Assignment

TOPIC: “ SHALE OIL & GAS AND GEOTHERMAL ENERGY ”

SUBMITTED TO: Dr. Syed Haroon Ali

DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES

Table Of Content
Sr.# Content:
1 Shale Oil and Gas
1.1 Introduction
1.2 History Of Shale gas
1.3 Characteristics Of Shale oil and gas
1.4 Identification Of Prospective Shale Gas Formation
1.5 Drilling Techniques Used To Produce Shale Gas
1.6 Shale Gas Vs Conventional Gas
1.7 Shale Gas In Pakistan
1.8 Conclusion
1.9 Map showing Shale Gas reserves in Pakistan
1) SHALE OIL AND GAS
1.1) INTRODUCTION:
Shale gas Shale is a sedimentary rock characterized by low permeability mainly
compositing of mud, silts, and clays. However, this composition varies with burial
depth and tectonic stresses. Shale reservoirs have a permeability which is three
orders times less than tight gas reservoirs. Natural gas and light tight oil (shale oil)
are confined in the pore spaces of these impermeable rocks. Gas in shale is
presence as a free gas in the pore spaces or is adsorbed by clay minerals and
organic matters. The free gas will be produced upon good completion, but the
production of adsorbed gas depends on the pressure drop needed for desorption. It
is, therefore, essential to know the relative amounts of free and adsorbed gas in
shales. On the other hand, oil shale is a kerogen-rich petroleum source rock that
was not buried deep enough to experience the temperatures required to generate oil
and natural gas. Now, it is possible to extract trapped resources from shale
formations due to technological advancements and development of hydraulic
fracturing technology and horizontal drilling. Geological and engineering
characteristics such as shale gas and oil in place, depth, permeability, porosity,
organic richness, saturation, and reservoir pressure are effective parameters
indicating the value of shale in different regions. In the last decade, USA has
unlocked a huge domestic shale gas out of 665 Tcf technically recoverable reserves
and reduced its reliance on imported natural gas.
Shale gas refers to natural gas that is trapped within shale formations. Shales are
fine-grained sedimentary rocks that can be rich sources of petroleum and natural
gas. Shale gas is trapped within the pores of this sedimentary rock. Gas is normally
stored through three ways in gas shales.
1. Free gas: The gas is within the rock pores and natural fractures
2. Adsorbed gas: The gas is adsorbed on organic materials and clay
3. Dissolved gas: The gas is dissolved in the organic materials

1.2) HISTORY OF SHALE GAS

The first Shale gas extraction was started in 1821 in a shallow, low pressure
fractures in Fredonia, New York. However, the industrial shale gas started in 1970.
In 1976, investment were made in Eastern Gas Shales project and the US
Department of Energy collaborated with private gas companies, to drill the first
multi fractured horizontal well of shale in 1986. Development in the
unconventional reservoirs continued, and in early 2000 vast new natural gas fields
were developed from shale formation such as Marcellus and Utica. Since 2000, the
natural gas extracted from shale has been the fastest contributor to the gas industry
and that it currently accounts for 34% of US natural gas production.
1.3) CHARACTERISTICS OF SHALE OIL AND GAS
1. Shale is a collection of fined grained, laminated sedimentary rocks consisting of
silt and clay sized particles
2. Shale is often found within layers of sandstone or limestone, several meters
thick and is typically formed within the environments where md, silt and other
sediments are deposited, and become compacted. Shale sediments are deposited
in deep ocean floor, basins of shallow seas and river flood plains.
3. Shale consist of 30% clay minerals and substantial amount of quartz. The small
amount of carbonates, feldspar, iron oxides fossils and organic matter.
4. Another target in Shale gas exploration is Kerogen, which is natural, sloid
insoluble organic matter in shale source rocks that can yield oil upon heating.
Kerogen has four types depending on their chemical composition.
 Type I Kerogen
 Type II Kerogen
 Type III Kerogen
 Type IV Kerogen

Figure 1: Shale Gas deposits

1.4) IDENTIFICATION OF PROSPECTIVE SHALE GAS FORMATION
The specific geochemical properties that are considered while identifying the
production potential of shale gas include
1) Total Organic Carbon:
TOC is the total amount of organic material present in rock and expressed as
a percentage by weight. Toc governs the resource potential of shale.
2) Thermal Maturity:
Thermal Maturity is the measure of the degree to which Kerogen has been
heated over the time and converted into liquid or gaseous hydrocarbon.
3) Permeability:
The permeability to gas is one of the most complex properties to consider
while characterizing the shales. Permeability incase of unconventional
hydrocarbon ranges from 0.001mD to 0.0000001mD.
4) Mineralogy: The mineralogy of basin also plays a vital role in understanding
the relation between fracture complexities, fracture conductivity, thereby
determining the potential gas.
5) Depth:
The depth criterion for prospective area is greater than 1,000 m, but less that
5000m. Areas shallower than 1000m have fundamentally low pressure gas
concentration coupled with risk of high water content is their natural
fracturing system. On the other hand, areas deeper than 5000m have risks of
decreased permeability and higher drilling and development cost.
6) Reservoir Pressure:
The pressure of fluids within the pores of reservoir is known as reservoir
pressure.

Figure 2 : Formation showing shale deposition

1.5) DRILLING TECHNIQUES USED TO PRODUCE SHALE GAS
1.5.1) HORIZNTAL DRILLING
Two major drilling techniques are used to produce shale gas. Horizontal drilling is
used to provide greater access to the gas trapped deep in the producing formation.
First, a vertical well is drilled to the targeted rock formation. At the desired depth,
the drill bit is turned to bore a well that stretches through the reservoir horizontally,
exposing the well to more of the producing shale.

1.5.2) HYDRAULLIC FRACTURING

Hydraulic fracturing (commonly called "fracking" or "hydrofracking") is a

technique in which water, chemicals, and sand are pumped into the well to unlock
the hydrocarbons trapped in shale formations by opening cracks (fractures) in the
rock and allowing natural gas to flow from the shale into the well. When used in
conjunction with horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing enables gas producers to
extract shale gas at reasonable cost. Without these techniques, natural gas does not
flow to the well rapidly, and commercial quantities cannot be produced from shale.
Hydraulic fracturing depends upon number of variables.

 Type of well

 Rock properties of potential reservoir

 Depth thickness, temperature and pressure of reservoir.

 Type of well bore and cementing

 Number of fractures

 Choice of fracturing fluids and materials

 Figure 3: Horizontal Drilling

1.6) SHALE GAS Vs CONVENTIONAL GAS

Conventional gas reservoirs are created when natural gas migrates toward the
Earth's surface from an organic-rich source formation into highly permeable
reservoir rock, where it is trapped by an overlying layer of impermeable rock. In
contrast, shale gas resources form within the organic-rich shale source rock. The
low permeability of the shale greatly inhibits the gas from migrating to more
permeable reservoir rocks. Without horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing,
shale gas production would not be economically feasible because the natural gas
would not flow from the formation at high enough rates to justify the cost of
drilling.

1.7) SHALE GAS IN PAKISTAN :

Pakistan is currently facing energy deficiency, and the gap of supply-demand is

expected to reach at 6790 Mcf/D until 2030 (OGRA 2017). As its conventional
petroleum reserves are depleting, there is a need to consider unconventional shale
reserves (shale oil and shale gas) as the potential source of energy. In fact, these
reserves can be a ‘game-changer’ in the international energy market. Pakistan has
the Indus and Baluchistan basins as the primary sedimentary basins. Indus basin is
the largest basin of Pakistan and is further divided into Upper, Central, and
Southern parts, depending on geologic characteristics. Pakistan has potential shale
gas formations in the lower Indus basin. However, the lower Indus basin has two
types of formations known as Sembar and Ranikot. The shale reserves in Pakistan
are present in Southern and Central Indus Basin (Lower Indus Basin), which is
located along the Western border with India and Afghanistan. The basins are
bound by the Indian shield in the East and highly folded mountains in the west .
The Baluchistan basin, on the other hand, is considered as a prospective but there
is no shale gas estimation carried out for it. This is because of the geologic
complexity, sparse drilling and unavailability of appropriate technologies used for
prospect estimation. Pakistan is ranked among the top 15 countries in the world,
with huge resources of technically recoverable shale oil and shale gas, i.e., 9 billion
barrel of oil and 105 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of shale gas. Instead of relying on
limited oil reserves and importing crude oil, Pakistan should seek to invest in either
in the renewable energy or shale gas and oil exploration. In fact, technology prices
for the renewable energy are sharply declining. Main factors that affect the
economics of shale gas production include geological condition, technologies,
government regulation, and public acceptability. The average costs of a shale gas
well in the United States were estimated as $5.9–8.2 million USD in 2014, which
were mainly drilling and completion costs. In Pakistan, according to the petroleum
minister, the cost would reach $10 USD per million British thermal units (MMBtu)
while the production costs in the US shale gas plays ranged from $2.8–3.6 USD
per MMBtu.

Pakistan stand out, ranking very high based on the size of their oil resources and
exposure to baseline water stress, while, China, Mexico, and South Africa stand
out, ranking very highly based on the size of their shale gas resources and exposure
to baseline water stress. Pakistan has the technology for exploring conventional oil
and gas that could be used for exploiting shale oil and gas. However, lack of
technology and experience are the basic challenges to pursue the shale oil and gas
development in Pakistan on a large scale. Moreover, large water demand for
hydraulic fracturing and high production costs may affect the successful
development of shale resources in the country. Thus, the real challenges are the
availability of water and higher cost of drilling as one well requires 3–8 million
barrels of water. Shale gas will cost $10 per Million British Thermal Unit.
However, the cost will come down with the increase in recovery of untapped.
These challenges could have been overcome by initiation of bilateral cooperation
with the US for enhancing the technology and experience. In fact, Pakistan can
utilize the expertise of countries especially neighbor China which are providing
commercial shale gas production. The US can also be considered as it has a good
and long-term experience as well as the necessary technology for production from
shale and tight gas reservoirs (Gale and Holder 2010).
Table 1: Potential Shale gas and Oil Reserves Including Pakistan

1.8) CONCLUSIONS
Pakistan is holding 16th largest shale gas reserves in the world. This study
evaluates the shale gas potential of Pakistan as an effective solution for the energy
crisis and development of a low-carbon economy in the future. As such, energy
status and shale gas potential of Pakistan were studied and compared with the
worldwide reserves. It seems that the worldwide energy supply is primarily being
fulfilled by high carbon emissions fossil fuels such as oil and coal. On the other
hand, Pakistan is currently consuming a significant amount of domestic natural gas
and crude oil with an emphasis on natural gas/liquefied natural gas (LNG) import
and coal power projects to cater future energy demands. It was concluded that
Pakistan needs to develop and produce shale gas by utilizing the experience of
developed countries. Supply of gas from shale can overcome the energy crisis,
dependent on crude oil/LNG imports, strength the economy and fulfill the
international commitment to low-carbon emission truly.

1.9) MAP SHOWING SHALE GAS RESERVES IN PAKISTAN