Studies of Natural Gas Resources in Deep Sedimentary Basins Thaddeus S. Dyman (dyman@usgs.gov; 303-236-5730) James W. Schmoker (schmoker@usgs.gov; 303-236-5794) Vito F. Nuccio (vnuccio@usgs.gov; 303-236-1654) Robert A. Crovelli (crovelli@usgs.gov; 303-235-5770) Timothy C. Hester (hester@usgs.gov; 303-236-5792) Ronald C. Johnson (rcjohnson@usgs.gov; 303-236-5546) Michael L. Lewan (mlewan@usgs.gov; 303-236-9391) Christopher J. Schenk (schenk@usgs.gov; 303-236-5796) Kenneth I. Takahashi (kt@usgs.gov; 303-236-5722) Dennis B. Riggin (driggin@usgs.gov; 303-236-5722) Troy A. Cook (tcook@usgs.gov; 303-236-6594) Allison A. Henry (c/o mlewan@usgs.gov; 303-236-9391) U.S. Geological Survey Central Energy Team P.O. Box 25046 MS 939 Denver, CO 80225 Contract DE-AT26-98FT40032 Task Order No. 009 Department of Energy Program Officer: William J. Gwilliam Project Performance Period: April 7, 1998-May 1, 1999 INTRODUCTION For strategic, economic, and environmental reasons, many U.S. drilling frontiers deserve further review. One such frontier is natural gas in deep sedimentary basins. Deep natural gas resources are distributed throughout many basins with widely different geological environments (Figure 1). According to the Potential Gas Committee (1999), the U.S. contains a total potential resource of 1,037 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas resources including the growth of reserves in known fields and undiscovered resources. In 1995, the USGS estimated 1,074 Tcf of technically recoverable gas resources in the U.S. including gas as proved reserves, reserve growth in gas fields, undiscovered conventional and continuous gas, and gas in small fields (U.S. Geological Survey National Oil and Gas Resource Assessment Team, 1995). Dyman and others (1996) identified about 113 Tcf of deep gas (gas in undiscovered fields
