Chapter 8 - Some Facts, Data Analysis, and Examples

Abstract

The facts about unconventional hydrocarbons are introduced with a discussion on different geographical regions including continental United States and Europe. The complete details of hydraulic fracturing operations are explained including cementing of the “casing shoe”, “kick-off-point”, “well-head”, “perf”, and “proppant”. An example of integrating real geology, geophysics, geomechanics, and petrophysics data for optimization of a horizontal well and multistage fracture stimulation for a tight oil reservoir is discussed. The fundamentals of coal seam gas (CSG) field development, fracture stimulation, and production are explained, and its impact on human health and the environment are touched on. The application of a cross-well seismic modeling approach for very high-resolution imaging, amplitude versus offset (AVO) modeling, to identify thin coal layers is introduced. A full discussion on gas hydrates mapping, including concentration estimation methods and real data examples from different geographical regions, is included. Oil shale reservoir challenges with real data examples and the producing oil−gas ratio, including gas condensate and oil reservoirs, are described. Finally, gas hydrates-related seismic data analysis, full-waveform modeling, mode conversions, seismic indicators including bottom-simulating reflector (BSR), enhanced seismic reflection, gas chimneys, amplitude blanking, hydrate mound, and seismic uplift are explained with real data examples.