How many cubic feet of gas are produced by one natural gas well?

Answer 1

Total lifetime production varies greatly & depends upon the source. It is recommended to research the associated statistics of the formation being drilled into, location (onshore, offshore, state, county, ... ) & production statistics of nearby wells. Also keep in mind that a well may show a high production curve and then sharply drop off (known as the "production curve") and that many wells may actually come up dry (no gas), become non-productive due to water &/or contaminants found in the well (expense associated with the removal of the contaminates may exceed the production value) or not have sufficient pressure to push its way into a gathering system &/or pipeline. Many of these statistics can be found as part of public knowledge on state & federal websites. For Texas, the Texas RRC has a production query tool that is useful for finding comparative data (sorry, my area is basically limited to Texas): http://webapps.rrc.state.tx.us/PDQ/changeViewReportAction.do?viewType=Field. In addition, FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commision), has several resources available to the public: http://www.ferc.gov/industries/gas.asp. Also, look into associations related to your involvement with the well(s) in question. Gas Processors association (www.gasprocessors.com), Texas Alliance of Energy Producers (www.texasalliance.org) or National Association of Royalty Owners (www.naro-us.org). Finally, if you know the company serving as Gatherer, or even purchaser, often times they have additional resources available and often have information that is not bound by confidentiality that can be discussed directly related to the area in which you are interested.