Net energy analysis of geopressured gas resources in the U.S. Gulf Coast Region

Cutler J. Cleveland and Robert Costanza

Energy, 1984, vol. 9, issue 1, 35-51

Abstract: Geopressured gas is a vast but diffuse fuel resource in the U.S. Gulf Coast Region. The U.S. Department of Energy sponsored a test drilling program to evaluate the physical parameters of the resource base. Data from this evaluation program and other studies were incorporated into a model that compared the energy costs and yields of extracting geopressured gas. Results indicate that even the most promising geopressured prospects yield little net energy, even under optimistic assumptions concerning labor, government, and environmental energy costs. Conventional natural gas wells still yield substantially greater net fuel. Alternative technologies such as coal gasification also yield greater net fuel. We conclude that geopressured gas resources in the Gulf Coast do not represent a significant source of net energy for the nation based on current knowledge of reservoir parameters and extraction technology.

Date: 1984
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:9:y:1984:i:1:p:35-51

DOI: 10.1016/0360-5442(84)90075-6

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