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Bitumen/Heavy Oil (Oil Sands)

Explorer Division Column EMD

The AAPG Energy Minerals Division covers many scientific disciplines and interests – and because previous EXPLORER articles featured shale gas and oil shale, this quarter will focus on highlights from this year’s EMD November Mid-Year Meeting Commodity Reports.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Recount: The U.S. Geological Survey offers a new estimate of the world’s undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

A world-class technical program is in place for the AAPG International Conference and Exhibition in Singapore.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Policy Watch

I first wrote about the Keystone XL pipeline in this column back in September 2010. At the time, the project was nearing the end of a review by the U.S. Department of State for a Presidential Permit.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Hydrocarbon exploration and production in challenging frontier areas unquestionably are destined to play an increasingly larger role in the global energy mix.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

 The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with European geoscience organizations, is assessing resource potential from continuous-type gas and oil accumulations in the fine-grained rocks of Europe.

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

While energy demand in the developed world seems somewhat stabilized, energy demand from emerging economies in the Asia Pacific Region increases year after year.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

AAPG’s prestigious Distinguished Lecturer program, which offers audiences a chance to hear the latest in geoscience research, understanding and practical applications, kicks-off its new season with three speaking tours planned for September.

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

It’s a new year, with a new EMD Executive Committee and president, and there is renewed interest in unconventional and alternative energy resources.

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

Canada’s unconventional resources continue to excite the imaginations of geoscientists, as Canadian companies – with operators and investors from North America, India and Southeast Asia – are doggedly working to unlock the country’s unconventional resource play potential.

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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