Worldwide, unconventional resources are important sources of oil and gas when
most conventional resources are declining and demand for hydrocarbons is growing. The
Masters? (1979) concept of the energy resource triangle suggest that the exploitation of
unconventional reservoirs is particularly sensitive to both technology and commodity
price parameters.
In the United States, production from unconventional reservoirs has been stimulated
by a combination of Federal tax credits, technical development programs -supported by
government agencies and private organizations- and high commodity prices. In this work,
the effect of technology and different economic events for selected unconventional oil
and gas plays in the United States was evaluated according to the concept of the Resource
Triangle Theory (RTT).
Studies conducted in the Austin Chalk -our textbook case- and other seven unconventional
plays in the United States have supported the RTT concept that high prices and
better technologies do result in more drilling activity and more oil and gas production
from unconventional reservoirs. For instance, two approaches were employed to support
RTT concept: Correlation study and Forecasting graphs. On the first one, correlations of commodity prices and technology with drilling activity
demonstrated that periods of high commodity prices coincide with increase in unconventional
producing wells approximately 75% from selected plays in this study.
The second one shows that high prices and technological advances also translate into
additional oil and gas production and reserves. This behavior was observed through the
analysis of a series of decline production curves using a VBA program in Excel that
compute oil and gas production volumes and their corresponding economic values under
specific conditions. The results indicated that maximum value of approximately $50 billion
oil plus gas would have been possible using conventional hydraulic fracturing technology
only. Moreover, subsequent episodes of high commodity allow the introduction
of new technologies that have boosted even more oil and gas production from the plays.
Great examples are the use of horizontal and multilateral wells which has opened up additional
areas for development, such as the Barnett Shale and the Bakken Shale. Using
horizontal wells has also revived older plays, such as the Austin Chalk. The combination
of horizontal well technology and water fracturing technology has led to a dramatic increase
in the development of both oil and gas from shale reservoirs. Current production
schemes suggest that the plays could produce an additional of $320 billion when producing
at rates higher than 5 BOE/day.
Our results confirm the concept of the resource triangle that natural gas and oil resources
can be produced from low quality resources when either product prices increase
or when better technology is available. The seven oil and gas plays studied in this research
are demonstrative examples.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2008-12-123 |
| Date | 15 January 2010 |
| Creators | Flores Campero, Cecilia P. |
| Contributors | Holditch, Stephen A. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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