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)
Explorer Article

Distinguished Lecturer Steve Dorobek’s Asia Pacific Region tour, originally slated for March, has been delayed until May – but the AAPG DL program will remain active in March with four speakers ready to tour.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

A delicate balance: Some see beautiful vistas, abundant wildlife, a recreational paradise. Others see a promising geologic structure and a beautiful energy potential. What’s next for the Pinedale field? 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

On the road again: February is going to be a busy month for AAPG’s Distinguished Lecture program. 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Something old, something new: For decades, production in the Granite Wash has been a steady, ongoing story – but the book is getting an exciting new chapter, thanks largely to horizontal drilling.

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

Although historically focused on its birthplace in North America, AAPG is growing rapidly in several international locations, including one that is in the heart of the oil industry – the Middle East.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Game changer? Horizontal drilling affirms more than a decade of E&P efforts in Canada’s Maritime provinces – the Frederick Brook Shale emerges as a potentially prolific play.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Guess what: Does anyone know for sure how accurate the recent estimates of available U.S. natural gas resources are?

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

A strong, integrated and active group of explorationists is still recognized as the most effective way to add value to a company by what is called 'organic growth,' which is very much a long-term activity.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Policy Watch

Congress passes many laws – that is its principal function as outlined in Article I of the U.S. Constitution. It also controls the nation’s purse strings, deciding how tax revenue collected from the people will be spent for the people.

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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