General Information

The Appalachian basin is the oldest and geographically one of the largest oil and gas producing regions in the United states. The Basin provides long term predictable production from relatively shallow formations, which often blanket the region.

One of the Basin's advantages is its proximity to the large commercial and industrial markets in the northeast United States, giving it a price advantage over production that must travel long distances to market. Exhibit 1 is a map of the Appalachian Basin with the prospect areas identified.

All of the following prospects are located in the Allegheny section of the Appalachian Basin of southwestern Pennsylvania. The areas are in a mature Plateau with northeast - southwest trending ridges dissected by Dendritic Drainage Systems.

Structurally, the Plateau Region is a broad Asymmetrica Synclinorium interrupted by gentle folds with minor thrust and cross faulting. Folding increases in intensity as one approaches the Allegheny Front and decreases to the northwest.

In late Devonian time, land to the south and east elevated by the Afcadian Orogeny, produced the detrital source material for the Catskill Delta Sediments. These deposits formed a huge Clastic Wedge that thinned westward, and included distinct facies that formed simultaneously. Near the source, the Redbeds were laid down, grading westward into vast sand deposits, and farther west into siltstones, and finally black shales. The westward flowing streams created extensive coalescing deltas, while their sediments were deposited on a gently sloping coastal plain.

The sea continued to retreat westward through late Devonian time depositing younger sediments that transcend time lines. The strand line of this ancient sea stretched generally in a northeast-southwest direction. The major producing sand in the area represent the result of these depositional conditions.

Deposition facies from channel systems through Delta plan and Delta front sequences appear to be present locally in the Upper Devonian sectin. Hydrocarbons were initially trapped in these sand bodies by impervious mud's. The nature of the initial hydrocarbons accumulation in these stratigraphic traps is generally independent of later structural deformation, although higher structural position in some areas may enhance production. Lateral distribution, thickness, and continuity in the sandstone reservoirs reflect the nature of individual genetic units.

•  General Information
• Transportation & Energy
• The Search Continues
• A New Century & Beyond
• Appalachian Basin
• Facts & Opinions