Page 328 - Fundamentals of Gas Shale Reservoirs

308 RESOURCE ESTIMATION FOR SHALE GAS RESERVOIRS

History Projection
35

30
U.S. Gas Consumption (Tcf ) 20 32% Net import
25
8%

Shale gas
15
23%
Tight gas
10

5 8% Coalbed methane
29% Conventional gas
0
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040
Year
FIGURE 14.6 Annual gas consumption by source in the United States (EIA, 2012).

8 32
arnett (TX
B
Barnett (TX) )
Haynesville (LA and TX)
7 Haynesville (LA and TX) 28
Marcellus (PA and WV)
Marcellus (PA and WV)
6 5 Fayetteville (AR) 24
Fayetteville (AR)
Shale gas production (Tcf) 4 3 Eagle Ford (TX) 16 Percentile
Woodford (OK)
Woodford (OK)
20
Eagle Ford (TX)
Antrim (MI)
Antrim (MI)
% of lower 48 prod
% of lower 48 prod
12

1 2 8
4
0 0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Year
FIGURE 14.7 Shale gas annual production by plays (EIA, 2012).

14.1.11 Drilling, Stimulation, and Completion the shale, particularly its relative quartz, carbonate, and clay
Methods in Shale Gas Reservoirs contents.
Long horizontal wells (3,000–10,000 ft) are designed to place
the gas production well in contact with as much of the shale • Shale with a high percentage of quartz and carbonate
matrix as technically and economically feasible. Large tend to be brittle and will “shatter,” leading to a vast array
volume hydraulic fracture treatments, conducted in multiple, of small‐scale induced fractures providing numerous
closely spaced stages (up to 20 stages), are designed to “frac- flow paths from the matrix to the wellbore.
ture” the shale matrix and create permeable flow paths from • Shale with high clay content tends to be ductile and tends
the reservoir to the wellbore. The production from the hydrau- to deform instead of shattering, leading to relatively few
lically fracture treated well depends upon the mineralogy of induced fractures.