Explorer Article

Where’s the beef? Latin America’s new Vaca Muerta play has loads of potential – and it’s not the only area that’s making South America a hot target for today’s explorationists.

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

The Vaca Muerta is now a leading shale play in Latin America. Check out this article on the workshop AAPG recently held in Buenos Aires.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

It’s all about staying on target: Technological advances are helping to make geosteering an increasingly valuable tool for geologists involved in horizontal wells.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Policy Watch

AAPG provided a glowing introduction to me last month in this column, but now that it is time for my first column:

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer President’s Column

AAPG members realize that finding oil and gas is at best an arduous, difficult task.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

A new kid in town: Nodal technology is proving itself a game-changer on data acquisition in the venerable Permian Basin.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Closest of trends: Geoscientists experienced a huge “aha!” moment that started with the realization that Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale and Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale have a lot in common.

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

September will be a busy month for the AAPG Sections – two groups will be holding their annual meetings, both in locales that boast geologic industry history and plenty of entertainment opportunities. 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

The discrimination of fluid content and lithology in a reservoir is an important characterization that has a bearing on reservoir development and its management.

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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