HomeScience Play Types

Play Types

Explorer Emphasis Article

The southwest Wyoming region has almost everything you could want in a Rocky Mountain hydrocarbon province.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

During a luncheon talk at the 2006 AAPG Annual Convention in Houston, speaker Peter Dea predicted the Rocky Mountains would become the kingpin of domestic natural gas production owing principally to unconventional reservoir development.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Alternative energy is where it’s at these days in the minds of plenty of folks who are looking at the potential market for some mighty esoteric sources in some cases.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

World oil production will reach a peak plateau by 2020-40. This was one of several key implications of a Hedberg Research Conference released at the AAPG Annual Convention in Long Beach.

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

Dissemination of information is the prime directive for AAPG -- and by the time you read this column, AAPG will be in the middle of or just past our greatest period of “dissemination” for the year.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

A field that can be touted as an industry showpiece for what can be accomplished with the right technology in combo with the right commodity price sometimes attains its lofty status only after years of expensive trial and error -- and frustration -- on the part of the operators.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Dan Steward takes pride in doing a good job yet without calling attention to himself. That’s no small achievement. That play was the big reason why Steward was cited as the Explorer of the Year at the recent AAPG Annual Convention in Long Beach, Calif.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Unconventional resource plays are sprouting up across the country, especially projects in search of gas or oil production from shale.

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

It’s that time of year again -- time for the annual convention, AAPG’s main event for the year!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

In the under-appreciated “The Two Jakes,” a 1990 film in part about the burgeoning oil deposits in the Los Angeles Basin circa 1940, we hear the line: ' ... you might think you know what's going on around here, but ... you don't.'

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Monday, 27 May Wednesday, 29 May 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

In order to support the energy transition, optimizing exploration and production from complex stratigraphic-diagenetic conventional and unconventional plays remains highly important. At the same time, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) poses new technological challenges that will impact both the industry and academia for decades to come. This 2nd edition will present reviews and discuss technology developments in geological process-based forward modeling achieved during the last 2 years. New perspectives for future technology developments and implementation in industry workflows will be discussed and with the additional focus on CO₂ storage and other sustainability-related applications, the scope of the workshop will be considerably extended.

Show more
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tuesday, 30 January Wednesday, 31 January 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

AAPG and EAGE have teamed up to deliver the upcoming New Discoveries in Mature Basins workshop to be held from 30-31 January, 2024 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Save the date! Registration to open soon.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Monday, 4 December Wednesday, 6 December 2023, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

The fifth annual AAPG Siliciclastic Reservoirs of the Middle East Workshop will take place in Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia from 4-6 December 2023. This workshop will bring together professionals from the region to share their knowledge and experience related to siliciclastic reservoirs and showcase the best success stories in the industry on understanding and utilizing oil and gas siliciclastic reservoirs in the region.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Monday, 4 March Wednesday, 6 March 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Join us for the 4th Edition of: "Stratigraphic Traps of the Middle East" workshop. The workshop will be hosted by AAPG in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia 4-6 March 2024.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Paramaribo, Suriname
Wednesday, 17 January Thursday, 18 January 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Plan now to attend an interactive in-person workshop with industry leaders, government representatives and technical experts working in the Guyana-Suriname Basin.

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.

Show more

Request a visit from Ameed Ghori!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

Related Interests

See Also ...