Assessment of Eagle Ford Shale Oil and Gas Resources

Abstract

Abstract The Eagle Ford play in south Texas is currently one of the hottest plays in the United States. In 2012, the average Eagle Ford rig count (269 rigs) was 15% of the total US rig count. Assessment of Eagle Ford oil and gas resources and their associated uncertainties in the early stages is critical for optimal development. The objective of our research was to assess Eagle Ford shale oil and gas reserves, contingent resources, and prospective resources. Probabilistic decline curves using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) were used to forecast reserves and resources. The Eagle Ford play from the Sligo Shelf Margin to the San Marcos Arch was divided into 8 different production regions based on geology, fluid type, and well performance. We used the Duong model switching to the Arps model with b = 0.3 at the minimum decline rate to model the linear flow to boundary-dominated flow behavior often observed in shale plays. Cumulative production after 20 years predicted from Monte Carlo simulation combined with reservoir simulation was used as prior information in the Bayesian decline-curve methodology. Probabilistic type decline curves for oil and gas were then generated for all production regions. Individual-well reserves and resources estimates were aggregated probabilistically within each production region and arithmetically between production regions. The total oil reserves and resources range from a P90 of 5.3 to P10 of 28.7 billion barrels of oil (BBO), with a P50 of 11.7 BBO; the total gas reserves and resources range from a P90 of 53.4 to P10 of 313.5 trillion cubic feet (TCF), with a P50 of 121.7 TCF. These reserves and resources estimates are much higher than the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2011 recoverable resource estimates of 3.35 BBO and 21 TCF. The results of this study provide a critical update of the reserves and resources estimates and their associated uncertainties for the Eagle Ford shale formation of South Texas.