TY - JOUR
T1 - Biogeomechanical alteration of near-wellbore properties
T2 - Implications for hydrocarbon recovery
AU - Kolawole, Oladoyin
AU - Ispas, Ion
AU - Kumar, Mallika
AU - Huffman, Katelyn
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge Chevron Corporation for the support provided for this study. Thanks to Dr. Joachim Weber, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University for providing resources for the microbial culturing and treatment experiment. The authors are grateful to Dr Bo Zhao and the College of Arts & Sciences Microscopy (CASM), Texas Tech University. The pressure decay permeability measurement was conducted at the Premier Oilfield Group Laboratory. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analyses were performed at the Clay Mineralogy Laboratory, Department of Geosciences, Texas Tech University.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Shale gas reservoirs, with typically ultra-low permeabilities, have been a major focus of hydrocarbon production over the past few decades. In this paper, we investigated how biogeomechanical alteration of near-wellbore properties could potentially impact hydrocarbon recovery from low-permeability reservoirs, using Wolfcamp shale and Niobrara shale formations. We first obtained the geomechanical properties using the scratch test method, in addition to the mineralogical, microstructural, and porosity and permeability measurements of the shale gas samples. Subsequently, we treated the core samples with a cultured microbial solution at distinct conditions. Further, we obtained the corresponding new geomechanical properties, in addition to the new mineralogical, microstructural, and porosity measurements of the samples impacted by the process. Finally, we showed the implications of the altered near-wellbore properties for hydrocarbon recovery from shale gas reservoirs. Our results suggest that in shale gas reservoirs, microbial-induced alterations of near well-bore properties could temporally reduce its mechanical integrity (Wolfcamp shale = −21% unconfined compressive strength, −42% scratch toughness; Niobrara shale = −24% unconfined compressive strength, −14% scratch toughness), increase porosity (+43%) and permeability (+6430%), and impact the microstructural and mineralogical properties. The near-wellbore biogeomechanical alterations could potentially improve hydrocarbon recovery by enhancing: (1.) the susceptibility for induced fractures to nucleate and propagate during reservoir-stimulation; (2.) flow pathways to improve hydrocarbon recovery.
AB - Shale gas reservoirs, with typically ultra-low permeabilities, have been a major focus of hydrocarbon production over the past few decades. In this paper, we investigated how biogeomechanical alteration of near-wellbore properties could potentially impact hydrocarbon recovery from low-permeability reservoirs, using Wolfcamp shale and Niobrara shale formations. We first obtained the geomechanical properties using the scratch test method, in addition to the mineralogical, microstructural, and porosity and permeability measurements of the shale gas samples. Subsequently, we treated the core samples with a cultured microbial solution at distinct conditions. Further, we obtained the corresponding new geomechanical properties, in addition to the new mineralogical, microstructural, and porosity measurements of the samples impacted by the process. Finally, we showed the implications of the altered near-wellbore properties for hydrocarbon recovery from shale gas reservoirs. Our results suggest that in shale gas reservoirs, microbial-induced alterations of near well-bore properties could temporally reduce its mechanical integrity (Wolfcamp shale = −21% unconfined compressive strength, −42% scratch toughness; Niobrara shale = −24% unconfined compressive strength, −14% scratch toughness), increase porosity (+43%) and permeability (+6430%), and impact the microstructural and mineralogical properties. The near-wellbore biogeomechanical alterations could potentially improve hydrocarbon recovery by enhancing: (1.) the susceptibility for induced fractures to nucleate and propagate during reservoir-stimulation; (2.) flow pathways to improve hydrocarbon recovery.
KW - Biogeomechanics
KW - Enhanced gas recovery
KW - Geomechanics
KW - Hydrocarbon recovery
KW - Shale gas
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107979173&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jngse.2021.104055
DO - 10.1016/j.jngse.2021.104055
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107979173
VL - 94
JO - Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering
JF - Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering
SN - 1875-5100
M1 - 104055
ER -