When a slowdown in drilling hit western Colorado last year, one reason was competition from emerging natural gas development in other parts of the country.

By Dennis Webb

Newfound success in producing gas from underground shale formations helped drive up gas supplies and drive down prices, while also competing for drilling investment dollars.

But even as the industry landscape was changing for energy producers in the Piceance Basin of western Colorado, some of them had begun wondering whether a key to responding to the change lay right beneath their feet.

Much of Colorado also is underlain by shale formations. And in the Piceance Basin, companies are starting to explore the degree to which a thick band of shale might be tapped to enhance their already prolific gas production.

“It’s an important question mark, but it’s a big question mark,” said Thom Kerr, permit and technical services manager for the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

The question at hand involves Mancos Shale. The formation surfaces in places such as Grand Junction but is buried deeply in much of the Piceance Basin. The Mancos sits below the Mesaverde Group, which contains the sandstone that companies have successfully been drilling in for natural gas for decades.

The two geological formations are strikingly displayed at Mount Garfield, where sandstone caps shale slopes.

Some companies have begun drilling test wells into the Mancos in the Piceance Basin, but the shale extends to a much larger region than the Piceance. And the Pierre Shale, formed by the same sea that created the Mancos some 85 million years ago, surfaces or is buried in much of eastern Colorado.

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