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Completion and Production

Explorer Article

Coalbed methane has become an increasingly important part of America's energy picture over the past two decades, with an estimated 669 trillion cubic feet of CBM in place in the lower 48 states.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Natural gas industry studies project that United States gas consumption will increase in the early years of this century by up to 50 percent from the current 22 trillion cubic feet to in excess of 33 trillion cubic feet by 2015.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The San Juan Basin - the largest producer of natural gas in the Rocky Mountain region and the proving ground for coalbed methane production in the United States - is once again a prolific source of unconventional natural gas resources.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

What's going on here? Despite some grand occurrences that otherwise would make it a year of wine and roses, 2000 ultimately didn't seem like much of a party year.

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

This Fact Sheet, compiled by the AAPG Division of Environmental Geosciences, addresses groundwater and the Underground Injection Control (UIC) well fracturing concerns under the SDWA.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The oil and gas business continues to be among the crown jewels of the United Kingdom's economy, sustaining an impressive performance for over three decades -- and through innovative approaches, officials mean to keep it that way.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The oil and gas business has been one of the crown jewels of the United Kingdom's economy for years, sustaining an impressive performance for over three decades - and through innovative approaches, officials mean to keep it that way.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

An increasing number of companies, in an increasing number of places around the world, consider horizontal drilling as an option in all kinds of plays. Through May 1999 Denver-based IHS Energy Group's databases contained records for 20,430 horizontal wells in 67 different countries.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The American Association of Petroleum Geologists, an international organization of over 30,000 earth scientists, supports scientifically designed, state-based environmental oversight of hydraulic fracturing treatments for those coalbed methane and other hydrocarbon wells that may occur near zones of potable water.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Various award winners have been announced for technical presentations at the AAPG annual meeting in New Orleans, including recipients of the Matson and Braunstein awards.

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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