JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY HYDERABAD

Course Objectives:

• To understand the global significance and distribution of shale gas reservoirs
• To gain knowledge in petro-physical properties, pore pressure prediction, performance analysis, production and testing of shale gas reservoirs.
• To study gas shale asset life cycle and environmental issues and challenges.

Course Outcomes:

• With the knowledge gained on the different aspects of shale gas reservoirs such as organic geo-chemistry, mineralogy, petrophysical properties, geomechanics, reservoir engineering, the students will be able to evaluate and map shale gas pockets in sedimentary basins. Further, they will be able to devise the production mechanisms to extract shale gas.
• Knowing the shale gas environmental issues and challenges such as high water demands and ground water contamination risks posed by hydro-fracturing fluids and waste, the students will be able to address these problems during the exploration of shale gas reservoirs.

UNIT - I

Gas Shale – Global significance, Distribution – Organic matter – Rich Shale Depositional environments – Geochemical assessment of unconventional shale gas resource system.

UNIT - II

Sequence stratigraphy of unconventional resource shales – Pore Geometry in gas shale reservoirs. Petro-physical evaluation of gas shale reservoirs.

UNIT - III

Pore pressure prediction of shale formations using well log data: Overpressure generating mechanisms – Overpressure estimation methods – Role of tectonic activity on shale pore pressure – Geo-mechanics of gas shales. Performance analysis of unconventional shale reservoirs: Shale reservoir production – Flow rate decline analysis – Flow rate and pressure transient analysis – Reservoir modeling and simulation – Speciality short term tests – Enhanced oil recovery.

UNIT - IV

Resource estimation for shale gas reservoirs– Methodology – Reservoir evaluation of shale gas plays. Wettability of gas shale reservoirs: Wettability – Imbibition in gas shales – Factors influencing water imbibition in shales – Quantitative interpretation of imbibition at the field scale – initial water saturation in gas shales.

UNIT - VI

Gas shale challenges over the asset life cycle: Asset life cycle – Exploration phase – Appraisal phase – Development phase – Production phase – Rejuvenation phase. Gas shale environmental issues and challenges: Overview – water use – the disposal and reuse of fracking waste water – Ground water contamination – Methane incisions – Other air emissions – social impacts on shale gas communities – Waste water injection – Earth quakes – Regulatory developments.

TEXT BOOK:

• 1. Fundamentals of Gas Shale Reservoirs, Edited by Reza Rezace, John Wiley & Sons, 2015.

REFERENCE BOOK:

• 1. Shale Oil and Gas Handbook: Theory, Technologies and Challenges, Sohrab Zendehboudi & A. Bahadori, Elsevier Science, 2016.