Geomechanics Field Characterization of Woodford Shale and Barnett Shale with Advanced Logging Tools and Nano-Indentation on Drill Cuttings

Younane Abousleiman
University of Oklahoma

Profitable oil and gas production from the Woodford shale and the Barnett formation relies on the success of horizontal well drilling and hydraulic fracturing design which in turns depends greatly on knowledge about rock formation anisotropic elastic and pore pressure coefficients (poroelastic) properties. In this presentation, a suite of wire-line logs such as the Element Capture Spectroscopy (ECS) log, Sonic Scanner log and porosity logs were run in the Woodford and Barnett formations. The results were utilized to estimate the anisotropic elastic and poroelastic properties of these gas shale formations using the GeoGenome™ model (U.S. Patent: 8,380,437; 2013). Which an algorithm based on theoretical upscaling model backed up with unique laboratory testing field retrieved Woodford shale samples at a scale of nano-mechanics testing on drill size cuttings with depath of investigations ranging from 100 nm to 10 mm. Comparison between laboratory Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity measured data, Sonic Scanner log data and simulated data has shown excellent agreement and thus confirmed the reliability of the GeoGenome ™ up scaling model in obtaining shale anisotropic mechanical properties of which some parameters cannot be obtained even with the most advanced sonic log.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90178©2013 AAPG Geosciences Technology Workshop, Baltimore, Maryland, July 16-17, 2013