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Bitumen/Heavy Oil (Oil Sands)

Explorer Division Column EMD

The vision of AAPG's Energy Minerals Division (EMD) is to be the primary professional community for geoscientists working with natural energy resources other than conventional oil and gas, and for professional development, information and networking.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The upcoming APPEX event in Houston is set to draw numerous repeat customers beckoned by the show's theme to 'Discover More in 2004.'

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The technical program is in place and the time to register has arrived for an international event that has huge benefits for all.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Regions and Sections

The impressively large response to the call for papers is an indication that the 2004 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition in Cancun, Mexico, is shaping up to be one of the year's most important meetings.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The program is being finalized, but the time to start preparing for the year's premier international meeting is now.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Division Column EMD

The Energy Minerals Division's technical program for the annual meeting in Dallas April 18-21 brings the latest research findings and up-to-date information on commodities and topics of EMD interest.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Harsh reality of Canada: Competing head-to-head with the best opportunities available worldwide, Canadian exploration plays have attracted the attention of American E&P companies.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Technology innovations in horizontal drilling and geosteering unlock the vast reserves of the Venezuela field Petrozuata.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Scott W. Tinker could be the industry's leading forward-thinker on oil and gas research.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Supply pessimists take the industry's declining oil discovery rate as an alarm signal. Most believe world oil production will peak within a decade -- if it hasn't already.

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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