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Screening Criteria for Previous HitShaleNext Hit-Previous HitGasNext Hit Systems

 

 

Fred P. Wang and Julia F. W. Gale

 

Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences,

The University of Texas at Austin, University Station, Box X, Austin, Texas  78713

 

   

ABSTRACT

 

In North America alone, more than 70 Previous HitshaleNext Hit-Previous HitgasNext Hit plays have been identified.  With this rapid increase in Previous HitshaleNext Hit-Previous HitgasNext Hit production, Previous HitshaleNext Hit-Previous HitgasNext Hit systems have presented many new challenges to production technology and the basic understanding of Previous HitshaleNext Hit-Previous HitgasNext Hit reservoirs.  Because Previous HitgasNext Hit shales are complicated and highly variable, the objective of this study was to indentify key controls on Previous HitshaleNext Hit-Previous HitgasNext Hit productivity and to develop criteria for screening Previous HitshaleNext Hit-Previous HitgasNext Hit systems.

Previous HitGasNext Hit shales, including biogenic and thermogenic systems whose depths range from several hundred feet to >18,000 ft, are a complex function of total organic content (TOC), thermal maturation, Previous HitgasNext Hit content, thickness, and brittleness.  Because fixed-value criteria cannot adequately be applied to all Previous HitshaleNext Hit-Previous HitgasNext Hit systems for screening, a set of depth-dependent screening criteria for Previous HitshaleNext Hit-Previous HitgasNext Hit systems was developed that can be applied to biogenic and thermogenic systems, as well as regional plays and local lease areas.  Previous HitGasNext Hit content, adsorption, and Previous HitshaleNext Hit thickness are the depth-dependent parameters for this screening of Previous HitshaleNext Hit-Previous HitgasNext Hit systems.

Brittleness, a measure of the ability of rock to fracture, is a complex function of lithology, mineral composition, TOC, effective stress, reservoir temperature, diagenesis, thermal maturity, porosity, and type of fluid.  The enormously successful performance of Barnett Previous HitShaleNext Hit in the Fort Worth Basin, Texas, stems from its favorable tectonic setting and burial history, which resulted in a double enhancement of brittleness.  Its early deep burial made the Barnett thermally mature and brittle.  Subsequent exhumation and uplift made it cheap to drill and easy to frac through enhancement of brittleness by reduction of effective stress.

 

 

Wang, F. P., and J. F. W. Gale, 2009, Screening criteria for Previous HitshaleNext Hit-Previous HitgasTop systems:  Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 59, p. 779-793.

 

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90093 © 2009 GCAGS 59th Annual Meeting, Shreveport, Louisiana