Introduction To

Unconventional Resources
Module: Unconventional Resources ,
Module Code : ENG798S2, 2021,
Dr Amir Gharavi

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 Global Energy Consumption

Assessments

• Coursework

• Presentation and essay = 40 % of final mark

• Final Exam

• 1.5 hour closed book exam = 60% of the final mark

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Unconventional Resources
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World Energy Consumption
Natural Gas Reserves Worldwide
Global Energy Consumption

Natural Gas Benefits ?

Natural gas (NG) has several significant benefits compare to other sources of
energy like coal and crude oil. Firstly by using natural gas in most
applications, yields fewer of the following hazardous substances than oil or
coal which affect climate change:

• Carbon dioxide (CO2), which is the main greenhouse gas;

• Sulfur dioxide (SO2) which is the primary precursor of acid rain
• Nitrogen oxides (NO2) which is the major precursor of smog
• Particulate matter (particle pollution), which can affect health and visibility

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Global Energy Consumption

The Shale
Revolution 7
 Global Energy Consumption

Shale Revolution
The “Shale Revolution” refers to the
combination of hydraulic fracturing and
horizontal drilling that enabled the United
States to significantly increase its
production of oil and natural gas,
Conventional and Unconventional Reservoirs
particularly from tight oil formations, which
now account for 36% of total U.S. crude
oil production.

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Global Energy Consumption

Conventional and Unconventional Reservoirs

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US Shale Gas/Oil Plays
Niobrara Bakken

Utica

Antrim
Niobrara

Marcellus

New
Albany
Woodford
Monterey Devonian
(Ohio)
Fayetteville
Geologic Age Sources:-
Granite Wash
Late Cretaceous
Mid. Cretaceous
After Energy Information Agency, 2015 – Lower 48 states
Barnett Haynesville
Jurassic shale gas plays, www.eia.gov, 2015
Pennsylvanian
-Bossier Mid. Mississippian Oil and Gas Financial Journal, Pennwell Corporation,
Early Mississippian www.ogfj.com/unconventional/granite-wash-play-
Early Miss/Late Dev
Late Devonian map.html, 2014 (for Granite Wash)
Eagle Ford Mid. Devonian
Early Devonian
Mid. Ordovician
Variable
 Global Energy Consumption
Oil and natural gas resource categories
For many purposes, oil and natural gas
resources are usefully classified into four
categories:
• Remaining oil and gas in-place
(original oil and gas in-place minus
cumulative production at a specific
date)
• Technically recoverable resources
• Economically recoverable resources
• Proved reserves
1. The volume of oil and natural gas within a
formation before the start of production is the
original oil and gas in-place
2. The next largest volume resource category is
technically recoverable resources, which
includes all the oil and gas that can be produced
based on current technology, industry practice,
and geologic knowledge
3. The portion of technically recoverable resources
that can be profitably produced is called
economically recoverable oil and gas
resources
4. The most certain oil and gas resource category,
but with the smallest volume, is proved oil and
gas reserves. 11
Oil and Natural Gas Resource Categories

Conventional and Unconventional Reservoirs

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Global Energy Consumption
How Large Is the Resource?

Conventional and Unconventional Reservoirs

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Global Energy Consumption

US Oil & Gas Production

Conventional and Unconventional Reservoirs

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US Tight and Shale Gas Production
30,000

25,000
Shale

Gas Production, Bcf 20,000 Tight

CBM
15,000

Conventional
10,000

5,000
Unconventional Gas Production
1991 = 13.4 %
0 2009 = 44.1 %
1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009

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US Oil & Gas Production

Conventional and Unconventional Reservoirs

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 Oil & Gas Convectional Resources
• Trapped by hydrodynamic processes, well defined
oil-water or gas-water contact at their base,
distinct traps, hydrocarbons are in the trap due to
the force of the underlying base of water and a
non permeable rock acting as a seal.

• Hydrocarbons are held only in the pores of the

reservoir rock.

• Production is first from the upward movement of

petroleum fluids out of the well and secondly by
pumping action of fluids which flow to the well
through the pores of the reservoir rock. Any other
form of production is considered to be
unconventional
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Global Energy Consumption

The Unconventional Resource Triangle

Conventional and Unconventional Reservoirs

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 Global Energy Consumption

Unconventional Petroleum Accumulations

• No distinct traps or seal.
• No well defined oil-water or gas-water contacts.
• Hydrocarbons are not trapped by hydrodynamics but by low
permeability.
• No well defined boundaries.
• Larger in place volumes.

Permeability is the
defining factor that
makes them
unconventional.
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 Unconventional HC Deposits
Shale Gas/Oil: Natural gas or oil produced from a shale rock and typically extracted by hydraulic fracturing and
horizontal drilling.

Coalbed Methane: Gas trapped in coal beds that are not commercially practical for coal mining.

Tight Gas: Gas found in low permeability ultra deep conventional reservoirs.

Tar Sands: also called “oil sands” are sandstones containing extra heavy oil similar to bitumen in large quantities.

Oil Shale: Any shallow rock yielding oil in commercial amount upon pyrolysis.

Gas Hydrates: Gas hydrates (or clathrate hydrates) are ice-like crystalline molecular complexes formed from
mixtures of water and suitably sized 'guest' gas molecules.
Unconventional Gases
Global Energy Consumption

Shale Engineering

Conventional and Unconventional Reservoirs

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Potential European Shale Gas Plays

Alum Shale

Midland Valley Baltic Basin

Basin

Bowland
Shale Podlaskie
Basin
North Sea
Dnieper-Donets
Weald Basin German System
Basin
Lublin Basin

Barnett Shale
Fort Worth Basin Paris Basin Saxony
shown on the same Pannonian-Translyvanian
Sources:-
scale for comparison Basin Eberhardt, P., Feodoroff, T., Lui, E., Olivet, C. and Trew, S.,
Carpathian-
Cantabrian
Balkanian The right to say no: EU–Canada trade agreement
Basin
Basin threatens fracking bans, The Transnational Institute, 2014
EIA, Technically Recoverable Shale Oil and Shale Gas
SE France
Lusitanian
Basin Thrace Basin
Resources: An Assessment of 137 Shale Formations in 41
Basin
Countries Outside the United States, 2013
Janas, M. and Dyrka, I., Shale Gas Resources – Europe,
Polish Geological Institute, 2014
Plus three DECC reports
Global Shale Gas Reserves
Commonwealth of Independent States

North America Europe

Middle Australasia
East -Asia
Africa

Latin America

49,709 Tcf
16,130 Tcf

Rogner, 1997 Dong et al., 2012

 Thank you
amir.gharavi@port.ac.uk

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