The energy renaissance in the United States is often described in a single word in the media: shale. As in “drilling for shale gas” or “shale oil development in North Dakota.” Modern unconventional development techniques have made oil and gas production profitable from so many more play types than just self-sourced shales. In this talk we will explore how classical petroleum concepts such as petroleum migration, buoyancy and capillary forces can be combined with unconventional drilling and completions to discover and produce large volumes of oil and gas from non-shale lithologies. Marginal Bakken and Green River plays will be used as case studies to demonstrate these concepts.
The energy renaissance in the United States is often described in a single word in the media: shale. As in “drilling for shale gas” or “shale oil development in North Dakota.” Modern unconventional development techniques have made oil and gas production profitable from so many more play types than just self-sourced shales. In this talk we will explore how classical petroleum concepts such as petroleum migration, buoyancy and capillary forces can be combined with unconventional drilling and completions to discover and produce large volumes of oil and gas from non-shale lithologies. Marginal Bakken and Green River plays will be used as case studies to demonstrate these concepts.