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Shale Gas

Explorer Article

Show me the money: Investors are looking for new opportunities to spend their capital. Let’s make a deal?

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

The AAPG Imperial Barrel Award has had two years now of dramatic growth and enthusiasm.

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

Are you passionate about unconventional energy resources? Would you like to learn as much as possible about the latest concepts and technologies to explore and develop these?

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

There’s a lot of talk about the need for more natural gas in the energy mix. But there’s a big, unanswered question: How are we going to get the gas?

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Let’s raise a glass! Shale Ale, a limited edition beer made exclusively for the Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation – is making imbibers happy and raising the public’s awareness of the historic formation.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Reason to sing? Northern Louisiana’s high-profile, still-fledgling Haynesville shale gas play, despite the challenges facing many operators, is hitting all the right notes.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Rocky Mountain high: AAPG turns the spotlight on Denver for its 94th Annual Convention and Exhibition, which starts June 7 at the Colorado Convention Center.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

While you were sleeping: Those who have decried a perceived dearth of discoveries haven’t been paying enough attention to the list of this century’s game-changing plays.

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

AAPG’S Energy Minerals Division (EMD) will respond to heightened awareness of global energy issues by offering an extensive and diverse selection of sessions, short courses, field trips and forums at the upcoming 2009 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, set for June 7-10 in Denver.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Your shut door, our open window: Current fiscal realities have stalled some projects, but two geologists say now is the perfect time to consider better ways to evaluate shale gas 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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