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Completion and Production

Explorer Article

Annual Meeting Technical Program

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

Gas shales are currently one of the hottest plays in the United States as a result of high gas prices, the remarkable success in the Barnett Shale in the Fort Worth Basin, technological advancements in drilling and completions, and predicted near-term shortages of natural gas.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Director’s Corner

This year for New Year's Eve I returned to an old family tradition of staying up most of the night.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Levorsen Award winners, honored for presenting the best paper at an AAPG Section meeting, have been announced by various Sections.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

This year's annual Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists' Core Conference, a cornerstone of the CSPG' technical offerings, will be held June 23-24 in Calgary, immediately following the AAPG Annual Convention.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Speakers are now picked and preparing for this year's AAPG Distinguished Lecture slate of talks, both in the United States and around the world.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

They see a good thing going: Louisiana officials are making an all-out effort to encourage increased oil industry activity in their state.

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

The vision of AAPG's Energy Minerals Division (EMD) is to be the primary professional community for geoscientists working with natural energy resources other than conventional oil and gas, and for professional development, information and networking.

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

Locked under ice and permafrost in Alaska and in remote reaches of the Arctic lie vast resources to fuel our nation's energy future. The tremendous volume of methane gas hydrates in the permafrost regions of the world make tapping into this unconventional resource a critical component to add to our nation's energy portfolio.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The old question about reserve estimates: How much oil does the earth have? The new question: Does anyone have any idea?

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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