dakota, Mesaverde, and Pictured Cliffs), or from the prolific Fruitland Coal. BR is one of the major players in the Lewis shale formation with over 1000 wells. Many of these are scheduled for recompletion, which may include hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. |
| Production Activity | Wells completed only in the Lewis shale are not highly productive. They may produce in the range of 100 to 200 thousand cubic feet per day. For this reason the Lewis shale is often completed along with other formations when a well is drilled and the gas is commingled with that of other sources in the well. |
