American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015 - 74

SpecialReport: Refrac Facts

Technology Screens Shale Play Criteria
By Ahmed Alzahabi,
Mohamed Y. Soliman,
Richard M. Bateman,
George B. Asquith,
Ahmed Algarhy
and Neil Stegent

LUBBOCK, TX.-More than 70 organic-rich shale plays have been identified
in North America. Many of these extremely low-permeability "source rock"
formations have wet gas and/or condensates associated with the production
streams, with parts of some plays often
yielding more dry gas and other parts
more prone to natural gas liquids and/or
oil.
Shale gas play identification is subject
to many screening processes for characteristics such as porosity, permeability
and brittleness. In fact, evaluating shale

gas reservoirs and identifying potential
sweet spots requires taking into consideration multiple rock, reservoir and geological parameters that govern production.
With this in mind, an approach has
been developed as part of a Texas Tech
University research initiative to improve
the industry's ability to evaluate shale
plays. The approach uses a new candidate
selection and evaluation algorithm and
screening criteria based on a number of
key geomechanical, petrophysical and
geochemical parameters to obtain results
consistent with existing shale plays, and
gain insights on the best development
strategies going forward.
Specific parameters include thickness,
depth, total organic carbon content, thermal
maturity, brittleness, mineral composition,
total porosity, net thickness, adsorbed

gas, gas content and geologic age. A
database of these properties from 12
major North American shale plays (Barnett, Ohio, Antrim, New Albany, Lewis,
Fayetteville, Haynesville, Eagle Ford,
Marcellus, Woodford, Bakken and Horn
River) was established to guide the algorithm, considering all the properties and
potential approaches to reservoir development.
The outcomes of the study offer improvements to evaluating any shale play
and suggestions for future development
strategies. The objective is to provide a
"guiding" database to identify all existing
and potential major productive shale plays
in North America, determine guidelines
for identifying sweet spots, and consider
all potential development strategies.
The early detection of sweet spots for
well site selection and fracturing in shale

TABLE 1
Shale Play Characteristics

RO (%)

Total
Porosity
(%)

Net
Thickness
(ft.)

Adsorbed
Gas (%)

Gas
Content
(cf/ton)

Depth (ft.)

Permeability
(nanodarcies)

Geologic Age

5.50

0.50

9.00

95

70

70

1,400

N/A

Upper Devonian

Bakken

10.00

0.90

5.00

100

N/A

N/A

10,000

N/A

Upper Devonian

Barnett

4.50

2.00

4.50

350

25

325

6,500

25-450

Mississippian

Eagle Ford

4.50

1.50

9.70

250

35

150

11,500

1,100-2,500

Upper
Cretaceous

Fayetteville

6.75

3.00

5.00

110

60

140

4,000

N/A

Mississippian

Haynesville

3.00

2.20

7.30

225

18

215

12,000

10-650

Upper Jurassic

Horn River

3.00

2.50

3.00

450

34

N/A

8,800

150-450

N/A

Lewis

0.45-1.59

1.74

4.25

250

72

29

4,500

N/A

Devonian and
Mississippian

Marcellus

3.25

1.25

4.50

350

50

80

6,250

N/A

Devonian

New Albany

12.50

0.60

12.00

75

50

60

1,250

N/A

Devonian and
Mississippian

Ohio

2.35

0.85

4.70

65

50

80

3,000

N/A

Devonian

Woodford

7.00

1.40

6.00

150

N/A

250

8,500

145-206

Late Devonian-
Early
Mississippian

Shale Plays

TOC
(Wt. %)

Antrim

Source: Modified from Curtis (2002) with original data from the Gas Technology Institute

74 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER



American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015

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