--> Resource Play Fairway Modeling and Prediction Using an Integrated Full-Physics Compositional Model and Thermal Evolution to Predict Fluid Composition and Phase Behavior: An Example From the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale

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Resource Play Fairway Modeling and Prediction Using an Integrated Full-Physics Compositional Model and Thermal Evolution to Predict Fluid Composition and Phase Behavior: An Example From the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale

Abstract

Unconventional resource production from non-reservoir formations, with very low permeability-to-viscosity ratio that require permeability-creating mechanisms (Cander, 2012), such as fracking need special attention to not only understand and predict the fluid composition of the hydrocarbons to extract but also track phase behavior at changing formation pressures. Bubble point and dew point computation become critical to predicting phase evolution with pressure drop inherent to hydrocarbon production. In this study, we calculate thermal maturity and pressure to predict gas-to-oil-ratio (GOR) distribution over the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale in Louisiana, Mississippi and East Texas, first as a function of thermal maturity, then as a function of organofacies variations. Saturation pressure is calculated using a basin-scale compositional fluid flow model and head room is deduced.