Integrating Core and Well Logs for Unconventional Shale Evaluation in Western Canada

Abstract

Summary Unconventional shale reservoirs such as the Montney Formation in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin have become an attractive target because of its huge volume. As the technological advancement reduce the challenges faced, rapid drilling activities are taking place to produce hydrocarbon in place ( Lewis, et al., 2004 ) Key parameters for unconventional shale evaluation include: 1) X-ray Diffraction (XRD), 2) routine core analysis (RCA), 3) total organic carbon content (TOC), 4) core water-saturation (Dean-Stark’s), and 5) quantitative matrix components from elemental capture spectroscopy (ECS) logs. Integrating these pieces of information are essential to produce robust interpretations. The challenging aspect in evaluating unconventional play is the selection of the model ( Quirein, et al., 2010 ). A good evaluation workflow has been developed by integrating XRD, SCAL, RCA and ECS logs data. All sources are essential to the interpretations as they provide independent calibration points such as porosity, matrix-density, permeability, minerals’ composition and water saturation. The steps described in this paper provides an effective approach for establishing and predicting mineralogy, matrix-density, porosity and permeability from wireline logs, as seen from core. Elemental Log Analysis (ELAN) are used to quantify the mineralogy of the interpreted wells, including TOC (and kerogen), porosity, permeability and water saturation.