Use of Drill Cuttings for Optimizing Recovery From Liquid-Rich Shale Reservoirs

页岩和低渗透性（“非常规”）储层（含有大量伴生烃液体）是北美最热门的勘探和开发目标之一。低天然气价格为石油和天然气生产商提供了选择性地追求具有显著液态烃生产的非常规储层（“富液”页岩区带）的动机，而多裂缝水平威尔斯井（MFHW）* 提供了从超低渗透率（纳米级）岩石生产烃的技术。在加拿大西部，有多个富液页岩储层处于开发的早期阶段。 优化水力压裂作业以实现收入最大化，并为MFHW生成稳健的碳氢化合物产量预测，是该行业的两个关键需求。传统上，对于从常规储层生产的垂直威尔斯井，从威尔斯井获得的相对大的岩芯样品可用于测试以获得临界储层性质，其又可用于填充用于烃生产预测的模型。 然而，典型地，可用于获得储层数据的来自MFHW的岩石样品的唯一来源是从沿水平井的长度沿着的间隔获得的少量岩石（钻）屑。 钻屑的定量分析程序尚处于起步阶段。 目前的建议，这是一个更大的研究计划的一部分，重点是非常规油藏表征和评价，因此，重点是改善钻屑分析，以帮助优化水力压裂作业和预测油气产量的MFHWs生产的非常规富液页岩油藏。在投入大量研究资金之前，需要向工业界证明定量钻屑分析的概念-目前提案的目的是提供这种概念证明，并开辟新的研究途径。 这项研究的创新之处在于应用了以前从未使用过的技术，用于量化水平井沿着多个井段获得的钻屑的流体流动和岩石力学性质，从而为井评价和优化提供了前所未有的机会。 这项研究的第一阶段将集中在从岩屑中提取临界储层和岩石力学性质的实验方法上，而第二阶段将应用这些数据来优化和预测MFHWs。 拟议的研究的好处是，它将有助于加拿大富液页岩资源的有效开发，需要改进的评估方法。 这些非常规资源对加拿大人具有战略重要性。 * 水平威尔斯井沿井沿着在多个阶段进行水力压裂

Shale and low-permeability (“unconventional”) reservoirs that host oil and gas (with significant associated hydrocarbon liquids) are amongst the hottest exploration and development targets in North America. Low gas prices have provided oil and gas producers with the motivation to selectively pursue unconventional reservoirs with significant liquid hydrocarbon production (“liquid-rich” shale plays), while multi-fractured horizontal wells (MFHWs)* have provided the technology to produce hydrocarbons from ultra-low permeability (nanodarcy) rock. In Western Canada, there are multiple liquid-rich shale reservoirs which are at early stages of development. Optimizing hydraulic-fracturing operations to maximize revenue, and generating robust hydrocarbon production forecasts for MFHWs, are two critical needs for the industry. Traditionally, for vertical wells producing from conventional reservoirs, relatively large rock core samples obtained from the wells have been available for testing to obtain critical reservoir properties which can in turn be used to populate models for hydrocarbon production forecasting.  However, typically the only source of rock samples from MFHWs that can be used to obtain reservoir data are small quantities of rock (drill) cuttings obtained from intervals along the length of the horizontal well.  Quantitative analysis procedures for drill cuttings are in their infancy. The current proposal, which is a component of a greater research program focused on unconventional reservoir characterization and evaluation, is therefore focused on improving drill cuttings analysis to aid in optimizing hydraulic-fracture operations and forecasting hydrocarbon production for MFHWs producing from unconventional liquid-rich shale reservoirs. The concept of quantitative drill cuttings analysis will need to be proved to industry before significant research dollars are invested - the intent of the current proposal is to provide this proof of concept and open up new avenues of research.  The innovation of this research is the application of never-before-utilized technologies for quantifying fluid flow and rock mechanical properties from drill cuttings obtained at multiple intervals along a horizontal well, enabling unprecedented opportunities for well evaluation and optimization.  The first phase of this research will focus on experimental methods for extracting critical reservoir and rock mechanical properties from cuttings, while the second phase will apply these data to optimizing and forecasting MFHWs. The benefit of the proposed research is that it will assist with the efficient exploitation of Canadian liquid-rich shale resources which require improved methods for evaluation.  These unconventional resources are of strategic importance to Canadians.  * Horizontal wells that have been hydraulically-fractured in multiple stages along the well