Unconventional Gas Play
The Lough Allen Natural Gas Field is an unconventional carboniferous gas basin which was formed 350 million years ago. It was once contiguous with the Appalachian Basin in the USA, a proven natural gas territory, and by North American standards the Lough Allen Basin remains virtually unexplored. It consists of tight gas sandstone reservoirs, which are defined by low permeabilities and porosities relative to conventional fields. Unconventional gas fields generally have lower daily production rates than conventional fields, but the total amounts of gas recovered from both field types are often consistent over a long period. Production from tight gas sands such as the Dowra Sandstone in the basin have become a major source of natural gas, particularly in the United States and more recently in Canada and elsewhere in the world. Typically, the main risk in tight sands is not aerial extent of the reservoir or water but rather drainage area of individual production wells and the challenge to produce at economic flow rates.
Shale Natural Gas Play
Shale gas projects, such as the Barnet shale in the United States, are becoming significant sources of natural gas as gas prices rise and supply drops. Shale gas has many characteristics of tight gas sand plays and many of the technological challenges. In most shale projects the individual well capacity is lower than in tight gas sands and often to be both source and reservoir is an advantage over tight gas plays. There is evidence from the limited drilling in the basin that shales such as the Bundoran and Benbulben shales are gas charged and are potential shale gas formations. Finavera Gas plans to further investigate the shale gas potential in the area.
Conventional Natural Gas Play
Finavera Gas has recently undertaken studies which show there is also potential for conventional natural gas exploration in the basin. Where increased porosity could exist by virtue of depth, a conventional drilling target has been indentified on a newly discovered but untested seismic anomaly in the basin.