33
2010
Annual Report
Unconventional Gas
The newest sources of unconventional gas are
shale gas and tight gas deposits. While gas-bearing
shale is encountered all over the world, it is com‑
mercially exploited only in the US, where shale gas
production has been growing strongly – between
1996 and 2006 alone, it grew from 8.5 billion to
25 billion cubic metres. At present, shale gas ac‑
counts for some 10% of total US gas production.
In recent years, as many as 4 thousand new wells
have been drilled in the US, which – despite signif‑
cant costs – are able to produce gas at sustainable
rates for as long as 30 years. It is estimated that
the cost of an unconventional well is about three
times higher than in the case of conventional plays.
In Poland, too, there has been surging interest
in shale gas, which – according to estimates – is
buried at depths ranging from 500 metres to
4 kilometres, within a sidelong belt stretching
from central Pomerania to the Lublin Province,
and within the foreland of the Sudeten Mountains.
In recent years, the Ministry of the Environment
has awarded more than 70 licences for unconven‑
tional gas exploration to over 40 entities, of which
around 20% have been awarded to PGNiG. In addi‑
tion, the PGNiG Group companies carry out seismic
surveys and drilling work contracted by foreign
companies, which is a source of additional revenue
for the Group. In 2011, PGNiG plans to allocate
approx. PLN 100–200m for exploration projects
focusing on unconventional gas plays in Poland.
Currently, companies interested in unconventional
gas are fnishing analyses of back-fle materials
obtained from earlier, fairly extensive, geological
drilling in Poland. Some of them have also acquired
additional seismic and performed geochemical
surveys. At the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011,
several companies started to drill wells target‑
ing shale gas – the initial results seem promising.
However, we will not be able to evaluate Poland’s
shale gas reserves and design technical solutions
enabling their recovery any sooner than in two to
three years.
In 2010, PGNiG completed drilling of the Marko‑
wola-1 well in the Lublin Province. As the well
logs confrmed the probability of presence of an
unconventional gas (tight gas) deposit, a hydraulic
fracturing operation was carried out in the well.
Since no commercial gas fow rates were recorded,
the well was classifed as dry and intended for
abandonment. In March 2011, PGNiG drilled the
Lubocino-1 well on plays near Wejherowo, in
northern Poland. The initial results indicate satis‑
factory rates of gas fow.
As at the end of 2010, PGNiG held 89 exploration
and appraisal licences, covering a total acreage of
58 thousand square kilometres, 222 licences for
gas and oil production in Poland, nine licences for
underground storage of gas and three licences for
storage of waste. Throughout 2010, the Ministry of
the Environment awarded PGNiG four new licences
for oil and gas exploration and appraisal and seven
new production licences. The licences on which PG‑
NiG operates are located mainly in south-eastern
Poland. Currently, PGNiG’s operations are focused
in three regions: the Carpathian Mountains, Car‑
pathian Foothills and the Polish Lowlands. In these
regions, work was carried out on 25 boreholes (in
the case of one borehole drilling ended in 2009,
and formation testing was performed in 2010).
Out of 14 wells with known test results, nine were
classifed as positive (including six gas wells, one
oil well and two oil and gas wells), whereas the
remaining fve wells were dry.
In 2010, geophysical work was carried out under
the licences located in the Carpathian Mountains,
Carpathian Foothills and the Polish Lowlands, as
part of which 1.8 thousand kilometres of 2D seis‑
mic lines and 595 square kilometres of 3D seismic
profles were acquired.
Vertical
well
(4738 m)
Horizontal
well
(1500 m)
Water injected under pressure flls
and expands fractures in sandstone
within a 40m – 100m radius
Particles of sand injected into the formation together with
water prevent fractures from closing, enabling gas recovery
Layer of
gas-bearing
sandstone
Impermeable
rock
A schematic of facilities installed on an unconventional deposit
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