A Review of the Leading Technologies that Can Make a Difference in the Search for and Production of Hydrocarbons

Abstract

As industry evolves in the 21st Century in Africa, there are fundamental questions that are in the best interest of industry to solve in exploration for and production of new prospects and in the revitalization of partially depleted fields. Many of these questions may be addressed using technologies that have evolved during the gas shale revolution of the past decade. This talk will review some of these leading technologies in briefly discussing the following ten questions. What is the state of stress in basins? What information comes from a microseismic survey? How does knowledge of a depositional environment guide the placement of a lateral? How do natural fractures evolve in shales? What information is available when sonic logging is coupled with conventional logs? Where does water go when injected into shale? What are the major subsurface structures that can be detected in multichannel seismic? How does a project deal with the smaller scale (sub-seismic) structures? How is organic carbon distributed in reservoir rock? What are the mechanisms for the development of overpressure in basins?

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90267 ©2016 AAPG/SPE Africa Energy and Technology Conference, Nairobi City, Kenya, December 5-7, 2016