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Evaluation of Shale Oil Potential for the Posidonia Formation Within Onshore

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Evaluation of Shale Oil Potential for the Posidonia Formation Within Onshore The Shale Oil Potential of the Posidonia Formation in the Netherlands Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences Delft University of Technology AES / TG / 14 – 17 September 2014 Wouter Willem Mezger 1529242 I Title The Shale Oil Potential of the Posidonia Formation in the Netherlands Author W.W. Mezger Date September 2014 Professor Prof. Dr. S. M. Luthi Supervisors Prof. Dr. S. M. Luthi M. Harings Dr. Ir. R. R. G. G. Godderij J. Lutgert Prof. Dr. Q. Fischer Graduation Committee Prof. Dr. S. M. Luthi Prof. Dr. P.L.J. Zitha Prof. Dr. Q. Fischer M. Harings TA Report number AES / TG / 14 – 17 Postal Address Section for Applied Geology Department of Geoscience and Engineering Delft University of Technology P.O. Box 5028 The Netherlands Telephone (31) 15 2781328 (secretary) Telefax (31) 15 2781189 Copyright ©2014 Section for Applied Geology All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, Stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, In any form or by any means, electronic, Mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, Without the prior written permission of the Section for Applied Geology II III Acknowledgements I would like to thank everybody who helped and supported me during my thesis work. Especially I would like to thank my direct supervisors Stefan Luthi ( TU Delft) and Michiel Harings (EBN) for their guidance and support throughout my project. In addition I would like to thank Jan Lutgert and Raymond Godderij from EBN for the time they took to discuss my project and the suggestions they made on writing this report. I also would like to thank EBN for financing this project and all the colleagues for their hospitality. From the School of Earth and Environment, Leeds University, I would like to thank Carlos Grattoni and Sam Holt for their help on setting up and performing all the experiments. Especially I would like to thank Quentin Fisher for his help on defining the objectives, the measurements and the interpretation of the results. Furthermore I would like to thank Ida Shafagh for her help on the TGA experiments. Finally I would like thank my family and friends for their support during this project and my time in Delft. Especially I would like to thank my parents Chris and Annemarie Mezger and my brother Erik Mezger for their help and support throughout my graduation. At last I would like to thank my girlfriend Yverna Bosch for her help and support whenever needed. IV V Abstract During the last decade shale formations have been successfully explored in the United States and both oil and gas is currently produced from them. This successful development led to a global interest in shale formations. To assess the worldwide shale oil and gas potential, the Energy International Agency (EIA) investigated the shale formations of 43 different countries outside the U.S.. In this, the Netherlands are evaluated to contain 2.7 billion barrels (Bbbl) of Technically Recoverable oil Resources (TRR) in the Epen, Geverik and Posidonia formations. Based upon previous research, Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN) has identified shale formations as possible oil and gas plays. This study investigates the shale oil potential of the onshore Posidionia formation in the Netherlands and evaluates the assessment of the EIA report. Fourteen Posidonia samples from 7 wells were subjected to a number of measurements on both core plugs and chips. The samples experimental methods included TGA, NMR, SEM, GRI and steady-state flow to analyze the pore size and shape of the rock matrix, the Total Organic Carbon, the maturity, the porosity, the permeability, the pore content, the fluid storage and the flow mechanism of the samples. When combined these parameters can give a prediction of the shale oil potential of a rock. In addition, the samples were tested under three different sample conditions: drier, wetter or “as-received”. This was done because the in-situ conditions, dry, wet, of the samples may affect the measurement but are not known. The Posidionia formation is known to have generated oil and on the Van Krevelen diagram, based on maturity and TOC, samples are located in the oil generating region of the plot. From the TGA and NMR experiments it was proven that oil is present in the shale samples, although this is identified as bound or trapped oil. Based on evaluations with NMR and GRI it was found that the sample material was dried out during storage and that the samples are likely to contain movable hydrocarbons. The SEM and NMR data suggested that some samples contain pore sizes large enough to allow oil to flow through the rocks. The sample condition is shown to be a crucial parameter for the determination of porosity and permeability. Different conditions resulted in porosity differences of up to a factor of three, for the measured sample porosity. The GRI experiment has proven the molecular sieving effect, meaning that permeability decreases if a gas is used with a larger molecule size. The results were combined to assess the heterogeneity of the formation. based on the large spread of petrophysical properties of the samples it was found that the Posidonia shale is highly heterogeneous. Therefore it is concluded that a statement regarding the technically recoverable resources cannot be made at this stage. It is recommended to evaluate fresher sample material with the same methodology as used in this study. VI VII Table of contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... IV Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ VI Table of contents ....................................................................................................................... VIII Table of Figures ......................................................................................................................... XII Table of Tables ............................................................................................................................ XV Table of Equations ...................................................................................................................... XV Nomenclature ................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Objectives .............................................................................................................. 2 1.2 Terminology ........................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Research Outline ................................................................................................................... 4 2 EIA Shale Oil Resource Assessment .................................................................................... 5 2.1 EIA Resource Assessment Methodology ................................................................................ 5 2.1.1 Initial Assessment of Formations & Areal Extents ........................................................ 7 2.1.2 Shale Oil-in-Place Estimation ........................................................................................ 8 2.1.3 Risked Oil-in-Place Formulation .................................................................................... 9 2.1.4 Technically Recoverable Resources (TRR) ................................................................. 10 2.2 Discussion of the Methodology ........................................................................................... 11 3 Shale Plays ............................................................................................................................ 12 3.1 Geological History .............................................................................................................. 12 4 Key-Properties for Productive Shale Oil Plays ................................................................. 15 4.1 Shale Oil Production ........................................................................................................... 15 4.2 General Properties of Shale Oil Formations ...................................................................... 16 4.2.1 Total Organic Carbon and Maturity ............................................................................. 16 4.2.2 Pore Size and Shape ..................................................................................................... 18 4.2.3 Porosity ......................................................................................................................... 20 4.2.4 Permeability .................................................................................................................. 21 4.2.5 Fluid Storage and Flow Mechanism ............................................................................. 22 5 Data Acquisition and Laboratory Methodology ............................................................... 23 5.1 Core Material ...................................................................................................................... 23 5.2 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) ................................................................................ 26 VIII 5.3 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) .................................................................................
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