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• Gas- and oil-bearing shales are organically-rich, fine grained sedimentary rocks capable of
producing commercially important quantities of hydrocarbons upon artificial fracturing.
These shales typically serve as the source, reservoir and seal of the hydrocarbons produced
from them.
CONVENTIONAL VS. UNCONVENTIONAL
Conventional Reservoir Unconventional reservoir
Contain gas can flow naturally and easily Low permeability makes the flow is not easy
Gas and oil is migrated from the source “shale” Gas and oil does not migrate
The reservoir rocks e.g.: The reservoir rock is the source itself and has
many types:
1-Sandstones
4- Tar sands
5- Methane Hydrates
1-Conventional sources are running out and the sources of renewable energy are not
enough to fill in the gap of total energy demand.
• marine shales have lower clay content and are high in brittle minerals, such as quartz,
feldspar and carbonates.
• nonmarine shales deposited in lacustrine, fluvial environments, tend to high in clay content,
more ductile and less responsive to hydraulic stimulation.
So, mineralogy of the shale samples determines how efficiently the induced fractures will
stimulate the shale.
2. Thermal maturity
• measure of the degree to which a formation has been exposed to high heat needed to
break down organic matter into hydrocarbons.
• useful indicator is vitrinite reflectance (R); whether the rock has generated hydrocarbons
and could be an effective source rock.
• prospective reservoirs have typical values ranging from 1 to 3% R
4. Porosity
How is gas stored in the shale reservoirs?
• As gas dissolved in kerogen.
• As gas adsorbed onto kerogen and clay particle surface.
• As free gas in natural fractures and intergranular porosity.
• 5. Permeability
-The difference about shales is the matrix permeabilities of typical shales (the ability of
fluids to pass through them) are very low (often termed ultra-low) compared to
conventional low permeability oil and gas reservoirs
-(nanodarcy 10-9 Darcy in shales versus millidarcy 10-2 in conventional sandstones) which
means that hydrocarbons are effectively trapped and unable to flow under normal
circumstances in shale.
• Storage is mainly in the matrix and the permeability is assured by the fractures.
6. Gas-in-place
• Pressure: areas of higher pressure are identified as they have higher gas concentration.
(0.433 psi per foot: normal hydrostatic gradient).