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Bitumen/Heavy Oil (Oil Sands)

Explorer Emphasis Article

You’d have to call leasing in the Gulf of Mexico more focused than frenetic.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Fred F. Meissner, an honored college professor who pioneered the concept that methane gas could be extracted from coalbeds, has been named the 2008 recipient of the Sidney Powers Memorial Award. 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

See how the Barnett shale gas plays in the Fort Worth Basin.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The Gulf of Mexico is not a paradise of exploration. There is hurricanes and deep water depths, but it is available to oil companies around the world. Learn about all of the challenges.

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

It is not unusual today to hear a speaker dealing with resources. Water supply is lurking as the greatest resource challenge facing much of the world’s population.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Operators big and small continue to grab attention for their efforts in the high-profile Barnett Shale play in the Fort Worth Basin.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

This year’s Distinguished Lecture program, funded in part by the AAPG Foundation, will offer 14 lecturers largest slate of speakers in the program’s history– nine domestic and five international.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Just because someone else 'made it' in the Barnett Shale doesn't guarantee another will have the same sort of success in this complex geologic play.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The all-out action in Canada’s oil sands shows no sign of abating.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The considerable hype about the Canadian oil sands action just keeps escalating — with good reason.

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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