Spatial
Estimation of Shale Gas Potential in the Triassic Doig and Montney formations,
Northeastern British Columbia
Walsh, Warren1, Ben Kerr2,
Chris Adams1, Joe Korol3 (1) B.C. Ministry of Energy,
Mines and Petroleum Resources, Victoria, BC (2) BC Ministry of Energy and
Mines, Victoria, BC (3) GeoKorr Consulting Inc, Calgary, AB
Identifying prospective exploration
trends for a shale gas play requires the examination of factors related to gas
production and the definition of physical attributes of the shale. The
concentration and distribution of organic carbon within the shale, of which gas
in place is a direct function, is of particular importance. The Triassic Doig
and Montney formations span over seven million Ha of
Northeast British Columbia (NEBC), are up to 500 metres thick and are
found at depths of 400 to over 4400 metres. Both formations contain significant
quantities of organic carbon, which is concentrated in phosphatic shale tens of
metres thick or dispersed in low concentration in shale several hundreds of
metres thick.
The focus of this study is to evaluate
the shale gas potential of the Doig and Montney formations in NEBC through
quantifying the potential gas in place via spatial analysis. The aim of which
is to aid exploration by developing maps of gas in place that can be used to
high-grade exploration efforts. Methods investigated include log derived
estimates of total organic carbon (TOC), fracture intensity, applying Langmuir
isotherms to regional grids and mapping the resultant estimates.
AAPG Search and Discover Article #90063©2007 AAPG Annual Convention, Long Beach, California