Unlike shallow natural gas projects, such as shallow coal bed methane (CBM), the producible portions of deep shale gas formations exist many thousands of feet below the surface. Across the U.S. the average depth of a Chesapeake well is 7,700 feet (almost one and one-half mile below the earth’s surface and many thousands of feet below fresh water formations). This number varies depending on the development area. Chesapeake does not conduct any production or fracing activities in fresh groundwater aquifers. In fact, across Chesapeake’s deep shale gas operations, groundwater aquifers and producing natural gas formations are separated by thousands of feet of protective rock barriers.
How Deep Is 7,700 Feet?
- More than six Empire State Buildings stacked end to end
- 1 ½ times deeper than the deepest part of the Grand Canyon
- More than 25 football fields laid out goalpost to goalpost