Potential for a basin-centered gas accumulation in the Raton Basin, Colorado and New Mexico

The Raton Basin appears to contain a significant continuous
or basin-centered gas accumulation in sandstones of the Upper Cretaceous Trinidad Sandstone and Vermejo Formation and Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene Raton Formation. The accumulation is underpressured and occurs at comparatively shallow (<3,500 ft) depths. The sandstones are interbedded with coal beds that are currently being developed for coal-bed methane, and the coals are the likely source for gas found in the sandstones. Based on analogs with other Rocky Mountain basins, relatively water-free production should occur where levels of thermal maturity in the coals exceed a vitrinite reflectance
value of 1.1 percent. This level of thermal maturity occurs over much of the central part of the Raton Basin. Because of the shallow depths, some of the accumulation has probably been degraded by surface water invasion.