Explorer Article

Colombia’s unconventional and heavy oil potential are the focus of “Expanding Unconventional Resources in Colombia with New Science – From Heavy Oil to Shale Gas/Shale Oil Opportunities,” an AAPG geosciences technology workshop (GTW) set Dec. 10-11 in Bogotá.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Despite a few lean times – including a stretch when it was derided as the Dead Sea – the GOM always comes roaring back to life to reclaim its position as the shining star of domestic hydrocarbon production.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Discover the basic fundamentals of structural geology, the response of natural materials to deformation, and what changes occur due to the application of stress and or strain energy. Practical Geomechanics will be covering the many aspects of exploration, assessment and production phases of petroleum reservoir development.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Looking at a formation as a source rock, then turning around and considering it a viable reservoir requires you to be able to shift your thinking and to analyze a great deal of data in a new way. If you don’t, you risk not understanding the nature of “sweet spots” and how to accurately complete or use reservoir characterization studies.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The second annual Unconventional Resources Technology Conference, which once again threw a multidiscipline spotlight on new approaches, technology and science being used to develop unconventional plays, attracted more than 5,000 attendees– a 25 percent increase over last year’s inaugural event – to Denver’s Colorado Convention Center in late August.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Designed for geologists, geophysicits, petrophysicists and petroleum engineers this course will present the concepts of sedimentary geochemistry and biogeochemistry, along with the framework to interpret elemental and mineralogical records in such organic rich mudstone sequences

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Listen to Dr. Ronald Nelson as he shares his knowledge and insights on a practical approach to defining reservoir fluid and pressure related natural fracture generation and fracture property alteration in conventional and unconventional reservoirs.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Want an introduction or review of the mineralogical aspects of reservoir quality evaluation? Well here's your chance, Mineralogy Aspects of Reservoir Quality Evaluation with a Focus on Clay Minerals,  will provide attendees with fundamental information needed to evaluate and assess reservoir quality of conventional and unconventional plays.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Learn the latest technologies being successfully applied in the main unconventional plays, and how the knowledge can be applied to other plays world wide.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Gain a better understanding on how to evaluate, plan and make decisions with regards to unconventional resource assessment, testing, and development planning. This course oriented towards the recognition &characterization of uncertainty in unconventional reservoirs will dive well beyond tactical number-crunching into analysis, decision-making, strategy, portfolio management, and a rudimentary understanding of risk analysis

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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