Book Description

The Devonian Horn River basin of northeastern British Columbia is the largest producing shale gas field in Canada. It has an estimated 500-600 TCF of light hydrocarbons in place stacked in multiple formations in an over-pressured setting conducive to, but too tight for natural flow. Not until the development of new drilling and production technologies were implemented a little over a decade ago were these massive resource plays able to be exploited. Shale development in British Columbia began in 2005 with the Triassic Montney Play, and shortly after that the Horn River Play in 2007. As of 2012, the Horn River Basin comprises 28% of British Columbia's recoverable gas reserves. However, recoverable gas is only about 15% of gas-in-place, and this phenomenon is the result of rock, pore and fluid characteristics and interactions that restrict the transport of fluid from the pores of the rock matrix, into the natural and induced fracture network and ultimately the wellbore. Research surrounding rock-fluid interactions and dynamics and their relationship with the geochemical properties of the formation is necessary in order to evaluate a reservoir's producibility. Therefore, the focus of this research is centered on studying pore topology and geochemical correlations and their implications to steep production decline in shale gas wells. Several following experimental methods will be utilized: Video wettability measurements and contact angle measurements to understand the rock-fluid interface, Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure experiments to acquire basic petrophysical properties and assess pore-size distribution and architecture, and a spontaneous imbibition study to measure the uptake of fluids via capillary pressure and assess pore connectivity probability. These together, analyzed along with geochemical data and well logs gathered from the Oil and Gas Commission in British Columbia will be used to interpret the producibility within the Horn River Formation's three members.