Fredonia story

Fredonia and the establishment of the natural gas industry

Historical supplement to Feb 26, 2013 Workshop by Johnson Energy Club, Cornell University

http://johnson.campusgroups.com/energy/education/

Eileen and Gary Lash, Dept. of Geosciences, SUNY Fredonia, Fredonia, NY 14063

first commercial gas well … drilled by William Hart … Phase I…

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

…William Hart’s well ... ~1850

…northeast bank of Canadaway Creek...

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

gas was used for illumination…

Lester house…

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

…but when was it drilled?…

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

Fredonia Censor – reporting on the drilling as it is taking place at the end of August 1825…

… summer 1925 …

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

…how did Hart know where to drill?...

…lighting the creek...

Dunkirk Shale – first natural gas source rock…

Source of the gas?

…Devonian black shale …~375 million years old…

Why here?

375 million years

Laurentia

Gondwana (Africa)

Dunkirk basin

1. subtropical climate

…becoming a hydrocarbon source rock…

you are here

McGhee, 1996

RCO2 = paleo CO2/present CO2

RCO2 modern atmosphere = 1

…Devonian – extremely warm period of Earth’s history…

1. abnormally warm climate (layered ocean);

warm water layer floating over cooler water

cooler (denser) water

2. prevents oxygen from reaching the bottom (cooler) water;

O2 O2 O2

3. the bottom water is quickly depleted of oxygen as a consequence of the abundant organic remains of plankton sinking through the water;

oxygen-depleted water

O2

organic remains – marine algae

…Devonian – extremely warm period of Earth’s history…

1. abnormally warm climate (layered ocean);

warm water layer floating over cooler water

2. prevents oxygen from reaching the bottom (cooler) water;

O2 O2 O2

3. the bottom water is quickly depleted of oxygen as a consequence of the abundant organic remains of plankton sinking through the water;

oxygen-depleted water

O2

a warm climate favors the preservation of organic remains

375 million years

Laurentia

Gondwana (Africa)

Dunkirk basin

2. plate tectonics

…becoming a hydrocarbon source rock…

you are here

…transformation of organic remains to oil and natural gas…

…burial related heat…

oil window

…heat transforms organic remains to liquid…

algae

…microfracture…

…continued burial…

oil window

gas window

Laurentia

burial and thermal maturation of the organic-rich shale

Gondwana (Africa)

300 million years

…William Hart’s well ... ~1850

…northeast bank of Canadaway Creek...

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

…back to Fredonia…

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

Phase II … mid to late 1850s …

Preston Barmore … born 1831 …

…Fredonia Academy (forerunner of SUNY Fredonia)…

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

…1841 …

…Barmore realized that gas “issues” from cracks in the shale…

…natural methane seep…

-1835 report of the New York State Geological Survey described abundant natural gas seeps about one mile north of Hart’s gas well location;

Hart’s 1825 well

Risley buildings

gas seeps

-in 1857, Barmore, with the backing of Elias Forbes, purchased a small parcel of land on the east side of Canadaway Creek on which to drill gas wells;

Hart’s 1825 well

Barmore’s gas well site

kicking down the 1857 gas well…

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

1858 … 122-foot deep well – poor producer

…Barmore realized the importance of fractures …

fractured the shale with 8 pounds of gunpowder at a depth of 122 feet…

…where was the gas coming from … deep or shallow source? …

fractured again at 80 feet…

…the first recorded fracture stimulation of a well…

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

Barmore’s gasometer … pre-January 1964

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

Barmore’s gasometer … post-January 1964

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

lead pipe used to conduct gas from the Risely wells to the gasometer…

courtesy…Darwin Barker Museum, Fredonia , NY

Fredonia Trinity Episcopal Church, Fredonia , NY

first metered use of natural gas; December 1858

$4.00/1,000 cubic feet

…upstream and downstream side started in Fredonia…

Summary

…upstream and downstream side started in Fredonia…

…Preston Barmore – SUNY Fredonia – first petroleum engineer and FSU connection to the establishment of the natural gas industry in the United

States…

…interested in the science behind natural gas occurrences…

Summary

…natural gas exploration continued (and continues) in western New York…

Truman White, in his historical recounting of Erie County, New York, wrote in 1898; "Natural gas was discovered on the Monroe Kelley farm in April, 1888, and afterwards on the Kerr, Elmer White, and Fry farms. The gas is piped to Buffalo and also to Springville."

… the Monroe Kelly, Elmer White, Kerr, and Fry farms are located a short distance east and north of the hamlet of Collins, NY...