A Comprehensive Reservoir Evaluation of a Shale Reservoir—The New Albany Shale

摘要

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive reservoirrnevaluation of the New Albany shale reservoir in northernrnKentucky and southern Indiana and Illinois. Although initiallyrncompared with the Antrim shale in the Michigan basin, thernNew Albany shale has been found to have very differentrnproduction characteristics than the Antrim. This paper presentsrnthe results of a comprehensive study performed on behalf ofrnthe New Albany Shale Producibility Consortium (NASPC).rnThe objectives of this study were to determine the controls onrnproduction characteristics of wells in the New Albany shale,rnunderstand well reserves, and ascertain the potential for futurerndevelopment in the play. The reservoir evaluation included allrnavailable geologic, formation evaluation, production, andrnreservoir data from multiple fields within the play. During thisrnstudy, core testing was conducted to develop baselinernproperties required for reservoir evaluation.rnStudy results indicated that fracture characteristics withinrnthe play are the key driver for well production characteristicsrnand reserves. In addition, we found that matrix gas porosity,rnbulk permeability, methane adsorption characteristics, and netrnpay thickness also differentiate the New Albany shalernreservoir from the Antrim. The results also indicated thatrnhorizontal wells may have the potential to improvernproductivity and reserves within the play by specificallyrntargeting the characteristics of the fracture pattern withinrnthe reservoir.rnThe results of this paper may be useful to producers inrnfractured shale plays who wish to improve their understandingrnof flow characteristics and well performance. The workrnpresented in this paper is important because it increases thernknowledge base of shale reservoir properties andrncharacteristics and because it describes an approach that canrnbe used to characterize shale reservoirs.