Friday, February 28th, 1:30 PM
Hamilton Hall Auditorium
By Bruce Hart of Statoil
Abstract: what is a Shale? Clarifying the Muddy Waters
Bruce Hart,
Leading Researcher, Statoil North America
Recent petroleum industry interest in “shale plays” has
highlighted some longstanding terminology problems for the sedimentary geology
community. Accentuating the problem is that the word “shale” is used in
three main ways: 1) to define a rock type (i.e., equivalent to mudstone or
mudrock), 2) to name stratigraphic units that are not wholly comprised of
mudstone (e.g., Mancos Shale, Eagle Ford Shale, Barnett Shale), and 3) to define
a play type wherein horizontal wells and hydraulic fracturing are used to
enhance production from low-permeability, and generally but not always “shaly”,
reservoirs. Clarifying these muddy waters will require sedimentary
geologists to rethink traditional (i.e. grain-size based) classification schemes
for fine-grained rocks, and it will require the petroleum industry to better
clarify the petroleum systems of unconventional reservoirs.
Hamilton Hall Auditorium
By Bruce Hart of Statoil
Abstract: what is a Shale? Clarifying the Muddy Waters
Bruce Hart,
Leading Researcher, Statoil North America
Recent petroleum industry interest in “shale plays” has
highlighted some longstanding terminology problems for the sedimentary geology
community. Accentuating the problem is that the word “shale” is used in
three main ways: 1) to define a rock type (i.e., equivalent to mudstone or
mudrock), 2) to name stratigraphic units that are not wholly comprised of
mudstone (e.g., Mancos Shale, Eagle Ford Shale, Barnett Shale), and 3) to define
a play type wherein horizontal wells and hydraulic fracturing are used to
enhance production from low-permeability, and generally but not always “shaly”,
reservoirs. Clarifying these muddy waters will require sedimentary
geologists to rethink traditional (i.e. grain-size based) classification schemes
for fine-grained rocks, and it will require the petroleum industry to better
clarify the petroleum systems of unconventional reservoirs.