(108c) Shale Gas as a Potential Source of Unconventional Reserve for Crude Oil

With a decrease in the conventional reserves available for the recovery of oil, the alternative fossil fuel extraction industry is on a growth. As the development of unconventional oil and gas resources has been progressed, the heterogeneity and complexity of shale gas and tight oil reservoirs have become apparent. In the U.S. primarily shale gas and tight oil is expected to continue growing dramatically in coming decades. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, an assessment of 137 shale formations are identified in 41 countries other than those identified in U.S. At the local level, though the environmental impacts of shale gas and tight oil development may turn out to be significant.

Shale gas and tight oil are unconventional sources of petroleum that are found within the reservoirs with a very low permeability. The oil and gas contained within these reservoir rocks typically will not flow to the wellbore at the economic rates without assistance from technologically advanced drilling and completion processes. Usually, horizontal drilling coupled with multi stage fracturing is used to access these difficult to produce reservoirs. Unconventional natural gas and oil deposits are difficult to characterize overall, but in general are often lower in resource concentration, more dispersed over large area, and require well stimulation or some other extraction or conversion technologies.