Unconventional Resources

The technical solutions we propose have been designed to help our clients to efficiently explore, develop and produce unconventional resources. Over the past years our Consultants and Experts have gained experience in many projects involving:

• Hydrocarbon shales

• Tight gas/oil

• Coalbed methane

More specifically, exploring, developing, and producing unconventional resources calls for specific workflows solving geological, geophysical, geomechanical and engineering issues:

• Shale characterization

• Shale gas volume estimation

• Sweet spot identification and characterization

Shale characterization is performed using multi-disciplinary interpretation methods, covering sedimentology and seismic stratigraphy, petrophysics and seismic characterization for shale occurrence mapping and inter-well TOC prediction.

Beicip-Franlab’s experience in such analytical/interpretation tasks has allowed the implementation of innovative workflows and technical solutions, derived from the ones used for conventional resources. The key to our success is clearly linked to our unmatched capability of building up integrated G&G solutions, where all deliverables are optimized and consistent with each other.

This first step is a key milestone feeding the modeling stage, with the endpoint of an estimation of HC volumes.

Estimation of volumes of hydrocarbons in place is based on extensive use of the Petroleum System Modeling implemented in TemisFlow^®. The objective is to obtain an accurate estimation of hydrocarbons for further reserve evaluations. The proposed suite of technical solutions and expertise goes through:

• Characterization of the organic matter (type, quality, source potential)

• Maturity evaluation, HC generation and quality

• Modeling of retention capacity (adsorption, organic porosity)

• Evaluation of HC (volume and quality)

Besides accurate estimation of volumes, the success of non-conventional projects depends on the selection of the best locations for drilling and further stimulation. In order to minimize risks, we propose a global approach, involving:

• Lithology and TOC mapping from seismic data

• Maturity and GOR

• Assessment of geomechanical parameters (fraccability)

• Assessment of the natural fracture network

• Understanding of the impact of fracturation jobs on the reactivation of pre-existing fractures and generation of new sets

• Prediction of the amount of hydrocarbon fluids to be produced

This calls for the use of advanced workflows and expertise, available through our Consulting Teams:

• Advanced seismic data analysis (including wide azimuth and/or multi-component analysis, when available)

• Detailed modeling of the fracture network , using FracaFlow^®

• Monitoring and integration of induced micro-seismic events into the modeling and flow simulation process (ShaleFlow)

Exploration, development and production of tight gas/oil reservoirs call for a similar approach as for HC shales, as they require a superior understanding of the petrophysics as well as of the natural fracture network.

However in this case, interactions between the matrix and fracture network have to be accurately modeled, which obviously requires both:

• Optimized geological modeling of matrix properties, such as implemented in CobraFlow;

• Rigorous fluid flow simulation to properly recover the matrix/fracture exchange mechanisms, as formulated in our PumaFlow^® reservoir simulation solution.