The Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory (MSEEL)

Abstract

A multidisciplinary team of geoscience, engineering and social science researchers are part of the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory (MSEEL) undertaken in cooperation with the operator Northeast Natural Energy and the National Energy Technology Laboratory of the US Department of Energy. MSEEL consists of four horizontal production wells, a vertical pilot bore-hole, a microseismic observation well and surface environmental monitoring stations. The goal is to develop and validate new knowledge and technology that can improve recovery efficiency and minimize environmental implications of unconventional resource development. The MSEEL approach is data driven with a platform to store, manage, publish and share very large and diverse (terabyte) datasets among researchers. MSEEL integrates drilling and fracture stimulation operations, geophysical observations, fiber-optic monitoring of high-resolution temporal and spatial flow of injected and produced fluids, and produced gases, mechanical properties logs, microseismic and core data to better to characterize subsurface rock properties, faults and fracture systems. Models at multiple scales are being developed to identify best practices for field implementation, and assess potential methods that could enhance shale gas recovery through experimental and numerical studies integrated with the results of the production wells at the MSEEL site. We provide several examples that illustrate technologies and approaches that are being developed to store, query, and display and analyze large and diverse data sources and new data types derived from subsurface geology and geomechanics to design innovative stage spacing and cluster density practices that can be used to optimize recovery efficiency.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90259 ©2016 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 19-22, 2016