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Stratigraphic Traps

Explorer Emphasis Article

The southwest Wyoming region has almost everything you could want in a Rocky Mountain hydrocarbon province.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

During a luncheon talk at the 2006 AAPG Annual Convention in Houston, speaker Peter Dea predicted the Rocky Mountains would become the kingpin of domestic natural gas production owing principally to unconventional reservoir development.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Experts agree that exploring and doing business in today’s oil world demands innovative approaches to your work, whether it’s in looking at new areas for hydrocarbons or looking at old areas in a new way. This month’s EXPLORER takes a look at some of the innovative approaches and visions that already have surfaced – plus some hints at new potential. Cover photos include a view of drilling operations at the Coos Bay Basin in southwestern Oregon (top).

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The Jonah Field in the northern Greater Green River Basin, one of the largest gas discoveries in the last decade and a poster child for basin centered gas. The Standard Draw-Echo Springs Field in the Washakie Basin, which was found in the 1970s and was one of the original fields determined to be a large, basin centered gas accumulation.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Shanley, Robinson and Cluff weigh in on future E&P direction

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Conventional wisdom regarding basin-centered gas accumulations has sparked a geologic debate in Colorado.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

This month's column is titled '3-D Seismic Sweeps Through Time.'

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

They're young, they're old, male and female, company men and independent strivers. What, then, makes these varied people successful oil finders?

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

A global assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources has led to some surprising geologic insights regarding petroleum systems.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

What was once unconventional can become commonplace. Remember when fixing a lunch in a microwave oven was rare?

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
VG Abstract

Production from unconventional petroleum reservoirs includes petroleum from shale, coal, tight-sand and oil-sand. These reservoirs contain enormous quantities of oil and natural gas but pose a technology challenge to both geoscientists and engineers to produce economically on a commercial scale. These reservoirs store large volumes and are widely distributed at different stratigraphic levels and basin types, offering long-term potential for energy supply. Most of these reservoirs are low permeability and porosity that need enhancement with hydraulic fracture stimulation to maximize fluid drainage. Production from these reservoirs is increasing with continued advancement in geological characterization techniques and technology for well drilling, logging, and completion with drainage enhancement. Currently, Australia, Argentina, Canada, Egypt, USA, and Venezuela are producing natural gas from low permeability reservoirs: tight-sand, shale, and coal (CBM). Canada, Russia, USA, and Venezuela are producing heavy oil from oilsand. USA is leading the development of techniques for exploring, and technology for exploiting unconventional gas resources, which can help to develop potential gas-bearing shales of Thailand. The main focus is on source-reservoir-seal shale petroleum plays. In these tight rocks petroleum resides in the micro-pores as well as adsorbed on and in the organics. Shale has very low matrix permeability (nano-darcies) and has highly layered formations with differences in vertical and horizontal properties, vertically non-homogeneous and horizontally anisotropic with complicate natural fractures. Understanding the rocks is critical in selecting fluid drainage enhancement mechanisms; rock properties such as where shale is clay or silica rich, clay types and maturation , kerogen type and maturation, permeability, porosity, and saturation. Most of these plays require horizontal development with large numbers of wells that require an understanding of formation structure, setting and reservoir character and its lateral extension. The quality of shale-gas resources depend on thickness of net pay (>100 m), adequate porosity (>2%), high reservoir pressure (ideally overpressure), high thermal maturity (>1.5% Ro), high organic richness (>2% TOC), low in clay (<50%), high in brittle minerals (quartz, carbonates, feldspars), and favourable in-situ stress. During the past decade, unconventional shale and tight-sand gas plays have become an important supply of natural gas in the US, and now in shale oil as well. As a consequence, interest to assess and explore these plays is rapidly spreading worldwide. The high production potential of shale petroleum resources has contributed to a comparably favourable outlook for increased future petroleum supplies globally. Application of 2D and 3D seismic for defining reservoirs and micro seismic for monitoring fracturing, measuring rock properties downhole (borehole imaging) and in laboratory (mineralogy, porosity, permeability), horizontal drilling (downhole GPS), and hydraulic fracture stimulation (cross-linked gel, slick-water, nitrogen or nitrogen foam) is key in improving production from these huge resources with low productivity factors.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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