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

蕴藏石油和天然气的页岩和低渗透率(“非常规”)油气藏(以及大量伴生的碳氢化合物液体)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有选择地开发液态烃产量巨大的非常规油气藏(富含液体的页岩)的动机，而多裂缝水平井(MFHW)*提供了从超低渗透率(纳米)岩石中生产碳氢化合物的技术。在加拿大西部，有多个处于早期开发阶段的富含液体的页岩油藏。*优化水力压裂作业以最大限度地增加收入，并为MFHW提供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，对于从常规油藏生产的直井，可以从井中获得相对较大的岩心样本进行测试，以获得关键的储集层性质，这些岩心又可以用来填充碳氢化合物产量预测模型。然而，通常情况下，可用于获取储集层数据的MFHW岩石样本的唯一来源是从沿水平井长度的区间获得的少量岩石(钻头)岩屑。对钻头岩屑的定量分析程序尚处于起步阶段。*目前的提案是专注于非常规油藏特征和评估的更大研究计划的组成部分，因此重点是改进钻屑分析，以帮助优化水力压裂作业，并预测从非常规富含液体的页岩油藏生产的MFHW的碳氢化合物产量。在投入大量研究资金之前，定量钻屑分析的概念将需要向业界证明--当前提议的目的是提供这一概念的证明并开辟新的研究途径。这项研究的创新是应用了以前从未使用过的技术，从沿水平井的多个井段获得的钻屑中量化流体流动和岩石力学性质，从而为油井评估和优化提供了前所未有的机会。这项研究的第一阶段将专注于从岩屑中提取关键储集层和岩石力学性质的实验方法，而第二阶段将应用这些数据来优化和预测MFHW。*拟议的研究项目的好处是，它将有助于有效地开采加拿大富含液体的页岩资源，这些资源需要改进评估方法。*这些非常规资源对加拿大人具有战略重要性。*水平井沿该井分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*** **