Conasauga Shale - Natural Gas

Natural Gas

The Conasauga Shale is a shale gas reservoir, like the Barnett Shale in Texas. The shale is very hard, and until technological advancements as have been honed in the exploration and drilling of the Barnett Shale, it was too costly to extract. The Conasauga Shale is hydro-sensitive as the shale will absorb water, swell and thereby slow the flow of gas. Therefore, successful drilling of the Conasauga involves utilizing techniques minimizing water use and subsequent flow into the open-hole drilling techniques. Casing is normally used only until penetration into the Conasauga and then left open-hole so that multiple gas layers within the hole may flow to the borehole.