Reservoir
Canada’s development of large-scale digital drilling core libraries and open geoscience data platforms follows approaches pioneered in Australia, particularly Western Australia, through decades of government investment in geoscience data collection and preservation.
Three papers are highlighted as the primary contributions because of their broad industry relevance. They focus on improving formation particle-size characterization, expanding the application of openhole gravel packs in depleted and compartmentalized reservoirs, and advancing the understanding of capillary pressure in sand production.
This paper aims to establish a set of best practices for generating particle-size-distribution data from core samples.
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Natural-gas production from tight and shale-gas reservoirs will be increasingly important in China as the country shifts from coal-based energy to cleaner energy sources. -
Europe and Australia have joined the US in expanding recoverable hydrocarbons from unconventional resources, and initial activities are on the rise elsewhere.
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Gas in tight sand and shale exists in underground reservoirs with microdarcy or even nanodarcy permeability ranges; these reservoirs are characterized by small pore throats and crack-like interconnections between pores.
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Successful development of flank areas depends on accurate reservoir characterization—in particular, water-saturation distribution—in addition to the optimal areal and vertical placement of wells.
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Tight reservoirs are still in the early stages of becoming a dominant source of energy and economic growth throughout the world for years to come. I recently read two distinctly different articles particularly relevant to tight reservoirs.
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A multidisciplinary approach integrates fracture characteristics, reservoir production, and stress-field evolution to design and optimize the development of unconventional assets.
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This paper sheds light on the nonlinear physics involved in the production of shale-gas reservoirs by improving the understanding of the complex relation between gas production, reservoir properties, and several treatment-design parameters.
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Unconventional resources are often in good supply, but difficult and expensive to develop. To develop unconventional resources, technologies like hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling are key, and higher oil prices will help.
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This work presents a workflow that can be used to analyze and forecast time/rate data of wells in low-and ultralow-permeability reservoirs.
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This paper is intended to increase awareness among the forecasters and the decision makers about pitfalls associated with production forecasting.
