The basins that produce the nation's natural gas are surprisingly deep. Many contain sedimentary columns that are 30,000 feet or more in depth. However, less than 1 percent of all wells drilled have penetrated below 15,000 feet drilling depth. Nonetheless, in 1998, "deep" reservoirs (arbitrarily defined as occurring more than 15,000 feet below the surface) accounted for 7 percent of domestic production. The National Petroleum Council projects this share will grow to 12 percent by 2010.

NETL sponsors the assessment of deep gas resources in order to help identify the technological barriers that limit deep gas exploration. As has been proven in the low-permeability resources program, basic information on resource volumes and nature can lead to industry's acceptance of the viability of frontier resources and spur industry development, testing, and utilization of advanced technologies.

Recently, much of the Program's work with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has focused on updating the 1995 assessments of deep, basin-centered accumulations. Work is focused on the Hanna, Anadarko, Arkoma, Cook Inlet, Holbrook, Columbia, Warrior, Los Angeles, Alaska interior, Colville, and Gulf Coast basins, as well as the Snake River downwarp, Willamette-Puget trough, and Salton trough.

NETL is also sponsoring USGS work to better understand the following: 1) the potential nature of deep undiscovered conventional plays in the Gulf of Mexico, 2) improved methods for identifying potentially productive zones in basin-centered accumulations, 3) review of the gas expulsion behavior of different kerogen types and oil from deep source rocks, and 4) the deep Cotton Valley gas trend of the Louisiana-Mississippi salt basins.