At the end of 2012 New Mexico Tech embarked on a project in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico. This project is a joint effort of the Petroleum Recovery Research Center (PRRC), the Department of Petroleum Engineering, and the Bureau of Geology. Project goals include a more detailed characterization of existing Mancos Shale oil and gas reserves, as well as an evaluation of water resources available for the future development of these reserves. The bureau’s work will involve making preliminary estimates (using GIS data) of the total volume of material (rock, water, oil, and gas) in each of eleven major aquifers in the San Juan Basin. We will use petroleum reserve information to determine how much of the fluid might be petroleum. We will then use water chemistry data to estimate how much of the water is potable and how much is saline.
Results
- OFR-566 Hydrologic assessment of oil and gas resource development of the Mancos Shale in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, Kelley, Shari; Engler, Thomas; Cather, Martha; Pokorny, Cathryn; Yang, Cheng-Heng; Mamer, Ethan; Hoffman, Gretchen; Wilch, Joe; Johnson, Peggy; Zeigler, Kate, 2014
- OFR-567 Reasonable foreseeable development (RFD) for northern New Mexico, Engler, Thomas W.; Kelley, Shari; Cather, Martha, 2015