A Tale of Two Shales: Implications for the Global Shale Revolution
Date: Thursday, 12th December 2013
This presentation will take place at the Royal Cambrian Academy headquarters in Crown Lane, Conwy at 6.30pm. Refreshments from 6.00pm.
Speaker Overview:
Martin Evans is director of international new ventures at Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. He holds Bachelor of Science and PhD degrees in Geology from the University of Wales, and has 28 years of experience with major and independent E&P companies. During this time he has worked in Northwest Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, North America, and Latin America.
Martin’s initial industry roles were as a sedimentologist and as an exploration geologist. In 1997 Martin joined Anadarko in London and worked on exploration and field development in the Ghadames basin of Algeria. In 2002 he relocated to Anadarko’s headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas to lead the global basin studies team. In 2004 he was appointed to lead international deepwater exploration, focusing Anadarko’s’ exploration efforts on deepwater Africa. From 2007-2009 Martin was Anadarko’s chief geologist and director of geoscience technology. In addition to his responsibilities at Anadarko, Martin is an Associate Editor of the AAPG Bulletin and he lectures and teaches a short course in global shale resources at Cornell University.
Abstract:
The Eagle Ford formation of the Maverick basin, Texas, has been one of the main drivers behind the U.S.A.’s remarkable turnaround in domestic hydrocarbon production volumes. The play was successfully targeted for exploration in 2008, and pilot drilling programs in 2009-2010 established productivity and commercial viability. By the end of 2012 there were over 2,000 wells in commercial production.
The Eagle Ford marine shale was deposited in quiet back-reef settings at the southern periphery of the Western Interior Seaway during the Late Cretaceous Middle Cenomanian to Turonian. It comprises grey to black carbonate–rich mudstone interbedded with limestone, giving a thin-bedded, fracture-prone mechanical stratigraphy. The lower Eagle Ford contains Type II and Type III kerogen and is rich in organic content, with average values of total organic carbon (TOC) of around 3%, ranging as high as 8%.
Just few years ago the Neuquén basin of Argentina was considered to be a mature province, with declining production levels. Estimates of yet-to-find hydrocarbon volumes were low. This outlook changed in 2008 when the exploration potential for unconventional hydrocarbons in the Vaca Muerta shale was recognized. The productivity of the reservoir was established by vertical wells in 2010 with flow tests in the range 200-600 barrels of oil per day (bopd). Driven by the potential resource size and initial well productivity tests, exploration activity for the Vaca Muerta shale play has been increasing over the past three years with more than 50 pilot well tests.
The Vaca Muerta marine shale was deposited in reduced oxygen basinal settings distal to a carbonate margin during the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (Tithonian to Berriasian). Dark grey to black organic-rich shales and lime-mudstones accumulated in the central and western areas of the Neuquén basin, with lateral and vertical transitions to more carbonate-rich mudstones and interbedded limestones. The lower Vaca Muerta contains Type II kerogen and has a high organic content with TOC ranging from 2-6%.
The reservoir facies, mineralogy and rock properties of the Eagle Ford and Vaca Muerta reservoirs show similarities, and both have been proven productive for oil and gas. However, there is a remarkable dissimilarity in development maturity between the two plays, and consequently the time interval from first discovery to first production. Eagle Ford production volumes have shown a rapid increase, with current production levels of ~800,000 bopd and ~3 billion cubic feet of gas per day (Bcfgpd). Liquids production is forecast to surpass one million bopd in 2014. The Vaca Muerta shale is still at a very early stage of development and has not yet reached commercial production, despite high estimates of technically recoverable reserves and proven well productivity.
Differences in the observed development maturity, drilling activity and infrastructure build-out give rise to a number of questions: 1) Why has Vaca Muerta development lagged behind the Eagle Ford? 2) Why is Argentina not experiencing an unconventional resource boom to rival that of the United States? 3) Does the Eagle Ford – Vaca Muerta comparative analysis provide insight into the generally slow pace of shale reservoir development in the rest of the world?
To address these questions, and to better understand some of the challenges that resource-rich countries will need to confront to move technical shale resources to recoverable reserves and production, this paper considers the circumstances and enablers that have allowed the United States to rapidly progress shale reservoir development. Applying this analysis to shale resource basins around the world suggests that shortages of key technologies, infrastructure, equipment, and trained workers may result in significant development delays. Furthermore, government and regulatory body support for shale resource development is critical; as is the ability of government and industry to address important environmental concerns. Where government and regulatory body alignment with industry is lacking, the conversion of shale hydrocarbon resources to reserves and production will be delayed – perhaps indefinitely.
Directions to the venue:
RCA, Crown Lane, Conwy, LL32 8AN
