Much has been made of the shale gas revolution in the USA, with production from such reservoirs rising from under 1 Bcfpd in 2003, when fracturing/stimulation, horizontal drilling and 3D/4D seismic were first used, to nearly 20 bcfpd by mid-2011.
As in 20, the top three for 2011 were Fracturing/Stimulation, Horizontal Drilling and 3D/4D Seismic, accumulating between them more than 70% of the responses.
What is more, the same technologies have dominated this survey for all 12 years for which data has been published, invariably accumulating more than 60% of the responses between them.
The red quadrant to the lower left is where combinations to be avoided lie – for example, developing ‘heavy’ oil in fractured ‘basement’ may encounter technology and economic barriers.
Of course this diagram is simplistic and the detail is key.
So if ‘conventional resources’ are defined as light oil or ‘clean’ gas in good poroperm sandstone or carbonate reservoirs, what do we refer to as ‘unconventional resources’ at the moment?
We can think about ‘unconventional hydrocarbons’: examples would include ‘heavy’ oil, ‘sour’ gas, ‘waxy’ crude.One could take the view that the best cash flow from shale gas has, in fact, come to oil field service companies that supply fracturing/stimulation, horizontal drilling and 3D/4D seismic, and to the US ‘resource play’ companies that have sold or farmed-down their shale gas assets.For more detailed reviews of the issues surrounding shale gas, I refer you to the work of the respected petroleum geologist Arthur Berman(1)(2).It is not surprising, therefore, that having learned how to apply the key technologies, these US ‘resource play’ companies are switching their attention to shale oil, in most cases in basins which have a long history of conventional oil exploration and are now in decline.The economics of shale oil are generally better than those for shale gas because of the linkage to global oil prices.The operator has mentioned that the crude oil is ‘waxy’ but has yet to publish any analytical data.‘Heavy’ oil is the result of a poor seal, allowing the light components to evaporate or be consumed by bacteria, leaving a poorly-flowing viscous residue.Or we can think about ‘unconventional reservoirs’: examples would include fractured ‘basement’, ‘tight’ sand stones, shales, coal beds, hydrates – in fact anything other than good poroperm sandstones or carbonates.I have then made the small step of combining all of these in a simple 2 x 2 matrix where we can look at Reservoir up the vertical axis and Hydrocarbon Type along the horizontal.I have then made a call about the status of the technology required (for production) and the corresponding economics, especially when known tech nologies are contemplated offshore.Of the items shown here, only Gas Hydrates truly sit in the ‘unknown technology’ category.
Comments Bressay Oil Api
ASPO - Extra Heavy Oil and Bitumen - FC - Peak Oil
Bressay. Mariner H. Bati raman. Fazenda belem. Alto do rodrigues 2. 10. 100. 1 000. Heavy Oil. ◇Tempa Rosa. 11-23°API. ◇Dalia. ◇. ◇. Sup. Canada.…
Hydrocarbon generation, migration, alteration. - CiteSeerX
The oil productivity of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation in the Central Graben, Moray. OIL GRAVITY *API. significant rates The Bressay Field oil in UK3/.…
Producing Heavy Oil – The Subsea Brownfield Challenge.
Abstract Objectives The key challenges concerning heavy oil are not associated with. Mariner 12-14°API and Bressay 11°API, Kraken 14°API, Bentley.…
P1756 - Energy Portal
First Oil is relinquishing licence P1756 at the end of the two-year drill or drop. data 136km2 and the Bressay 1997 3D seismic 164km2. and low API.…
Unconventional No Longer - GEO ExPro
Source Øyvind Hagen / Statoil The fundamental idea in this article is that oil and. Bressay up to 1,000 cP has been studied extensively but no development plan. has estimated recoverable reserves of up to 600 MMb of heavy 13° API oil.…
Statoil-Enviromental Statement Mariner Area July. - Equinor
Jul 1, 2012. reservoir is in the Heimdal channel sands and contains oil of API. at the Vesterled pipeline for the future tie-in of Statoil‟s Bressay field.…
UK Offshore Production - Peak Oil Barrel
Jul 18, 2018. and there are other heavy oil prospects like Bressay cancelled by. Does a certain API density liquid decline faster than a different API.…
Statoil puts Bressay field development on ice – Offshore.
Mar 4, 2016. Norwegian oil major Statoil has decided to postpone the Bressay project development, located on the UK continental shelf, due to low oil price.…
Statoil hunts for additional oil resources at Mariner Upstream
Jul 12, 2017. “We will be looking for oil in the area that we can tie back to Mariner. viscous 12 to 14 degrees API crude means only about 250 million barrels. Shetland Islands capital of Lerwick last week to view some modules before.…