Shale Reservoirs Global

Currently, numerous oil and gas companies are directing their efforts toward the exploration and exploitation of shale reservoirs. These shale reservoirs have proven to be challenging in terms of reservoir characterization, predicting producibility potential, estimating ultimate recovery, and optimizing fracture stimulation techniques. Many companies either do not have or have limited rock property data that are crucial for understanding these reservoirs. Therefore, in order to properly evaluate and explore these shales, appropriate types of rock property data need to be measured and integrated with log data, stimulation techniques, and production test information. These integrated data sets and case histories will provide operators with the critical parameters to optimize their exploitation of shale reservoirs and reduce finding and development costs.

The Integrated Reservoir Solutions Division of Core Laboratories is proposing to interested companies participation in an ongoing multi-company, geo-engineering study of shales outside of North America. For the past three years our shale technical team has been analyzing and evaluating the spectrum of shales in North America and have developed a very large and comprehensive database. This database consists of the characterization and evaluation of numerous conventional cores taken from multiple shale formations and integrates these data with the stimulation design and production characteristics into well case histories. The data and understanding of North American Shale reservoirs will provide global operators the most current reservoir characterization, completion designs, and production performance data that can serve as analogs and benchmarks for the evaluation of shale reservoirs outside of North America.

This project will consist of the characterization and evaluation of numerous conventional cores, rotary sidewall cores, and drill cutting samples taken from multiple wells targeting potentially productive shale formations from around the world. Specifically, these prospective shale sections will be analyzed for geological, petrophysical, geomechanical, geochemical, and production properties. These data will be integrated with well logs, stimulation designs, and production test information as available. This large and searchable database will provide operators with valuable information not only on their own wells but also on other operator’s wells. The project will be focused on utilizing the experience of evaluating numerous North American shale wells in expanding the evaluation of shale reservoirs globally.

Specific project objectives include:

• Geologically characterize the cored shales in terms of depositional facies, environment of deposition, and rock types
• Characterize and classify shales in terms of their lithology, mineralogy, clay content, clay types, and pore structure including macro and micro-fractures
• Measure and characterize the various petrophysical properties
• Measure and characterize the organic content of shales in terms of total organic content (TOC), Rock Eval, pyrolysis, and vitrinite reflectance
• Determine the gas desorption associated with kerogen and adsorption isotherm for gas storage capacity as a function of reservoir pressure
• Measure and profile the key geomechanical properties
• Core-log calibration of open-hole logs for the development of petrophysical models to determine shale properties
• Integrate the core data with well logs, fracture stimulation techniques, and production test results to aid companies in their evaluation and exploitation of shale reservoirs
• Utilize and integrate the core and production data to perform production forecasts
• Develop relationships from the database to aid in evaluating and comparing various shale rock properties
• Develop a “Shale Rock Catalog” in order to aid in the evaluation of shale properties from drill cuttings and logs
• Provide operators with a searchable database for various shales and their associated properties that can be used as analogs to aid in the appraisal and exploitation of “unknown or newly discovered” shales

* In progress and available for participation