About Shale Gas
General Characteristics
Shale gas is an emerging resource
for natural gas and will be a significant contributor to
the global energy supply. It differs from conventional gas
in many ways. It can be generally characterized as:
- Many shale gas basins have a high resource density: more gas per unit area
- Shales are self-sourced: shale is a fine-grained siliciclastic rock with an organic component
- Gas stored in fractures: storage and permeability
- Gas is also stored in an adsorbed state under pressure and in the microporosity of clay and other minerals
- Mineralogy and Tectonic Stress: two leading factors related to fracture development
- Low permeability reservoirs tend to damage easily; thus, hydraulic fracturing is required to reconnect the well-bore with the gas reservoir
A technology plan driven by:
- Identification
- Characterization
- Drilling
- Completion
- Production
- Optimization