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Tight Gas Sands

Explorer Emphasis Article

Pass the salt, please: How advances in 3-D seismic technology opened the subsalt exploration door in the Gulf of Mexico – and why that matters to the rest of the industry.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Say you want a revolution? There’s a good one going on in the Gulf of Mexico involving wide-azimuth seismic acquisition – one with the potential to spread around the world.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Government and the private sector are joining hands – and expertise – to tackle the potential production that lies in Canada’s unconventional gas resources.

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

The Energy Minerals Division (EMD) will be sponsoring an unprecedented number of sessions, forums and short courses at the upcoming 2008 AAPG Annual Convention, which will be held April 20-23 in San Antonio.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

February proves itself the busiest month of the year for AAPG’s Distinguished Lecture program, with seven speakers – five domestic and two international – set to be on speaking tours. The tours involve stops at 40 cities in North America and at least 12 stops throughout Europe and Asia. Some tours continue into early March.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

In late October, the Moroccan Association of Petroleum Geologists (MAPG), in association with AAPG and other industry associations, held the first MAPG International Convention Conference & Exhibition in Marrakech, Morocco.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The best of the best: Petrobras and partners scored big headlines and a potentially exciting future last year with the big discovery at the Tupi Field.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Coming soon to your desk: Dozens of opportunities for you to become an even-better professional geologist.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Fred F. Meissner is an honored exploration geologist and receives the Sidney Powers Memorial Award. Learn more about his achievements and life work.

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

This month’s column discusses next year’s AAPG International Conference and Exhibition in Cape Town, South Africa.

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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