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Unconventional Petrophysics:
Shale Source Rock Plays - Fundamentals

Presentation for LPS Petrophysics 101 Seminar

March 17th 2016

Andrew Foulds
Director/Geoscientist/Petrophysicist
Petrafiz Ltd
Email: [email protected]; or
[email protected]
Web Address: www.petrafiz.com
Mobile: +447956309657
Office Tel: +44156686844 From Loucks & Reed et al 2009

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What are unconventional resources?

Conventional gas Unconventional gas

Gas that is produced by conventional tech- Unconventional gas is produced from a
niques from reservoirs that generally support reservoir that cannot support economic flow
flow with little intervention rates or recover economic volumes of natural
gas without intervention because of low
reservoir permeability
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Shale Source Rock fundamentals

What is shale?

• Shale is the most abundant sedimentary rock

(50% – 80%) quite variable
• Naturally heterogeneous and extremely variable
• Historically, poorly studied – lots of studies now
• Poorly defined grain size, composition, texture
• Can be clay rich, organic rich, siliceous,
calcareous, marly

Not all shales are alike – they can be very different

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Shale Source Rock properties
Basic physics/First Principals
• Shales and mudrocks are solid matrix (clay sized particulates) and pore water
• Organic-rich mudrocks additionally contain solid organic matter
• When mature, organic-rich mudrocks will generate HC’s which enter porosity
expelling water and where generation is sufficient, hydrocarbons are expelled Hydrocarbons
which migrate to form conventional accumulations

SOLID VOID SOLID VOID SOLID VOID

ORGANIC MATTER ORGANIC MATTER

OIL/GAS
WATER

WATER
MATRIX
MATRIX MATRIX

WATER
NONE SOURCE IMMATURE SOURCE MATURE SOURCE
After Passey AAPG 1990

ROCK ROCK ROCK

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Shale Source Rockproperties – key message

Three main messages

• Not all shales are alike – they can be very different

• Shale does not equal shale gas/oil or a shale source rock

• Not all source rock make good shale source rock play

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Shale gas/oil properties:
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Kerogen type is important

scheme - Source linked to

depositional environment

Product type varies with organofacies maturity and

hydrogen index.
Pragmatic scheme used in areas of geological uncertainty.
Widely used in the industry.
After Pepper and Corvi 1995; modified by Mark Osborne BP pers com

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Shale Source Rock Properties

Fundamentals of maturity

• As organic material is matured at depth via temperature and pressure,

organic materials are “cooked” and organic material
“cracked” to oil in the “oil window.”
• Further heating to higher temperature and pressure will yield gas
generation. Generation of gas involves a large volume expansion; as gas is
generated pores are “bubbled” within the organic material.
• As organics are matured, TOC (wt. and vol. %) is reduced.
• Upon uplift out of gas window and assuming temperature and pressures
do not continue to increase, the low permeability of the shale allows gas
to be retained in organic pore spaces.
• After uplift, the HCPV of the shale is therefore directly proportional to the
amount of hydrocarbon generating TOC in the shale. Crossplots of TOC and
porosity measured from core yield very clear dependency of porosity upon
organic content.

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Shale Source Rock fundamentals – Porosity Types

Haynesville
Pearsalll

Eagleford

Niobrara

Various porosity types can exists

in these mudrock systems,
interparticle, intraparticle and in Spraberry Atoka -Pen
the organic matter depending on
organic type, as well as fractures
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both natural and induced. 8
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Shale Source Rock fundamentals – Porosity Types

Eagleford

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Shale Source Rock– Permeability mD vs nD

Due to the very low permeability the core measurement

technique is different to plugs perms relying on a pressure or
pulse decay method on crushed samples and the subsequent
simulation of this decay to derive a permeability; and there are
some differences between laboratories that need to be
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addressed.
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Shale Source Rock fundamentals – KPIs

Struct. TOC Vol

Inorg. comp. Resource
comp. density
Brittle- Kero
ness type

Pore
pressure Ro
Successful
Perm/PHI/
play
Seal
SW

Basin
HC comp.
Model
Fracture
IP & EUR
Mech Stress system
props field

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Shale Source Rock - Integrated Petrophysical Analysis

Petrophysical/Formation Evaluation Objectives

•To deliver parameters critical to assess any Shale Source potential

• GIP/OOIP = PHI, N:G, SG/SO, Free Gas, Absorbed Gas = Total gas.
• Recovery Potential = mechanical properties, fraccability etc.

Achieved by delivering the following products

• Organic richness (TOC) and maturity (log and lab)

• Porosity: total, gas filled, effective, organic (log and lab also volume and nature)
• Hydrocarbon/ fluid content (SG, SO, BVG, BVO- volumes and lab)
• Mineralogy, XRD, elemental analysis (core and log)
• Fracture occurrence and characterization (core and image log)
• Geomechanical properties/Formation Damage (core and log)
• Describe the criteria for “net reservoir” determination in shale gas reservoirs: (core and log)
• Describe vertical distribution of “net reservoir” (log and core)
• Describe how petrophysical properties relate to geomechanical properties
• Relate petrophysical response to seismic response to allow extension away from the borehole.

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Core Analysis for Shale Source Rock Plays

Significant Core Analysis measurements

Desorption and Adsorption – gas content and ultimate storage potential. Some operators are not
acquiring desorption data, data quality issues (Lost Gas etc.) and costs (esp. outside USA)

GRI-SRP or TT-TRA measurements - bulk and grain density data, along with porosity, permeability
(pressure decay measurement) and water, oil and gas saturations.

Organic Geochemistry -TOC, VR, RockEval Pyrolysis, gas composition and isotopes – organic content and
maturity

Inorganic Geochemistry - TS, XRD, SEM analysis – including ion milled SEM – inorganic composition,
pore typing, grain framework.

Geomechanical Analysis, PR, YM, fluid compatibility, capillary suction tests, etc.

Lithological/sedimentological description – facies analysis – help workout the stratigraphic framework

across the basin. Do not underestimate the value from this exercise. Shales can be very complex from a
geoscience perspective. Lots of university research on this subject at the moment

Core fracture analysis, frequency, direction type, description etc.

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Core Analysis for Shale Source Plays

Sampling Strategy – maximising core material

Thin Section
Plugs cut with N2 as a bit and saw lubricant
Carcass is saved for future use.
XRD/Ion Milled SEM
Organic Geochemistry

Non plug based geomechanics

testing on carcass
Vertical plugs are used for Geomechanics (drill with
oil)
Carcass is used for GRI K/PHI/SW/GD (250 grams)

Slab remains in core interval for future

If Geomechanical vertical plug fails (< ¾ inch): Cut 4 inch segment description, photography and viewing
adjacent to sampling site

~ 6 in

NOTE: After sampling, the remainder of the core is slabbed, photgraphed and described as required

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Core Analysis for Shale Source Rock Plays

Development of Laboratory and SELECTED SAMPLE

(Fresh Core Material)
Petrophysical Techniques for Evaluating (~ 300 grams)
BULK DENSITY
Shale Reservoir (Representitive Sample)
~ 50 grams
(Multiple Measurements)
Final Report (GRI-95/0496) (Vb by Hg Immersion)

Gas Research Institute, April 1996 CRUSH SAMPLE

(20/35 Mesh Size) UNUSABLE SIZE FRACTION
(~ 250 grams) (~ 50 grams)

~ 200 grams ~ 50 grams

DEAN-STARK ANALYSIS PRESSURE-DECAY

(Toluene, 1 week) MATRIX PERMEABILITY
(~115 °C) (Effective Perm, Crushed sample

HIGH-TEMPERATURE DRYING
(110° C, 1 week minimum)
Sw computed using a
default brine Total Porosity &
concentration of GRAIN VOLUME MEASUREMENT Saturations include
30,000 ppm (Total & Gas-Filled Porosity) all interconnected
(Sg & Grain Density) pore space
(Total So & Sw)

So computed using a
default ambient oil
density of 0.8 g/cc DATA INTEGRATION

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Core Analysis for Shale Source Rock Plays

Some Core Analysis Issues Plots to the left show differences between two labs – the main issue is
the Pressure Decay Permeability measurement (see SPE131350,
131771 & 152257 as well as Spears et al 2011 Petrophysics for further
discussion)

Lab B

Lab A
Not much difference between lab and method

Lab BLab B Big difference

between lab and
Lab A method
Lab A

Sample preparation thought to be an issues especially

with carbonate rich samples
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X-ray Diffraction
Mineralogy

Clay volume (Vcl)

Grain density ( rma )

Log calibration – ECS/Flex/Gem

calibration

Input to Geomechanical models

Some issues with data – XRD traces need to checked

QUARTZ

Triangle of Death or Opportunity

Most of the prolific shales lay the lower clay

content below 50%> It is an
unwritten rule, but water sensistivity Montney Bargeddie1
fraccing issues etc make clay rich and Leven
rocks more difficult to produce. Woodford Barnett

50% Clay "cutoff"

Marcellus

Need to be consistent with the

Haynesville representation of the data.
Prefer the pure QTZ/CLAY/CARB
triangular plot rather than some
Eagleford Posidonia
derivative

CARBONATE
CLAY

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Woodford Shale
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Shale Source Rock - Integrated Workflow Analysis

SPE 71352

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Shale Source Rock - Integrated Petrophysical Analysis
Suggested Petrophysical Workflow
1.Data Gathering
• petrophysical logs, core samples, mud log
• gather analytical results, core data, desorption, adsorption, TOC, XRD, gas etc.
1 • initial understanding of resource, shale gas/oil, tight gas potential etc.

2. Data QC
• petrophysical logs QC, depth match, log quality, splicing, repeatability, corrections etc.
2 • review core data, quality issues, types of data, amount of data, variability etc.

3. Qualitative interpretation – internal relationships., data mining

• WL Data – raw data, radioactivity, caliper, resistivity, SP, ND relationships
3 • WL Data – semi quantitative analysis – phi/res DLR relationships, N-D differences etc.
• Core Data – inter-relationship of core data, GD/Phi, TOC/Gas, TOC/BD, TOC/SCT etc.

4. Quantitative interpretation – Phi, Sw/Sg, Perm, Lithology etc.

• Integration of core/log data to create a robust HPV model
4 • Geomechanical analysis coupled with lithology analysis – fracture zones etc.
• Core Data – inter-relationship of core data, GD/Phi, TOC/Gas, TOC/BD, TOC/SCT etc.

5. Report and Visualize Reservoir Parameters

5 • assessment parameters, Phi, Sag, HPV values per unit, resource density mapping
• fraccable rock thickness – potential fraccing zones
• uncertainty analysis, min/max/ml, multiple scenarios etc

If it doesn’t look right most probably isn’t right – reiterate through cycle
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Shale Source Rock fundamentals
Environmental issues
• FUD policy (fear, uncertainty and doubt)
• Fracking – dirty word – emotive subject –
massive amount in the press, some positive,
but mostly negative.
• Methane issues – fracking in to aquifers,
casing leaks, etc.
• Water Issues: Frack fluid compositions etc.;
water source/chemicals etc.; usage and
water disposal – water monitoring and
treatment
• Well pad footprint and heavy traffic issues
• Earthquakes – a frack job wouldn’t be
successful if fractures (earthquakes) were
not created – size, type and causation need
to be monitored (DECC recommendations).
Use of microseismic going to be widespread
if not a pre-requisite
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Shale Source Rock fundamentals – Recap/Summary

Shale gas/oil key properties

• Rock is both the source and the reservoir, previously regarded only
as source rocks and seals
• Type of organic matter is key – Type II marine best but can Type1
work?
• Limited horizontal perm nD range – very limited vertical perm
• Porosity is generally low, circa generally <10%, average ~ 6%
• Localized fracture network – which can be enhanced
• Good shales generally have high Young’s Modulus, low Possion’s
Ratio – but that is not all the story
• Siltstone/sandstone/limestone lamina and stringers – help hybrid
shale gas/oil reservoirs
• Hydrocarbon storage in micropores, fractures, pores in kerogen and
adsorbed on kerogen – can be up to 50% adsorbed – but will this be
produced – possible near wellbore and late in field life
• Structural Inversion and formation overpressure is generally good

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Shale does not equal shale gas/oil
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 Shale Source Rock - final comments

Conclusions
• These so called shale source rock plays are very • To a certain extent – it is not what is in the rock that
special rock/fluid systems that need some counts, it is what comes out – and at present the only
special techniques – not many of them are true way to do this is to test and frack, and then test and
shales – but what’s in a name? frack again, ad infinitum – until you work out the play.
• Shale source rock plays can be very different – • You have to get involved in the big picture – doing this
the ones found in North America seem very in geoscience isolation will not work – work closely
special from a pressure and fracking with other disciplines; geomechanics, completion,
perspective than the ones I have seen outside drilling, economics and finally, but most importantly,
North America Analogues are important but management – to get a total understanding of your
they are not the panacea for everything. shale.
• There is no silver bullet – some of the methods • Enjoy it, think outside the box and keep learning! Bury
outlined today will work in some shale plays, your heads in the shale from a geological rather than a
but not in others – work out the key points of metaphorical perspective.
your specific shale – both positive and negative
• As we have recently witnessed economics are key
by due diligence.

And we have not even started to discuss geomechanics, microseismic, DFIT’s and
hydraulic fracturing
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More final opinions

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The End

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