The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) has released its first assessment of the Utica Shale in the United States and reported that this formation holds 38 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas (mean estimate).
The USGS also said that the Utica Shale contains a mean of 940 million barrels of crude oil resources and 9 million barrels of natural gas liquids. Although most industry development has been in Ohio and Pennsylvania, the survey also assessed the Upper Ordovician Utica Shale in Maryland, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The estimated range of undiscovered resources is as follows:
Crude oil - 590 million barrels to 1.39 billion barrels
Natural gas - 21 to 61 TCF
Natural gas liquids - 4 to 16 million barrels
The USGS defines technically recoverable oil and gas resources as “those quantities of oil and gas producible using currently available technology and industry practices, regardless of economic or accessibility considerations.” Here is a map of the area assessed by the USGS
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