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Sweet-Spot Hunting in Unconventionals: 3D Geochemical Mapping

Author 1 Susan Nash
24 October, 2012 | 0

It often seems as though attempts to find sweet spots are restricted to seismic, petrophysics, cores, and regional geological information. There’s geochemical information as well, and as yet, it’s often an underutilized data set, often because there is little or no consistency in the information gathered in all the wells.

That could change, and a powerful new geochemical approach could be emerging in Downhole Geochemical Imaging. It’s a new concept and companies such as Gore are applying it to unconventional reservoirs in order to identify and map sweet spots.

This data may be used to:

  • Correlate with electronic and nuclear logging results to better define test intervals of interest
  • Identify preferred completion zones and petroleum phase (gas, condensate, oil)
  • Reduce testing/completion costs and time
  • Evaluate seal rock integrity
  • Better understand petroleum migration patterns and petroleum phase differences between source, migration, and reservoir rocks
  • Potentially understand vertical compartmentalization

AAPG Education is making information on the new technique available on October 31, 2012, in a new e-symposium, A 3-D Approach to Hydrocarbon Mapping in Resource Plays.

The e-symposium will consist of a one-hour webinar (2 pm central time), as well as ongoing access to the archived materials. You’ll also receive access to articles and other materials, along with review questions, which you may complete and turn in for CEU credits.

Susan Nash
Susan Nash

Dr. Susan Smith Nash has organized numerous workshops, forums, educational events and research conferences on the topic of unconventional resources in her capacity of Director of Education and Professional Development of the AAPG. In addition, she has worked with cross-disciplinary teams to work on knowledge transfer, understanding, and research initiatives in optimizing exploration and development of unconventional and mature reservoirs. Her current interests involve supporting new technologies for green development of unconventionals.

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