Basic Tools for Shale Exploration

INSTRUCTOR:

Lindell Bridges, Pure Earth Resources, Sharpsville, PA

INSTRUCTOR LOOKUP

DATES:

May 18, 2013

Related courses:
June 5 - 7, 2013

LOCATION:

Pittsburgh, PA, with AAPG Annual Meeting

TUITION:

Member: $695.00

Nonmember $895.00

(increases to $795/$995 after 4/19/2013), includes course notes and refreshments. No refunds for cancellations after 4/19/2013.

LIMIT:

50 people

CONTENT:

.75 CEU

Who Should Attend

Geologists, geophysicists, and engineers who are new to shale plays. This course is especially appropriate for persons that are responsible for shale play exploration or exploitation. Industry experience may range from graduate students to seasoned professionals.

Objectives

The goal of this course is to expose students to the basics of evaluating new and existing shale plays. Upon completion of the course, participants should be able to accomplish the following:

• Perform basic log analysis on existing well logs of various vintages.
• Recognize what petrophysical parameters are important for identifying potentially productive shale intervals, including characteristics of gas, gas & condensate, & oil reservoirs in shale.
• Recognize important geochemical data needed for evaluating shale plays, both existing data and data from new drilling.
• Recognize important thermal maturity data needed for evaluating shale plays, both existing data and data from new drilling.
• Apply sequence stratigraphy to shale plays for mapping prospective trends.
• Apply stress regime analysis to determine horizontal well azimuth.
• Understand natural fracturing in shale and how they assist in increasing the productivity of shale reservoirs in conjunction with hydraulic fracturing.

Content

This short course will demonstrate which tools, processes, and procedures all geoscientists, engineers, and technical professionals working in shale plays need to understand and implement. The instructor will provide guidance in using lithological information, petrophysics, 3D seismic, pore pressure, reservoir characterization, geochemistry, fracture information, and reservoir fluid information to effectively explore for and produce shale hydrocarbons.

This course starts by defining what a “shale” play is and ends up with a brief overview of a few existing shale plays in North America. During the course we will review the type of existing data one needs to evaluate when moving into a new play area. Mapping techniques using petrophysical, geochemical, and sequence stratigraphy will be introduced. The different phases of shale exploration and development will be presented outlining some pitfalls that may be encountered along the way.