unconventional resources geomechanics...
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UNGI
Unconventional Resources
Geomechanics
Workshop
June 24, 2011
Westin Market Street - San Francisco
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Unconventional Resources Geomechanics Workshop
Westin Market Street Hotel, San Francisco - June 24, 2011
Morning Session
8:00 – 8:05 Welcome, Introduction and Safety Instructions
Peter Smeallie and Azra Tutuncu
8:05 – 8:15 Geomechanics in Unconventional Gas Reservoirs
Dr. Azra Tutuncu, Colorado School of Mines and UNGI
8:15 – 8:25 North American Shale Gas from 1821 to 2011: Evolution to Revolution in Science and
Technology
Dr. John Curtis, Colorado School of Mines
8:25 – 8:35 European unconventional gas developments
Dr. Ruud Weijermars, Delft University
8:35 – 8:45 Optimizing Oil & Gas Asset Design Using Geomechanical Earth Modeling
Technology
Dr. Peter Connolly and Dr. Harvey Goodman, Chevron
8:45 – 8:55 Injectivity and Hydraulic Fracturing related to Water Injection
Dr. Paul van den Hoek, Shell International EP
8:55 - 9:05 Fractures and the Matrix: Combined Anisotropy and Compliance
Dr. Laura Pryak-Nolte, Purdue University
9:05– 9:15 Explosive Fracturing for Permeability Enhancement Dr. Chris Bradley, Los Alamos National Laboratories
9:15– 9:25 Simulating Hydrofracture Growth and Gas Production in Natural Fracture Networks
Thomas Doe and William Dershowitz, Golder Associates
9:25 – 10: 10 COFFEE BREAK
10:10 - 10:20 Fractures and Unconventional Resources
Dr. Charles Fairhurst, Itasca Consulting Co. and University of Minnesota
10:20 - 10:30 Hydraulic Fracture Complexity and Containment in Unconventional Reservoirs
Tom Bratton, Schlumberger
10:30 – 10:40 Microseismic Fracture Mapping in Shales - Mechanisms and Validation
Dr. Norm Warpinski, Pinnacle Technologies/Halliburton
10:40 – 12:00 DISCUSSION PANEL
12:00 – 1:30 LUNCH BREAK
UNGI
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Afternoon Session
1:30 – 1:40 Hydraulic Fracturing Field Experiments - Multiple Hydraulic Fractures and
Fracture Reorientation
Jordan Ciezobka and Kent Perry, Gas Technology Institute
1:40 – 1:50 The Contribution of Microseismic Monitoring in Fracturing of Unconventional
Reservoirs
Dr. Peter Duncan, Microseismic Inc.
1:50 – 2:00 Inadequacies in nationwide monitoring of groundwater quality and quantity,
and water use implications for energy development
Dr. David R. Wunsch, National Ground Water Association
2:00 – 2:10 Benefits and Challenges in Using Abandoned Coal Mine Water Sources for
Hydraulic Fracturing Processes in Marcellus Shale Gas Play
Dr. Anthony Iannacchione, University of Pittsburgh
2:10 – 2:20 CO2 Sequestration Geomechanics and Modeling
Dr. John Rutqvist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories
2:20 – 2:30 Air Quality Issues Facing the Industry
Dr. Nancy Brown, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
2:30 – 2:40 Shale Reservoir Properties from Digital Rock Physics
Dr. Amos Nur, Stanford University and InGrain
2:40 – 2:50 Overcoming Barriers to Shale Reservoir Development through Improved
Geomechanical Modeling
Dr. Dan Moos, GMI and Baker Hughes
2:50 – 3:15 COFFEE BREAK
3:15 – 5:00 DISCUSSION PANEL
5:00 Adjourn
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UNGI
Unconventional Resources Geomechanics Workshop
June 24, 2011 – San Francisco
Speaker Biographies and Abstracts
Introduction to Unconventional Resources Workshop
Geomechanics in Unconventional Resources
Dr. Azra N. Tutuncu • Professor, Harry D. Campbell Chair and Director, Unconventional
Natural Gas Institute (UNGI), Colorado School of Mines, Immediate Past President, ARMA
Professor Tutuncu is the Harry D. Campbell Chair at the
Petroleum Engineering Department and the director of
Unconventional Natural Gas Institute at Mines. She held various
research and leadership assignments in Well Engineering, Rock
Physics, Geomechanics and Subsurface R&D groups at Shell
International E&P and Shell Oil Companies. Her research interest
areas include rock-fluid interactions, integrated borehole stability,
geomechanics, reservoir characterization and formation damage
detection, mitigation and removal. She is an Executive Board
Member and immediate past president of American Rock
Mechanics Association (ARMA), the SEG AGI representative in
Environmental Geoscience Advisory Committee, and a member of
SEG Research Council in addition to serving on several SPE, SEG,
ARMA and ISRM committees. She is a licensed Professional
Petroleum Engineer and Licensed Geoscientist in the State of
Texas.
Geomechanics is one of the key disciplines providing input to the success of the unconventional resource
from reservoir characterization and sweet spot identification to directional and horizontal drilling,
multistage hydraulic fracturing, production enhancement, and monitoring. The Unconventional Natural
Gas* Institute (UNGI) at Colorado School of Mines has been established to highlight the ongoing
multidisciplinary research capabilities in unconventional natural resources area at Mines and to bring the
associated research conducted at several research centers and departments under one umbrella in
addition to contribute solving technical challenges for industry and government organizations together.
A significant portion of the integrated multidisciplinary research is conducted using fundamental
geomechanics concepts and their application in geoscience and petroleum engineering technology
applications and novel technology development. The UNGI is a vehicle for transferring the technologies
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in an integrated multidisciplinary form quickly and the most efficient way to the industry in assisting the
deployment of much needed technologies in unlocking the unconventional resources. UNGI has already
state-of-the-art experimental research laboratories capable of simulating in situ stress, pore pressure and
temperature conditions for geomechanics, rock physics, petrophysics and flow measurements and
modeling in unconventional resources. One of the key functions of UNGI has been identified as rapid
deployment of the technology in addition to educating the future employees for the industry as well as
independents and major oil and gas companies on unconventional resources and providing quick
answers with strong environmental emphasize to questions coming from the industry. UNGI has been
focusing on developing and/or enhancing technologies for no surprise drilling, production and
stimulation operations and minimizing the environmental impact of the hydraulic fracturing. The
institute has various ongoing projects and several new consortium proposals with oil and gas industry and
government organizations focusing on educating independent and major oil and gas companies using
improved technologies for enhancing our understanding on gas shale, shale oil and other unconventional
resource characterization and reservoir recovery enhancement in order to increase efficiency for each
step of the exploration and production operations from unconventional reservoirs and is aiming to
provide a sustainable bridge between fossil fuels and renewable energy.
Introduction to Unconventional Resources Workshop
Peter Smeallie • Executive Director, American Rock Mechanics Association and President,
Research Opportunities Management
In 1995 Peter Smeallie was appointed the first Executive Director
of the American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA), a
professional society of approximately 500 individuals and the US
National Group to ISRM. Prior to this, Mr. Smeallie worked for 12
years at the National Academy of Sciences where his
responsibilities included directing advisory research studies in
areas such as geotechnology, energy engineering, construction
technology, infrastructure and urban systems, and advanced
technologies applied to design and engineering practice. Mr.
Smeallie's last position at the Academy was Director of the
Geotechnical Board and its U.S. National Committee for Rock
Mechanics. He was study director for over 20 major studies,
including Rock Fractures and Fluid Flow: Contemporary
Understanding and Applications (1996) and Drilling and
Excavation Technologies for the Future (1994). Mr. Smeallie has a
degree in Urban Studies from St. Lawrence University. He is author (with P. Smith) of New Construction
for Older Buildings: A Design Sourcebook for Architects and Preservationists, published by John Wiley &
Sons in 1990.
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North American Shale Gas from 1821 to 2011: Evolution to Revolution in
Science and Technology
Dr. John B. Curtis • Professor of Geology and Geological Engineering and Director, Potential
Gas Agency Colorado School of Mines
Professor John B. Curtis is Professor of Geology and Geological
Engineering and Director, Potential Gas Agency at the Colorado
School of Mines. He received a B.A. (1970) and M.Sc. (1972) in
geology from Miami University and a Ph.D. (1989) in geology
from The Ohio State University. He is a licensed Professional
Geologist (Wyoming). He was an officer in the United States Air
Force from 1972-1975. Dr. Curtis has been at the Colorado School of Mines since July, 1990. He had 15 years prior
experience in the petroleum industry with Texaco, Inc., SAIC,
Columbia Gas, and Brown & Ruth Laboratories/Baker-Hughes.
He serves on and has chaired several professional society and
natural gas industry committees (included the Supply Panel,
Research Coordination Council, and the Science and Technology
Committee of the Gas Technology Institute (Gas Research
Institute)). Dr. Curtis co-chaired the AAPG Committee on
Unconventional Petroleum Systems from 1999-2004 and is an invited member of the AAPG
Committee on Resource Evaluation. He was a Counselor to the RMAG from 2002-2004, an Associate
Editor of the AAPG Bulletin from 1998 – 2010 and has published studies and given numerous invited
talks concerning hydrocarbon source rocks, exploration for unconventional reservoirs, and the size
and distribution of U.S., Canadian and Mexican natural gas resources and comparisons of resource
assessment methodologies. As Director of the Potential Gas Agency, he directs a team of 100
geologists, geophysicists and petroleum engineers in their biennial assessment of remaining U.S.
natural gas resources, teaches petroleum geology, petroleum geochemistry and petroleum design at
the Colorado School of Mines, where he also supervises graduate student research.
Shale gas production, which dates from 1821 in the United States, is now rapidly increasing,
accounting for approximately 23% (4.9 Tcf) of U.S. annual production in 2010. The U. S. EIA reports
that shale gas accounted for 21% (60 Tcf) of U. S. proved reserves. Shale gas is also an increasingly
large component of future, technically recoverable North American gas resources. The Canadian
National Energy Board and British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines released a joint report in
May 2011 that assigns 78 Tcf of potential marketable shale gas to the Horn River Basin. This is the
first publically released, probability based resource assessment of a Canadian shale basin. The
Potential Gas Committee latest biennial assessment (April 2011) showed an overall increase of 70 Tcf
for U.S. shale gas resources, to a total of 687 Tcf. The bulk of this increase is for shale gas resources
assessed in the Anadarko, Arkoma, Gulf Coast, Michigan Basin and Rocky Mountain area. Both of
these resource trends are due to improvements in exploration, completion and production
technologies, which help to counter current low wellhead prices. This presentation analyses North
American shale gas future potential in light of past production, current proved reserves, geological
and geochemical realities. Examples of novel technologies illustrate the industry’s response to our
energy needs.
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European Unconventional Gas Developments
Dr. Ruud Weijermars • Department of Geotechnology, Delft University of Technology
Ruud Weijermars is a structural geologist and tectonician. Part of
his research focuses on rock mechanics to optimize production-
well fracture-architecture (natural and induced). Ruud also
models economic aspects of the gas value chain (downstream,
midstream, and upstream). He spearheads the Delft
Unconventional Gas Research Program.
The clean energy transition and EU 2020 targets require a further
shift from coal and oil toward natural gas. As a relatively clean
fossil fuel, gas must bridge the transition period required for
renewable energy technologies to mature such that larger energy
quantities can be economically produced to meet demand. Until
then, gas is required in Europe and energy scenarios suggest
Natural gas consumption will reach 740 bcma in 2020 and 810
bcma. However, conventional gas production in the EU will decline to 230 bcma in 2020 and 140 bcma
in 2030. This means the dependency on intercontinental LNG and pipeline imports will increase
further and – by 2030 – must account for up to 80% of total gas supply. Consequently, the development
of European unconventional gas resources could reduce the required gas imports and would improve
security of supply – and also reduces the risk of price shock. This paper outlines the imminent decline
of Europe’s conventional gas production, highlights the potential of unconventional gas resources and
advocates the key role of R&D to improve the performance of unconventional gas projects. Delft
University of Technology has launched the Unconventional Gas Research Initiative.
Optimizing Oil & Gas Asset Design Using Geomechanical Earth
Modeling Technology
Harvey Goodman and Peter Connolly• Chevron
Harvey E. Goodman is Chevron Fellow & Senior Research
Consultant in rock mechanics & geomechanical earth modeling
for Chevron’s Energy Technology Company in Houston. His key
technical responsibilities include rock mechanics technology
development and the application of geomechanics to well design
using the common earth model approach. He is a recipient of the
Chevron Chairman’s Award, the company’s highest technical
achievement award for work in geomechanics. He was an SPE
Distinguished Lecturer for 2004 – 2005 and 2009 – 2010 and
Journal of Petroleum Technology editor for Wellbore Integrity,
Sand Management and Frac Pack from 2004 - 2010. He is an
adjunct Professor at the Missouri University of Science &
Technology (MS&T), lecturing in the new mechanical earth
model (MEM) Petroleum Engineering degree program and holds
the Professional Degree in Petroleum Engineering from MS&T,
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where he also received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Geological
Engineering.
Peter Connolly joined Chevron in 2005 worked in the research
organizations Rock Mechanics Team, for Drilling and
Completions. His technical responsibilities include Mechanical
Earth Modeling using 3D finite element analysis and associated
technologies. Most of his work is aimed at predrill salt exist
strategies; well bore stability in non-Andersonian stress fields,
sanding and completion/fracture design and reliability. Connolly
also supplies numerical modeling support, assists in
mesh/volumetric description issues and supplies structural geology
expertise. Prior to joining Chevron, he was project manager at the
Geophysical Institute Uni. Karlsruhe and the World Stress Map. Previous assignments included several
post doc positions in fractures and numerical modeling in Europe and 3 years mud-logging in Middle
East in the 1980's.
Selected oil & gas operators and service providers have laid the groundwork to enable the
characterization of large geological volumes, or geo-bodies, as engineering materials for field
development design and performance prediction. Often, seemingly unrelated non-productive events
that can plague high-risk, high-cost developments can be best understood when the geological
environment, the geology & geophysics (G&G), is described as an engineering material, i.e. the rock
mechanical properties that include formation strength and stress. A consistent characterization of
formation stress and strength with the geological structure, lithology and seismic attributes used to
recognize the prospect, ensures the explorationists’ vision is linked to the well engineers’ design.
This presentation summarizes the geomechanical earth model building process. Models linked to well
engineering applications for a high-risk deepwater subsalt asset development will be presented.
Injectivity and Hydraulic Fracturing Related to Water Injection
Dr. Paul J. van den Hoek • Shell
Paul van den Hoek joined Shell E&P in 1989 after obtaining a
PhD degree in physical chemistry from the Free University in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He worked most of his career in EP
R&D with one 4-year outstep into Operations in NAM. His R&D
experience stretches over a variety of topics in the areas of
geomechanics and reservoir engineering, particularly related to
secondary and tertiary recovery, and data assimilation (history
matching). He is the “founding father” of various Shell proprietary
software packages in the geomechanics, production technology
and reservoir engineering. He worked in production operations,
technology and business planning in NAM, has 10 years
leadership experience in R&D and technology deployment. He
currently heads the Quantitative Reservoir Management R&D
team, focusing on the development of ‘big-loop’ history-match
assimilating data incorporating static and dynamic methodologies.
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The number of projects with (produced) water injection under fracturing conditions is increasing
because of the increasing number of mature fields worldwide. Typical applications are reservoir
management (sweep) and water disposal. Understanding the processes taking place in the reservoir is
of key importance because such an operation involves various risks such as disappointing injectivity,
sweep problems, unwanted breaking of geological features and early water breakthrough. For proper
reservoir management, it is essential that the impact of growing induced fractures is incorporated in
the reservoir simulations, especially for produced water injection in which case the fractures can
become sizeable (order 100m or more).
The presentation focuses on Industry (particularly Shell) experience with (produced) water
(re)injection under fracturing conditions to date. Differences with injection under matrix conditions
are highlighted. A number of field examples are discussed showing where and how new technology
can add value in the design of waterfloods and water disposal schemes, and in interpreting / trouble-
shooting existing water injection schemes.
Fractures and the Matrix: Combined Anisotropy and Compliance
Dr. Laura Pryak-Nolte • Professor, Physics Department, Purdue University
Laura J. Pyrak-Nolte is a Professor in the Department of Physics
at Purdue University with courtesy appointments in the
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and in the
College of Civil Engineering at Purdue. She received her B.S. in
Engineering Science from SUNY at Buffalo, her M.S. in
Geophysics from VPI&SU, and her Ph.D. in Material Science
and Mineral Engineering from the University of California,
Berkeley. In 1995, she received the Schlumberger Lecture
Award from the International Society of Rock Mechanics. Prof.
Pyrak-Nolte received the Young Investigator Awards from the
National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.
Her interests include applied geophysics, experimental and
theoretical seismic wave propagation, rock mechanics, micro-
fluidics, particle swarms, and fluid flow through earth materials.
Identifying mechanical discontinuities (i.e., micro-cracks, fractures, joints, faults, etc.) in the
subsurface is complicated because these structural features occur on all length scales, either singly or
as sets, and are easily perturbed by natural and/or anthropogenic processes. In this talk, I will present
the results of several laboratory experiments that illustrate the complexity of interpreting fracture
properties when the rock matrix contains micro-cracks that contribute significant compliance and/or
anisotropy to the matrix.
Full waveform measurements were made on intact and fractured samples of Austin Chalk and
granite. The induced fractures were created using a technique similar to Brazil testing. A seismic
array was used to collect compressional and shear waves (central frequency 1 MHz) as the samples
were subjected to a range of stresses. The signals were analyzed to obtain velocity, transmission
coefficients and spectral content.
The intact samples were found to exhibit shear wave velocity anisotropy of 10% and 5%, for the
granite and Austin Chalk samples, respectively. Interpretation of fracture specific stiffness, using the
displacement discontinuity theory and the data from the intact and fracture samples, presented
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several challenges. First, we observed that the fracture and matrix compliances for the granite
samples exhibited similar magnitudes, resulting in fractured samples that transmitted as well as the
intact samples. Second, identification of fractures using spectral content is complicated in fractured
layered rock, such as Austin chalk, because of dispersion contributed by the layering. Finally, the
intact Austin chalk samples exhibited signatures of two competing sources of anisotropy, structural
and textural, that exhibited different symmetry axes. A grand challenge is the interpretation of
fracture specific stiffness from seismic data of complex topologies with the goal to identify dominant
flow paths through fractured rock.
Acknowledgments: The author wishes to acknowledge support of this work by the Geosciences
Research Program, Office of Basic Energy Sciences US Department of Energy (DE-FG02-09ER16022),
ExxonMobil Corporate Strategic Research, and the GeoMathematical Imaging Group at Purdue
University.
Explosive Fracturing for Permeability Enhancement
Dr. Christopher Bradley • Los Alamos National Laboratories
Christopher R. Bradley (Ph.D. Marine Geophysics, 1994 Mass.
Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution; LANL Technical Staff Member – Geodynamics,
Seismology and Explosion Phenomenology) – His work has been
in coding optimal methods for simulating seismic wave
attenuation in fully heterogeneous anelastic material for the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and modeling attenuation in
oceanic spreading centers. The work involves 2- and 3-D finite
difference and finite element modeling of seismic and shock
wave propagation, ground motion simulation from earthquakes
including nonlinear inversion for dynamic fault rupture.
Current work is in explosion coupling to earth materials, including explosive fracturing and studying
risk associated with CO2 sequestration. He has published on numerical methods, seismic yield
determination, dynamic fault rupture, Q structure in the earth, acoustic scattering, microseismic
noise and geothermal energy.
Los Alamos and other national laboratories have been involved with unconventional fracturing for
energy extraction intermittently since the late 1960’s. This research included some experiments
using nuclear explosions in tight gas formations like Gasbuggy (1967) in the Mesa Verde Sandstone
and Rulison (1970) in the Piceance Basin tight gas formation. There has also been some considerable
effort in using conventional high explosives in the Unconventional Gas Research (UGR) Programs at
Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in the Marcellus Shale and at Los Alamos during the UGR Multi-
well Experiment (MWX) in Colorado in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. Currently, Los Alamos is involved
in conventional and unconventional fracturing. Fortuitously, much of the data on tight gas and oil
formations gather by DOE earlier can be harvested for particular properties useful in our current
projects like shock hugoniots and elastic and strength properties. I will be presenting some
information from our past research and how we are applying it to some current projects in
unconventional gas. Hydrodynamic simulations in example formations show that plastic strain may
be used as a proxy for fractured permeability enhancement.
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Simulating Hydrofracture Growth and Gas Production in Natural
Fracture Networks
Dr. Thomas Doe and Dr. William Dershowitz • FracMan Technology Group, Golder
Associates
Dr. Thomas Doe works in the FracMan Technology Group at
Golder Associates in Redmond, Washington and is also a past
president of ARMA. He specializes in flow in discrete fracture
networks as well as hydraulic fracturing stress measurement, and
he has recently applied both of these backgrounds to analysis of
gas production from shales.
Dr. William Dershowitz developed the FracMan discrete fracture
network modeling package and has spearheaded its applications to
radioactive waste disposal, civil construction, oil reservoirs, and
gas-shale production. He is currently serving as ARMA treasurer
Discrete fracture network models represent a rock mass’s fracture
system as individual conducting features. The methodology grew
from the rock mechanics discipline, which pioneered the
description of individual fractures and the properties of fracture
networks. This presentation addresses two approaches to
simulating gas production in hydraulically-fractured tight shales.
The first approach considers hydraulic fracture generation in a
natural fracture network using the following principles. It divides
natural fractures into groups – (1) dilatable fractures, those whose
normal stress is less than the treatment pressure; (2) critically-
stressed fractures, which may shear but whose normal stresses
exceed the treatment pressure, and (3) naturally conducting fractures that take fluid but are not
modified by the treatment. If the natural fractures have insufficient storage or flow capacity when
pressurized, the model creates new hydraulic fractures to accommodate the injected mass. The
simulator visualizes the locations of critically-stressed and dilatable fractures as points for comparison
with microseismic data. The second approach uses existing microseismic data to create a fracture set
representing the hydraulic fractures that superpose on the shale reservoir’s natural conducting
fractures. Simulations in this presentation show that the effectiveness of hydraulic fracture treatments
for improving productions depends on the pre-existing natural-fracture transmissivities and rock-
matrix permeability. Natural fractures may change drainage patterns considerably beyond the
immediate volume of fracture treatment.
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Fractures and Unconventional Resources
Dr. Charles Fairhurst • Itasca Consulting Group and University of Minnesota
A native of England, Charles Fairhurst received a Ph.D. in mining
engineering from Sheffield University in 1955. He moved to the
United States in 1956 to take a position as a research associate in
the School of Mines at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Fairhurst
held various positions at the University of Minnesota from full
professor to the head of the School of Metallurgical Engineering
and then head of the Department of Civil and Mineral
Engineering. He retired and became Professor Emeritus in 1997
after having served more than 40 years on the faculty of the
University of Minnesota. He is recognized for his key role in
establishing rock mechanics as an engineering discipline. His
leadership in several innovations has revolutionized the field of
rock mechanics. In addition, he is the author of more than 100
publications that span nearly all aspects of rock mechanics and
rock engineering. He is elected as an ARMA Fellow and has honorary fellow award from university of
Minnesota and other universities. Dr. Fairhurst is currently working at Itasca.
Stimulation of both natural gas and ‘enhanced’ geothermal resources involves fluid pressurization and
fracturing of the reservoir at depth. Analysis of this stimulation process usually assumes (a) that the
host rock is initially unfractured; (b) hydraulic fractures generated by fluid pressurization develop
symmetrically on each side of the wellbore. The presentation will describe recent developments in
numerical 3D modeling of discretely fractured rock and fracture development during pressurization
of naturally fractured formations, including fracture development observed in the field by
microseismic monitoring. It is seen that the classical assumptions can be unrealistic.
Hydraulic Fracture Complexity and Containment in Unconventional
Reservoirs
Tom Bratton • Scientific Advisor, Schlumberger
Tom Bratton is a scientific advisor for Schlumberger and has 34
years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He is currently
developing drilling and completion solutions for horizontal wells
in unconventional reservoirs. He is a licensed professional
geoscientist (Texas), specializing in geophysics, petrophysics and
geomechanics. Tom has worked in multiple segments including
Wireline and Testing, Drilling and Measurements, Well Services
and Data and Consulting Services. He has been active in field
operations as well as research and engineering and has been
exposed to reservoirs worldwide including deepwater and land
based operations. Tom has a BS degree in Physics from Nebraska
Wesleyan University, an MS degree in atomic physics from Kansas
State University and is a member of SPE, SPWLA, SEG and
ARMA. He currently resides in Denver, Colorado.
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An understanding of geomechanics is critical to maximizing production and minimizing expense in
the development of unconventional reservoirs. For instance, geomechanics controls variables such as
stimulation complexity and hydraulic fracture containment. While petrophysics and acoustic moduli
have been shown to be quite important in developing stress models, other factors such as natural
fracturing and curvature are also important. This talk will highlight some of the recent advances in
geomechanics as applied to unconventional reservoirs.
Microseismic Fracture Mapping in Shales - Mechanisms and Validation
Dr. Norm Warpinski • Director of Technology, Pinnacle – A Halliburton Service
Norm Warpinski is the Director of Technology for Pinnacle – A
Halliburton Service in Houston, Texas, where he is in charge of
developing new tools and analyses for hydraulic fracture mapping,
reservoir monitoring, hydraulic fracture design and analysis, and
integrated solutions for reservoir development. He joined
Pinnacle in 2005 after previously working at Sandia National
Laboratories from 1977 to 2005 on various projects in oil and gas,
geothermal, carbon sequestration, waste repositories, and other
geomechanics issues. Norm has extensive experience in various
types of hydraulic fracture mapping and modeling and has been
involved in large scale field experiments from both the hardware
and software sides. He has also worked on formation evaluation,
geomechanics, natural fractures, in situ stresses, rock behavior and
rock testing. He received his MS and PhD in Mechanical
Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana in
1973 and 1977, respectively, after receiving a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Illinois Institute of
Technology in 1971.
Unconventional reservoirs in general require some form of stimulation to economically produce
hydrocarbons, but gas shale reservoirs are particularly dependent on stimulation because of the
extremely low permeability of most shale systems. Most shale stimulations consist of large-volume,
high-rate waterfracs in multi-stage, multi-cluster horizontal wells that presumably result in a network
fracture system created through a combination of hydraulic fractures and natural fracture activation
and opening. Microseismic monitoring has been used to determine the size of the network, usually
termed the stimulated reservoir volume or SRV, as well as other fracture geometry parameters, but it is
now also being used to extract other information about the hydraulic fracture that often has
questionable validity. These microseisms are largely shear events that occur because of changes in stress
and pressure due to the opening of and fluid leakoff from the dilated hydraulic fracture. Although they
may or may not be directly connected to the hydraulic fracture, their presence in the vicinity of the
fracture marks the stimulated region, and interpretation of this microseismicity in this region provides
the information from which fracture characteristics are measured. This presentation will focus on what
we know about microseismicity in these reservoirs based upon field experiments and microseismic
characteristics, and also in comparison to hydraulic fractures in tight sandstones reservoirs. It will
discuss the stress and reservoir conditions under which the microseismicity is generated and will show
what types of results and inferences are physically realistic and what interpretations cannot plausibly
be made. Field examples will be used to highlight specific features of microseismic behavior.
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Hydraulic Fracturing Field Experiments - Multiple Hydraulic Fractures
and Fracture Reorientation
Kent Perry • Executive Director, GTI and Jordan Ciezobka, Gas Technology Institute
Mr. Ciezobka is a Mechanical Engineer by education and began
his career as a field engineer with Halliburton Energy Services in
South Texas in their pressure pumping services, mainly hydraulic
fracturing and cementing. In 5 years with Halliburton, Mr.
Ciezobka held various positions as a field engineer and later
transitioned into an Account Representative serving as a technical
advisor to Shell Oil Company. Mr. Ciezobka joined the Gas
Technology Institute in 2010 and is engaged in well completion
research across various US and international unconventional
plays.
Kent Perry holds Executive Director, Exploration & Production
Research at Gas Technology Institute (GTI). The GTI program
includes interactions with all major oil and gas companies in the
United States and regional producer organizations such as the
Oklahoma Independent Producer Association, Texas Independent
Producer & Royalty Owners Association, and the Independent
Producers of Rocky Mountain States. The program is coordinated
with the Department of Energy’s Fossil Energy program and
maintains involvement with the Society of Petroleum Engineers
(SPE) at the local and national levels. Mr. Perry has served as an
SPE Distinguished Lecturer and has participated in National
Petroleum Council studies and authored papers on low
permeability resources and hydraulic fracturing. Previously, Mr.
Perry ran the Producer Business Unit, which added new sources
of funding for future R&D activities.
Comprehensive field based research experiments have been performed in the past to better
understand the process of hydraulic fracturing, the growth of those fractures, their potential to
reorient and other factors impacting their effectiveness. Included experiments include the Mounds
drill cuttings experiment performed in Oklahoma and the Hydraulic Fracture Test Site experiment
conducted in Colorado.
While both experiments were performed in past years they remain the most comprehensive field
experiments conducted to date. The results of the research will be review with the implications to
today’s fracturing assessed
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The Contribution of Microseismic Monitoring in Fracturing of
Unconventional Reservoirs
Dr. Peter M. Duncan • President, Microseismic Inc.
Peter M. Duncan is founding President of MicroSeismic, Inc. a
Houston based geophysical service company. He holds a Ph.D. in
Geophysics from the University of Toronto. He began his career as
an exploration geophysicist with Shell Canada before joining
Digicon Geophysical, first in Calgary then in Houston. In 1987 he
helped Digicon found ExploiTech Inc, an exploration and
production consultancy. He was named President of ExploiTech
when it became a subsidiary of Landmark Graphics in 1989. In
1992 he was one of 3 founders of 3DX Technologies Inc., an
independent oil and gas exploration company where he served as
Vice President and Chief Geophysicist. Duncan was 2003-04
President of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and the
Fall 2008 SEG/AAPG Distinguished Lecturer. He is a Life Member
of SEG and an Honorary Member of the Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (CSEG), the
Geophysical Society of Houston (GSH) and the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers.
Shale gas and oil have created a revolution in the domestic E&P business. We all desire to be good
stewards of our environment while at the same time taking advantage of the resources at our disposal.
Microseismic monitoring offers opportunity to demonstrate and ensure that hydraulic fracturing,
water injection and other production related processes are not adversely affecting drinking water
supply or creating other hazards.
Inadequacies in nationwide monitoring of groundwater quality and
quantity, and water use implications for energy development
Dr. David Wunsch • Director of Science and Technology, National Ground Water Association
Dr. Wunsch is the director of science and technology for NGWA.
Wunsch worked 10 years as state geologist for New Hampshire
prior to his current position. He served as a Congressional Science
Fellow with the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral
Resources, as the coordinator of the coalfield hydrology program
at the Kentucky Geological Survey and as a geology instructor at
Central Michigan University. Wunsch has served on, several
National Academy of Science panels, and is currently an associate
editor of NGWA’s peer-reviewed journal, Ground Water®.
Wunsch was elected to Fellowship in the Geological Society of
America in May 2011 and has been an adjunct professor at the
University of New Hampshire and the University of Kentucky, a
visiting scholar at Dartmouth College, has been a voting member
of the Joint Board of Licensure for Professional Geologists and the
New Hampshire Water Well Board. He served as president of the
Association of American State Geologists in 2010.
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Dr. Wunsch earned his bachelor’s degree in geology with a minor in chemistry from the State
University of New York at Oneonta, his master's degree with a hydrogeology emphasis from the
University of Akron, and his doctorate in hydrogeology with an emphasis on low-temperature
geochemistry from the University of Kentucky.
Groundwater is the source of approximately 78 percent of community water systems, and nearly all
of rural America’s private household wells. Expansive growth in the development of unconventional
natural gas plays has focused attention on the process of hydraulic fracturing. Shale gas potential
exists in about half of the 50 states, so water issues related to production from these fields are diverse.
Typically, the successful fracing of a horizontal production well requires on the order of several
million gallons of water, but this is usually an acute need. However, this quantity of water can be
difficult to obtain in remote areas, or in semi-arid regions where surface water supply is limited. As of
2007, only 37 States operated statewide or regional ground-water level monitoring networks, and just
32 States have at least one active statewide or regional ground-water quality monitoring program.
Moreover, the types of data collected, and the frequency of collection vary from state to state. From
the water use perspective, there is significant disparity between state water-use regulatory programs.
Some states simply register water users, while others require a permit for large withdrawals; and
others still have no reporting program whatsoever. Moreover, the volumetric thresholds for
withdrawals for either registering or permitting vary by orders of magnitude from state to state.
Currently, the federal advisory Subcommittee on Ground Water (SOGW), is coordinating the efforts
of federal agencies, states, and tribes to create a national ground water monitoring network to collect
more uniform groundwater data from across the country. We will present statistical information on
the status of monitoring programs, and also demonstrate the need for upgrading the composite
infrastructure for water management information systems, and current progress toward this end.
Benefits and Challenges in Using Abandoned Coal Mine Water Sources
for Hydraulic Fracturing Processes in Marcellus Shale Gas Play
Dr. Anthony Iannacchione • Associate Professor and Director of the Mining Engineering
Program, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Anthony Iannacchione joined the University of Pittsburgh as
the director of Mining engineering program and as an associate
professor after a 33 year career with the U.S. Bureau of Mines and
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health where he
conducted research on health, safety, and environmental issues
related to the U.S. Minerals Industry. His research interests
include strata control and mine ventilation engineering, mining-
induced seismic analysis, and major hazard risk assessment.
Iannacchione holds a PhD in civil engineering, two MS degrees in
civil engineering and geology from the University of Pittsburgh,
and a BS degree in geology from California University of
Pennsylvania. He is a past-president of the Pittsburgh Section,
American Society for Civil Engineers and currently serves on the
Board of Directors of the American Association of Rock
Mechanics. Iannacchione is also a professional engineer and
geologist in the State of Pennsylvania.
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Hydraulic fracturing of the Marcellus Shale represents a significant water resource challenge for
southwestern Pennsylvania. Considerable quantities of industrial grade water are needed to drill and
hydraulically stimulate the vast number of gas wells projected within this region in the coming
decades. While the northern Appalachian region is blessed with plentiful reserves of water, clean
water is at a premium. Local opponents to Marcellus Shale gas development often cite the loss of
clean water resources as a negative outcome. But there is a unique solution to this region’s problems
and it comes from a source that has previously been looked at as an environmental liability. That
source is the huge water supply found in the regions abandoned underground coal mines.
This presentation will identify the scale and distribution of the water sources contained within the
many mine pools found throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. These mine pools have a range of
water compositions. In particular, waters with relatively low concentrations of sulfates are viewed as
more attractive for hydraulic fracturing purposes. But withdrawing water from existing mine pools
does present potential technical and legal difficulties. Engineering challenges will be highlighted.
Lastly, most mine pool waters in this region are known to be both highly acidic and relatively high in
total dissolved solids. Some water treatment will be needed and different options are presented. This
overview is meant to provide an assessment of the opportunities and challenges facing the use of coal
mine pool water as a source for drilling and hydraulic fracturing operations in southwestern
Pennsylvania. It represents a novel solution to an important water resource issues facing the
unconventional gas industry.
CO2 Sequestration Geomechanics and Modeling
Dr. John Rutqvist • Staff Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories
Dr. Rutqvist has Masters and Technical Licentiate degrees in Civil
Engineering and Rock Mechanics from Luleå University of
Technology in Sweden. During my Ph.D. studies at the Royal
Institute of Technology in Stockholm, he worked with coupled
processes modeling of fractured rock masses funded by the
Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate, and spent time at the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley,
California. After receiving his Ph.D. at the Royal Institute of
Technology in 1995, he returned the LBNL’s Earth Sciences
Division for a post-doctorate study on coupled processes modeling
and stayed at the LBNL, became a Geological Scientist in 1998,
and was promoted to Staff Scientist level in 2004. His research is
currently focused on modeling of coupled thermal-hydraulic-
mechanical-chemical (THMC) processes in geological media with
geoscientific and geoengineering applications, including geological, sequestration of CO2, enhanced
geothermal systems, gas hydrate bearing sediments, geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel,
underground compressed air energy storage, and shale gas extraction Geomechanics plays a critical
role in the performance assessment of geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration operations. This
includes assessment of well integrity, caprock sealing performance, potential fault reactivation, and
induced seismicity. Geomechanics is also important for monitoring of subsurface fluid movements
and for detection of unwanted CO2 migration toward the groundsurface. Geomechanical modeling is
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essential to interpret monitoring data related to ground surface deformations, micro-seismicity, and
4D seismic surveys. As a practical example, recent results are reviewed from studies of CO2
sequestration geomechanics and modeling associated with CO2 injection at the In Salah CO2 storage
project, Algeria. The site is an ideal test bed for geomechanical studies: the CO2 injection pressure is
sufficiently high to cause measurable ground-surface deformations and microseismicity, and the
targeted injection zone consists of fractured sandstone intersected by minor faults.
Air Quality Issues Facing the Industry
Dr. Nancy J. Brown • Senior Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories
Dr. Nancy J. Brown is a Senior Scientist and Department Head of
the Atmospheric Sciences Department at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory. Her research interests are chemical kinetics,
atmospheric science, air quality modeling, model uncertainty and
sensitivity, aerosols, high performance computing, combustion,
combustion modeling, and emissions. She received a B.S. in
Chemistry at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, an M.S. in Molecular
Physics and Ph.D., in Chemical Physics at the University of
Maryland. Dr. Brown has published numerous scientific papers
and served as a principal investigator on many projects. She has
also held a number of teaching and research positions on the
Berkeley campus and remains an Affiliate faculty in the Energy
and Resources Group of the University of California at Berkeley.
She has been a Professor Inviteé, Université Pierre et Marie Curie,
Paris VI, a Governor's Appointee, Scientific Advisory Committee,
State of California Acid Deposition Program, Member, Board of Directors, The Combustion Institute.
She has also served on numerous State and Federal Advisory Committees.
Air Quality affects human and ecological health, climate, and visibility. Two pollutants that are
especially important for all three of these are ozone and particulate matter (PM), especially PM that is
smaller than 2.5 microns-PM-2.5. Although PM is emitted directly from combustion sources, ozone
and PM are formed in the atmosphere from emissions that are both anthropogenic and biogenic in
origin. EPA is considering making the ozone and PM-2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS) more stringent. This talk will review some of the science, regulatory, and strategic issues
that will face the industry when the NAAQS change.
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Shale Reservoir Properties from Digital Rock Physics
Dr. Amos Nur • Emeritus Professor, Stanford University and CTO, InGrain
Dr. Amos Nur joined Ingrain as a director and chief technology
officer following his retirement in 2008 from nearly four
decades in rock physics research at Stanford University. In
addition to founding the Stanford Rock Physics project in 1977,
Dr. Nur has served as the Wayne Loel Professor of Earth
Sciences since 1988. Throughout his career, Dr. Nur has
conducted critical research in 3-D and 4-D seismic imaging and
is widely considered to be one of the world's top academic
authorities on rock physics. He holds a B.S. in geology from
Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a Ph.D. in geophysics from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prof. Nur served
twice as chair of the Geophysics Department, from 1985 to 1991
and again from 1997 to 2000 and became the founding director
of the Stanford Rock Physics and Borehole Geophysics Project
in 1977. In 2001 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Over the course of his
career at Stanford, Nur guided 51 doctoral and 20 master's students through earning their degrees.
Digital Rock Physics can provide reliable SCAL data for a wide range of shale lithologies. Digital
Rock Physics capabilities for shale include whole core 3D imaging for fractures, burrows, layering,
rapid whole core facies identification from density and Zeff, porosity; connected, total, kerogen, TOC,
Kabs; absolute perm (x, y, z), Kg/Kw and Ko/Kg rel permeability, capillary pressure, drainage and
imbibition, visual and quantitative understanding of pore space, fractures, and heterogeneities and
improved sample selection process.
Overcoming Barriers to Shale Reservoir Development through
Improved Geomechanical Modeling
Dr. Daniel Moos • Technology Fellow, Baker Hughes
Dr. Daniel Moos received his PhD from Stanford University and
was a co-founder in 1983 of the L-DGO Borehole Geophysics
Group at Columbia University. He returned to Stanford’s SRB
group in 1987, and in 1996 was a co-founder of GeoMechanics
International. GMI was acquired by Baker Hughes’ Reservoir
Development Services in 2008. Dr. Moos is now a Baker Hughes
Technology Fellow. He has published more than 70 papers and
holds 8 patents in geomechanics, rock physics and pore pressure
prediction. His recent focus is on development of an integrated
approach for application of geomechanical principles to shale
reservoirs.
The single largest barrier to shale production optimization is lack of understanding of the key
parameters that control well performance; however, most of what we know about optimizing
production is derived from meta-analyses of full-well production data. Although such analyses can
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provide general guidelines performance variations of individual stages and the large number of
uncontrolled or poorly constrained parameters limit the predictive value of look-back studies. Real
improvements of understanding require carefully controlled studies of testable theories of how
production occurs from these reservoirs. This talk will outline a geomechanical approach to
understanding shale well behavior and show an example of how a study designed to test a specific
hypothesis can lead to recommendations for operational improvements.
Acknowledgment
On behalf of ARMA and UNGI, we would like to thank all the workshop speakers and the attendees
for their contributions to this workshop. The SEG Research Committee has fully supported the
ARMA/UNGI Workshop and published the date as a joint event at the SEG website. We appreciate
the support from SEG, Colorado School of Mines Petroleum Engineering Department and UNGI in
sharing the significance of the role geomechanics play on unlocking the Unconventional Resources
worldwide. Special thanks to ARMA Executive Director Peter Smeallie for the full support and help
in organizing the workshop.
Once again, we thank all the participants and speakers for making this event a fruitful gathering for
Geomechanics Community.
Dr. Azra N. Tutuncu, P.E., P.G.
Director, UNGI
Harry D. Campbell Chair, Petroleum Engineering Department
Colorado School of Mines
Immediate Past President, ARMA
UNGI