Shale Gas Plays: A Performance Perspective

Sutton, Robert P.; Cox, Stuart Alan; Barree, R.D.

doi:10.2118/138447-ms

Cited by 33 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Shale-gas wells may produce at these pseudo steady-state rates for some hundred days or even for years, depending on the well and reservoir properties. Along with the slow but steady decline in the pseudo steady-state rates, comes one of the foremost operational challenges of shalegas wells, which is to prevent the state of well liquid loading (Redden, 2012;Sutton et al, 2010;Al Ahmadi et al, 2010;Awoleke and Lane, 2011;Lea and Nickens, 2004;Whitson et al, 2012). This state is reached when the pressure support in the well is insufficient to lift co-produced liquids to the surface, causing accumulation of liquids in the wellbore and thereby increased bottomhole hydrostatic backpressure.…”

Section: Shale-gas Production and Operational Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shut-in based production optimization of shale-gas systems

Knudsen

Foss

2013

Computers & Chemical Engineering

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Section: Shale-gas Production and Operational Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shut-in based production optimization of shale-gas systems

Knudsen

Foss

2013

Computers & Chemical Engineering

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“…The liquid accumulation increases the back pressure on the vertical parts of the well, and as the reservoir pressure decreases, the wells' ability to lift out loaded water will be reduced. Eventually the well will exhibit liquid loading recognized by erratic and unstable rates [Al Ahmadi et al, 2010, Sutton et al, 2010, requiring shut-ins to clean-up the well.…”

Section: Pipelinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Shale gas as an energy resource is growing rapidly and currently constitutes more than 20% of the drilled gas production in the U.S [Sutton et al, 2010]. The inherently low permeability of shale, however, makes extraction of the gas very challenging.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Target-rate Tracking for Shale-gas Multi-well Pads by Scheduled Shut-ins

Knudsen

Foss

Whitson

et al. 2012

IFAC Proceedings Volumes

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Abstract:The recent success of shale-gas production relies on drilling of long horizontal wells and stimulation with multistage hydraulic fracturing. This practice normally leads to an initial peak production with a subsequent rate decline, followed by low and erratic production rates caused by water accumulation in the wells. Shale-gas recovery requires a large number of wells in order to maintain a sustainable total gas supply. To reduce the surface area disturbances caused by this extensive drilling and to share available surface infrastructure, the use of multi-well pads is a key driver in shale-gas developments. Furthermore, the inherent rate decline of shale-gas wells, the water accumulation in them and the large number of wells, leads to severe operational challenges for well operators. The fact that shut-ins may be used as a means to prevent liquid loading and boost late-life production rates from shale-gas wells, suggests scheduling of shut-ins to perform maintenance and clean-up of the wells, and to track a target rate for the multi-well pad. In this paper we propose an optimization scheme for shale-gas multi-well pads to schedule shut-ins and to track a target rate. The optimization problem is formulated as a discrete time mixed integer linear program (MILP) with binary variables defining at which times the well is either shut-in or producing. A reservoir proxy model and a well model for each well is designed and tuned against a realistic multi-fractured reservoir model. We demonstrate the benefits and the potential of the proposed methodology through a one-month production planning problem for an eight-well shale-gas pad.

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“…Because of the large reserves and the advantages of lower CO 2 emissions compared to other fossil fuels, shale gas is becoming one of the most important energy sources and has attracted increasing attention (Sutton et al 2010;Kuuskraa et al 2011;Michiel 2011;Shen et al 2015). Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing are the main technologies to produce gas from the ultra-low-permeability shale reservoirs (Shen et al 2016.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methane Diffusion and Adsorption in Shale Rocks: A Numerical Study Using the Dusty Gas Model in TOUGH2/EOS7C-ECBM

et al. 2018

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Gas production from shale gas reservoirs plays a significant role in satisfying increasing energy demands. Compared with conventional sandstone and carbonate reservoirs, shale gas reservoirs are characterized by extremely low porosity, ultra-low permeability and high clay content. Slip flow, diffusion, adsorption and desorption are the primary gas transport processes in shale matrix, while Darcy flow is restricted to fractures. Understanding methane diffusion and adsorption, and gas flow and equilibrium in the low-permeability matrix of shale is crucial for shale formation evaluation and for predicting gas production. Modeling of diffusion in low-permeability shale rocks requires use of the Dusty gas model (DGM) rather than Fick's law. The DGM is incorporated in the TOUGH2 module EOS7C-ECBM, a modified version of EOS7C that simulates multicomponent gas mixture transport in porous media. Also included in EOS7C-ECBM is the extended Langmuir model for adsorption and desorption of gases. In this study, a column shale model was constructed to simulate methane diffusion and adsorption through shale rocks. The process of binary CH 4 −N 2 diffusion and adsorption was analyzed. A sensitivity study was performed to investigate the effects of pressure, temperature and permeability on diffusion and adsorption in shale rocks. The results show that methane gas diffusion and adsorption in shale is a slow process of dynamic equilibrium, which can be illustrated by the slope of a curve in CH 4 mass variation. The amount of adsorption increases with the pressure increase at the low pressure, and the mass change by gas diffusion will decrease due to the decrease in the compressibility factor of the gas. With the elevated temperature, the gas molecules move faster and then the greater gas diffusion rates make the process duration shorter. The gas diffusion rate decreases with the permeability decrease, and there is a limit of gas diffusion if the permeability is less than 1.0 × 10 −15 m 2 . The results can provide insights for a better understanding of methane diffusion and adsorption in the shale rocks so as to optimize gas production performance of shale gas reservoirs.

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Shale Gas Plays: A Performance Perspective

Cited by 33 publications

References 3 publications

Shut-in based production optimization of shale-gas systems

Shut-in based production optimization of shale-gas systems

Target-rate Tracking for Shale-gas Multi-well Pads by Scheduled Shut-ins

Methane Diffusion and Adsorption in Shale Rocks: A Numerical Study Using the Dusty Gas Model in TOUGH2/EOS7C-ECBM

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