Natural gas extraction is experiencing what has been called a quiet revolution. The industry historically viewed natural gas as trapped in reservoirs, where it collects over thousands of years after exiting source rock. Though hard to find, the reservoirs easily give up large amounts of their holdings when penetrated by drilling. But what if natural gas could be extracted directly from source r...

Unconventional shale reservoirs as the result of extremely low matrix permeability, higher potential gas productivity requires not only sufficient gas-in-place, but also a high concentration of brittle minerals (silica and/or carbonate) that is amenable to hydraulic fracturing. Shale lithofacies is primarily defined by mineral composition and organic matter richness, and its representation as a...

Physical and geochemical characteristics of shale play conclusive role in confirming operation measures during drilling and stimulation. The properties of shale samples from Jiyang depression were investigated through X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, adsorption isothermal, high pressure mercury intrusion, methylene blue trihydrate, pressure pulse decay, tests of specific water w...

Recent reports show growing reserves of unconventional gas are available and that there is an appetite from policy makers, industry, and others to better understand the GHG impact of exploiting reserves such as shale gas. There is little publicly available data comparing unconventional and conventional gas production. Existing studies rely on national inventories, but it is not generally possib...

BACKGROUND The United States has experienced a boom in natural gas production due to recent technological innovations that have enabled this resource to be produced from shale formations. OBJECTIVES We reviewed the body of evidence related to exposure pathways in order to evaluate the potential environmental public health impacts of shale gas development. We highlight what is currently known ...

The shale gas exploration and development is now a delicate and controversial subject. It is often assumed that unconventional exploration and extraction automatically brings prosperity for local, national and regional economies. In this paper, we argue that shale gas development requires a contextualized understanding of regional issues. We are also trying to identify the opportunities and the...

Conventional petroleum reservoir simulators use constant rock compressibility to denote deformation. However, due the stress-sensitive nature of shale formations, using in does not accurately capture pressure diffusion reservoir, leading a higher error margin flow rate estimation. Fluid coupling with geomechanics is used account for such phenomenon numerically. Such an approach important numeri...

Multi-stage hydraulic fracturing of horizontal wells is the main stimulation method in recovering gas from tight shale gas reservoirs, and stage spacing determination is one of the key issues in fracturing design. The initiation and propagation of hydraulic fractures will cause stress redistribution and may activate natural fractures in the reservoir. Due to the limitation of the analytical met...

Unconventional hydrocarbon resources from low-permeability formation, i.e., tight sands and shales, are currently received great attention because of their potential to supply the entire world with sufficient energy for the decades to come. In the past few years, as a result of industry-wide R&D effort, progresses are being made towards commercial development of gas and oil from such unconventi...