Appalachian area wells

Natural gas and its combustion properties appear to have been known since early times (2). Some early temples of worship were located in areas where gas was seeping from the ground or from springs, and it is reported that Julius Caesar saw a phenomenon called the "burning spring" near Grenoble, France. Gas wells were drilled in Japan as early as 615 AD and in 900 AD the Chinese employed bamboo tubes to transport natural gas to their salt works, where the heat was used to evaporate water from salt brine. The existence of natural gas in the United States was reported by early setders who observed gas seeps and columns of fire in the Ohio Valley and the Appalachian area in 1775 (3). 

Devonian Shales. The large eastern Devonian gas shales resource base underlies approximately 174,000 square miles (453,000 km2) of the eastern U.S. Estimates of recoverable gas range from 2 to 15% of the gas m place. Natural gas has been produced from these shales for decades. Well production rates are relatively low, but after the first few years of production it does not usually decline rapidly with time. A major constraint to present-day exploitation has been the extraordinary inability to predict with confidence the gas production rates that may be obtained in wells drilled outside the traditional production areas. Presently, the GRI is studying the systematics of historically successful fields, including the Appalachian, Illinois, and Michigan Basins. 

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