--> Improving Unconventional Hydrocarbon Recovery by Reducing Formation Damage

AAPG Eastern Section Meeting

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Improving Unconventional Hydrocarbon Recovery by Reducing Formation Damage

Abstract

The low commodity price for hydrocarbons has made increasing EURs while decreasing CAPEX for unconventional wells a critical factor to operator survival. While the DOE has been instrumental in advancing the science that formed the North American shale play, it will be necessary to have another technology renaissance to improve the hydrocarbon recovery factor from the 7 to 10% range that is currently being realized, to a step change to 15% or more. Although unconventional wells are typically fracked in even stages, production is not uniform. Why is that? Uneven production is likely due to differences in fracture-achieved surface area, pore connectivity, and permeability variability. Coupled geochemical-transport processes occurring at fluid-shale interfaces can profoundly alter these parameters and thus EUR. Our goal is to understand primary and secondary nanoscale reactions that are occurring in, and likely damaging, shale through the fracking process. Relatively little has been published on this subject.

The work, being conducted by SLAC and managed by NETL, is using world-class, synchrotron transmission x-ray microscopy (TXM), and reactor and modeling studies to advance the understanding of nanopore-scale reactions caused by fracking fluid-shale interactions. The TXM uses high-flux focused x-rays to image shales at a spatial resolution of 30 nanometers such that pore networks and reaction products can be directly observed. This research is yielding knowledge that supports a step change in hydrocarbon recovery by customizing stimulation fluids and techniques to the formation-specific chemistry. The work is also explaining the release of contaminants from kerogen and the rock matrix.