Natural Gas Resources of the Taylorsville Mesozoic Basin David Spears State Geologist Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy After each subject, talk about geological and scientific perspectives

Mission of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy We enhance the development and conservation of energy and mineral resources in a safe and environmentally sound manner to support a more productive economy.

Some Potential Future Energy Resources TAYLORSVILLE BASIN Marcellus Shale Southwest VA Coalfield OCS Lease Sale 220 The Taylorsville Basin is one of several areas of potential future energy extraction in Virginia. In recent years, DMME has been called upon to provide expertise to energy policy makers in the Executive and Legislative branches of Virginia government. Virginia Wind Energy Area Coles Hill Uranium Deposit Mesozoic Basins

The Taylorsville Basin is mostly covered by the Virginia Coastal Plain The Taylorsville Basin is mostly covered by the Virginia Coastal Plain. Twelve exploratory wells were drilled in the 20th century.

Natural gas resources of the Taylorsville Basin lie beneath aquifers in the Coastal Plain sediments.

The Taylorsville Basin was part of a recent study by the U. S The Taylorsville Basin was part of a recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey on the undiscovered oil and gas resources in east coast Mesozoic Basins.

USGS assigned 1.06 trillion cubic feet of gas to the Taylorsville Basin. USGS uses a probabilistic method to make an educated estimate of the technically recoverable resource. That’s about 2 ½ times Virginia’s total annual consumption of natural gas. For comparison, the USGS assigned 410 Tcf to the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia.

USGS and VA DEQ recently completed a study of the Potomac Aquifer, the deepest aquifer in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula.

USGS/DEQ aquifer cross-section from Fredericksburg through King George, Westmoreland, Northumberland, and Accomack Counties. The Taylorsville Basin lies in the “Basement bedrock” in this diagram. Red lines are faults. Black lines are water wells. The Potomac Aquifer is the source for large groundwater withdrawals such as paper mills that withdraw 20 – 30 million gallons per day. Hydraulically fractured wells in Virginia typically use 0 – 300,000 gallons of water.

Summary The Taylorsville Basin is an important potential future source of energy for Virginia Natural gas is likely to be found in tight shale reservoirs. Natural gas resources are present beneath several fresh water aquifers. They would be subject to VA laws and DMME regulations governing casing through aquifers in addition to special statutory requirements for drilling in the Tidewater area.