GILLETTE, Wyo. — University of Wyoming professors from multiple disciplines are taking a crack at addressing the factors that make it difficult to draw from the Mowry Shale, which lies underneath most of Wyoming.

Currently, oil and gas companies in the Powder River Basin are accessing the Niobrara and Turner formations, which pose a lower economic risk compared with the Mowry Shale, University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources Sr. Director, Research Scott Quillinan said.

The biggest hydrocarbon source for the Lower Cretaceous petroleum system in the Powder River Basin is the Mowry Shale. Yet, it has two kinds of layers that pose challenges: bentonite, which is almost like peanut butter, and one with a lot of silica, which is brittle, he said. The bentonite is “basically, squishy,” he said. It swells with exposure to water, making it very difficult to keep fractures open for hydraulic fracturing.

The Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute and the SER have found new areas of production potential in the Mowry, so SER is launching a focused effort on the Mowry Total Petroleum System to improve understanding and increase production, a UW blog post said.

“It could be the next big play, and probably will be,” Quillinan told County 17. “I’m confident that at some point it will be figured out. … There’s a lot of work to do.”

In the meantime, UW students involved in the research projects will be able to get more involved in the industry, he said. Any successes in the Powder River Basin could apply to work in other areas of Wyoming, he said.

Aiming to develop research findings, faculty expertise and students’ field work, the SER asked UW faculty to submit proposals in Shale Fundamental Studies, or physics-based modeling and experimentation to advance geomechanical and geochemical understanding of the shale relative to production or performance, and Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, or data analysis that will aid in decision-making in real-time to improve Mowry wells. SER selected projects that can increase understanding of the petroleum system, and thereby improve the reserve-base and recovery in the reservoir, Quillinan said in the blog post.

The following proposals will receive between $50,000 and $150,000 in funding from the Wyoming Energy Authority:

The research teams must file final reports and spend the funding by June 2023.

To learn more about the Mowry Shale Project, contact the SER at 307-766-6897.