Westmont Resources Inc. will acquire 92 wells in the Chattanooga Shale of Scott County and Morgan County, Tennessee that are presently owned by Domestic Energy Corp. This announcement reveals some information about the Chattanooga and the wells that have been drilled. More at the Oil and Gas Journal.

The agenda for the Shale Gas Drilling & Completions 2010 conference to be held May 26-27 is now online. The conference will “deliver key insight into applying cutting-edge drilling and completions techniques used throughout diverse shale projects in the US & Canada. Leading shale producers will share real life examples of their drilling and completions success and challenges – including experience from the Barnett, Haynesville, Horn River, Marcellus, Woodford and Fayetteville shale plays.”

How long will the new natural gas shale plays be producing gas? 20 years? 40? More? This topic was discussed at IHS CERA conference last week in Houston. Some believe that they will be producing gas for a long time.

“During the past four years, more than twenty wells were drilled or re-entered in Lamar, Pickens, Tuscaloosa, Blount, and Cullman Counties, Alabama, to attempt completions in the Mississippian Floyd Shale or Devonian Chattanooga Shale.” More at the Alabama Geological Survey website.

The Alabama Geological Survey has a summary publication titled “An Overview of the Floyd Shale & Chattanooga Shale Gas Play in Alabama“. This is a technical report that summarizes the geology and drilling activity that has recently occurred in Alabama.

“The U.S. Department of Energy announces the release of Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer. The Primer provides regulators, policy makers, and the public with an objective source of information on the technology advances and challenges that accompany deep shale gas development.” Quoted from fossil.energy.gov. Download the .pdf

Ziff Energy Group has a press release on their website predicting that unconventional gas plays now active across North America will account for 53% of the continent’s gas production by 2020.

This State of Alabama .pdf document summarizes drilling results for several wells drilled into the Floyd Shale and Chattanooga Shale prior to 2008.  The Floyd Shale is located above the Chattanooga and they are separated by the Tuscumbia Limestone and the Fort Payne Chert.

In a transcript of the GeoMet, Inc. third quarter 2008 earnings call posted at SeekingAlpha, the company explains some of the drilling and production challenges that they have seen in some of their Garden City project natural gas wells in the Chattanooga Shale. A backflow of frac sand, water production and pump failures are some of the problems.

The Chattanooga Shale underlies vast portions of Tennessee and is even named after a locality in the state.  Some old regulations would require wells that do not produce be sealed within six months.  That could kill the common practice of “shutting-in” highly productive wells until pipelines can be built.  People don’t build pipelines just incase a well produces.  They drill the well and the production potential justifies the pipeline.

In a second quarter conference call, Geomet, Inc. said that they have drilled two new wells during the second quarter into the Chattanooga Shale. One vertical and one horizontal. They also refraced two previously drilled vertical wells using different technologies. They plan to drill two more horizontal wells later this year.

Atlas Energy Resources, LLC has four successful horizontal wells in the Chattanooga Shale of eastern Tennessee. These wells cost about $1.1 million each to drill and complete. They can produce 300 to 500 Mcf/day according to a recent press release.

CNX Gas Corporation reports drilling a successful well into the Chattanooga Shale and starting four more wells based upon the results. They have also leased about 235,000 acres above the Chattanooga Shale, mostly in Tennessee.

CNX Gas reports a successful well in the Chattanooga Shale. This was a horizontal completion that opened with a test rate of 3.9 MMcf per day and sustained production of 300-400 Mcf per day.