Nano-petrophysical and gechemical controls on producibility in the Horn River Formation, British Columbia, CA

Abstract

The Devonian Horn River basin of northeastern British Columbia is the largest producing shale gas formation in Canada. It has an estimated 500-600 TCF of light hydrocarbons in place stacked in multiple formations in an over-pressured setting conducive to, but too tight for natural flow conventional production. The formation unconventionally produces dry gas with about 85% methane. With recoverable gas around 15% of gas-in-place, research surrounding rock-fluid interactions and dynamics and their relationship with the geochemical properties of the formation are necessary in order to evaluate a reservoir's producibility. The focus of this research is centered on studying pore topology, geochemical correlations and their implications to steep production decline in shale gas wells. Contact angle measurements, Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure experiments and Imbibition studies will be employed alongside geochemical, mineralogical and well log data to gain insight into the pore architecture of the formation and the subsequent controls on gas producibility.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90292 © 2017 AAPG Southwest Section, Midland, Texas, April 29 - May 2, 2017