A Production Characterization of the Eagle Ford Shale, Texas - A Bayesian Analysis Approach

Placement of the horizontal well within the best landing zone is critical to maximize well productivity, thus identification of the best landing zone is important. This paper illustrates an integrated semi-analytical workflow to carry out the stratigraphic characterization of the Eagle Ford shale to identify the best landing zone. The objective of this work is twofold: 1) to establish a workflow for stratigraphic characterization and 2) to understand the local level variability in the well performance.To establish the workflow, we have used the production data, petrophysical information and regional reservoir property maps. As a first step of the workflow, we subdivided the Eagle Ford shale into nine smaller stratigraphic units using the wireline signatures and outcrop study. In the second step, we have used statistical methods such as linear regression, fuzzy groups and theory of granularity to capture the relationship between the geological parameters and the well performances. In this step, we identified volume of clay (Vclay), hydrocarbon filled porosity (HCFP) and total organic carbon (TOC) as key drivers of the well performance. In the third step, we characterized the nine smaller units and identified four stratigraphic units as good reservoirs with two being the best due to their low Vclay, high HCFP and high TOC content.Finally, we reviewed the well paths of four horizontal wells with respect to the best stratigraphic units. We observed that production behavior of these wells is possibly driven by their lateral placement. The better producing wells are placed within the middle of the best stratigraphic units whereas the poor wells are going out the best stratigraphic units. This investigation provides a case study that demonstrates the importance of integrating datasets to identify best landing zones and the suggested workflow can be applied to other areas and reservoirs to better identify targetable zones.

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Characterization of Eagle Ford Shale

Engineering Geology ◽

10.1016/s0013-7952(02)00151-5 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 67 (1-2) ◽

pp. 169-183 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Sung-Chi Hsu ◽

Priscilla P Nelson

Keyword(s):

Eagle Ford Shale ◽

Eagle Ford

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Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Diffusion-Based Huff-n-Puff Gas Injection into Lower Eagle Ford Shale Samples

Proceedings of the 7th Unconventional Resources Technology Conference ◽

10.15530/urtec-2019-402 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Qinwen Fu ◽

Sherifa Cudjoe ◽

Reza Barati ◽

Jyun-Syung Tsau ◽

Xiaoli Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Numerical Investigation ◽

Gas Injection ◽

Eagle Ford Shale ◽

Eagle Ford

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Spectro-mechanical Characterization of Aromaticity and Maturity of Kerogens in Oil Shale at 6 nm Spatial Resolution

10.26434/chemrxiv.7336160 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Devon Jakob ◽

Le Wang ◽

Haomin Wang ◽

Xiaoji Xu

Keyword(s):

Spatial Resolution ◽

Oil Shale ◽

Infrared Imaging ◽

Mechanical Characterization ◽

Optical Diffraction ◽

Chemical Compositions ◽

Valuable Insight ◽

Eagle Ford Shale

<p>In situ measurements of the chemical compositions and mechanical properties of kerogen help understand the formation, transformation, and utilization of organic matter in the oil shale at the nanoscale. However, the optical diffraction limit prevents attainment of nanoscale resolution using conventional spectroscopy and microscopy. Here, we utilize peak force infrared (PFIR) microscopy for multimodal characterization of kerogen in oil shale. The PFIR provides correlative infrared imaging, mechanical mapping, and broadband infrared spectroscopy capability with 6 nm spatial resolution. We observed nanoscale heterogeneity in the chemical composition, aromaticity, and maturity of the kerogens from oil shales from Eagle Ford shale play in Texas. The kerogen aromaticity positively correlates with the local mechanical moduli of the surrounding inorganic matrix, manifesting the Le Chatelier’s principle. In situ spectro-mechanical characterization of oil shale will yield valuable insight for geochemical and geomechanical modeling on the origin and transformation of kerogen in the oil shale.</p>

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