Micro-characterization of montney unconventional hydrocarbon source rock

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The Montney formation is the largest and most productive play in Alberta and British Columbia and one of thelargest unconventional gas resources in the world. Technological advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulicfracturing (aka fracking) have made it possible to release hydrocarbon from the Montney play as well as manyother low-permeability (tight) reservoirs that were formerly inaccessible or uneconomical to exploit. Despitethese technological advancements, many wells still underperform because of the current limitation in fullyunderstanding how reservoir rocks fracture under those complex processes, which are ultimately responsiblefor creating the network of interconnected fractures used to channel and extract the targeted hydrocarbonresource. The objective of this work is to develop a procedure to create a rock mechanics model that could beused to predict the performance of Montney unconventional hydrocarbon source-rock during hydraulicfracturing operations. The expected rock mechanics model will inform a micro-mechanical modeling based onthe finite discrete element model (FDEM) technology. FDEM combines the advantages of large strain finiteelements with those of the discrete elements, allowing for explicitly modelling the propagation of cracks intoan originally intact material, as well as the interaction between the different phases and materials. By modellingthe physical interactions at the micro-scale, FDEM is able to reproduce the response of the tested material as anemergent property of the model. However, the reliability of any FDEM modeling exercise is highly dependenton the accuracy of the used input material properties. A micro-characterization of the hydrocarbon-richsiltstone, together with advanced imaging performed inside a micro x-ray computed tomography machine(microCT), will help to inform and constrain the development of any future FDEM model.