Chapter 20 Table Gas Production from the Upper Colorado Group
Gas production from the Upper Colorado Group is widely distributed throughout southern and central Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. There is no Upper Colorado Group gas production north of Township 61 or west of the 6th Meridian. Included are fields producing from the Second Specks, Medicine Hat, Chinook, Milk River and Belly River. Note that commingled production from the Belly River and the deeper Second Specks is reported for some fields as producing from the SE Alberta Gas System.
There are 41 Upper Colorado Group gas fields (36 in Alberta and 5 in Saskatchewan) with Initial Established Marketable Gas Reserves of over 1000 x 106m3 (35 BCF). The ten largest Upper Colorado Group gas fields, listed in order of Initial Established Marketable gas reserves, are shown in Table 1. Cumulative production data for Alberta are updated to the end of 1990 and for Saskatchewan to the end of 1989.
Table 1. Ten Largest Upper Colorado Group Gas Fields (in units of 106m3).
No. | Field | Formation | No. of Pools | Marketable Reserves | In-place Volume | Cumulative Production | Discovery Year |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Medicine Hat | MilkR/Medhat | 42 | 93,611 | 147,009 | 73,453 | 1904 |
2 | Hatton | MilkR/Medhat | 3 | 48,514 | 73,705 | 17,489 | 1953 |
3 | Suffield | MilkR/Medhat/2WS | 9 | 45,066 | 67,320 | 22,712 | 1904 |
4 | Alderson | MilkR/Medhat/2WS | 6 | 29,564 | 43,600 | 16,964 | 1904 |
5 | Princess | MilkR/Medhat/2WS | 10 | 18,295 | 27,166 | 7,629 | 1904 |
6 | Verger | MilkR/Medhat/2WS | 9 | 14,291 | 21,254 | 3,958 | 1904 |
7 | Countess | MilkR/Medhat | 9 | 14,288 | 21,247 | 1,169 | 1904 |
8 | Bigstick | 2WS | 1 | 13,754 | 17,236 | 2,700 | 1980 |
9 | Bantry | MilkR/Medhat/2WS | 6 | 12,169 | 18,574 | 8,334 | 1904 |
10 | Cessford | MilkR/Medhat | 33 | 11,585 | 17,615 | 2,038 | 1904 |
Eight of these fields occur in southern Alberta, and the remaining two, Hatton and Bigstick, just across the Saskatchewan border.
Total recoverable gas reserves in the Upper Colorado Group are estimated at 419.3 x 109m3, of which 36.8 x 109m3 have already been produced. Initial Established In-Place Volume of Upper Colorado Group gas reserves totals 645 x 109m3. There are a total of 1684 Upper Colorado Group gas pools, with an average 249 x 106m3 recoverable gas reserves/pool. Table 2 lists the distribution of Upper Colorado Group gas reserves according to In-Place Pool Size.
Table 2. Size Distribution of Upper Colorado Group Gas Pools (in units of 106m3).
In-Place Pool Size Class | No. of Pools | Recoverable Reserves | Cumulative Production |
---|---|---|---|
1.0 to 10 | 244 | 830 | 187 |
10 to 100 | 1113 | 22,523 | 3,434 |
100 to 1000 | 258 | 44,120 | 12,099 |
1000 to 10000 | 56 | 117,161 | 5,231 |
over 10000 | 13 | 234,658 | 15,839 |
Total | 1684 | 419,292 x 106m3 | 36,790 x 106m3 |