Distinguished Author Series

Low-Permeability Gas Sands

by Hossein Kazemi, SPE
Hossein Kazemi is manager of the Engineering Dept. at Marathon Oil Co. 's Denver
Research Center in Littleton, CO. Since receiving a PhD degree in petroleum
engineering from the U. of Texas in 1963, he has been involved in pressure transient
testing and reservoir simulation. He has published more than 20 papers on petroleum
engineering topics. Kazemi is 1981-83 Monograph Committee chairman and has
served on the committee since 1979. He was program chairman and general
cochairman of the 1981 SPEIDOE Low-Permeability Gas Reservoirs Symposium in
Denver. He also has served on the Well Testing and Reservoir Engineering technical
program committees for several Annual Meetings and was membership chairman of
the Denver Petroleum Section during 1975-76. Kazemi received the section's Henry
Mattson Technical Service Award in 1980.

Introduction. Low-permeability or tight-gas reservoirs in stimulation technology. The first factor is easier to
are gas-bearing fonnations with gas penneabilities of achieve than the second. In fact, recent government
less than 1 md and as low as 1 p,d. Gas from incentives have stimulated drilling in tight gas
reservoirs with gas penneabilities greater than 1 md is sands. 13
known as conventional gas. Gas from low-penneability Although stimulation technology has improved
reservoirs, coal seams, Devonian shale, and considerably-specifically, massive hydraulic
geopressured brines is known as unconventional gas. fracturing (MHF) technology-it is very far from the
From a price-incentive point of view, a regulation desired target. As it stands, proper placement and
pursuant to the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 containment of fractures during MHF cannot be
requires that the estimated average in-situ gas controlled or predicted with adequate certainty.
penneability be 0.1 md or less to qualify the gas from Properly placed fractures should improve recoveries
a gas-bearing fonnation as tight gas. substantially. This is why the placement of vertical
A U.S. Federal Power Commission study in 1973, fractures to fonn a well-defined flow network is a
supplemented by the USGS and a second study by fundamental concept in NPC's "advanced
Lewin & Assocs. Inc. in 1978, provided the first technology" scenario.
publicized estimates of tight-gas reserves in several Once a fracture is created, its properties can be
well-known basins in the lower 48 states. 1.2 A more estimated from well-designed pressure drawdown and
comprehensive study by the Nat!. Petroleum Council buildup tests. Nonnally, these tests must last much
(NPC) followed in 1980 3 and later was summarized longer than those in conventional gas reservoirs.
by Baker. 4 These pressure transient tests often are difficult to
The industry has been exploring and producing gas interpret by conventional hand calculation. In the past
from tight-gas basins for nearly 30 years. It was the several years, numerical simulators for interpreting
private sector that developed the basic stimulation such tests have played a significant role. 14 The
technology to enhance gas production from such procedure is to match the pre fracture and postfracture
basins. 5 To accelerate development of domestic gas pressure transient data (drawdown and buildup tests)
resources, the U.S. DOE initiated the Western Gas with a simulator, then to use the simulator to predict
Sands Project in 1977. This project has brought the well's future perfonnance.
government and industry closer in a common cause. In Recently, attempts have been made to develop a
addition to the periodic governmental reports new class of simulators that simulate the creation of a
(exemplified by Ref. 6), SPE and DOE have been fracture using rock mechanics and fluid flow
conducting joint annual meetings to disseminate the principles. The same simulators also are used to
technology. The proceedings of these symposia are simulate producing the reservoir through the created
excellent reference sources. 7- 1O A recent book, fracture. This kind of technology is in its infancy but
Unconventional Natural Gas, also presents a clear certainly adds a new and important dimension to our
picture of various technologies related to tight gas, understanding of stimu'lation technology. 15.16
coal-seam gas, Devonian-shale gas, and geopressured I have presented an overview of the present state of
gas. II The gas from gas hydrates (discussed by the technology. In what follows, I attempt to shed
Holder et al. 12) is very unlikely to contribute much to additional light on pertinent details.
the recoverable reserves.
The magnitude of recoverable reserves from tight-
The Resource Base. The NPC report identifies 113
gas deposits is a function of two factors: (I) price and
natural-gas basins in the lower 48 states. 3,4
other favorable economic incentives, and (2) advances
Recoverable reserves for these 113 basins were
Copyright 1982 Society of Petroleum Engineers of AI ME
estimated from infonnation gathered in a detailed
0149·2136/8210101-1330$00.25 appraisal of 12 already explored basins, as shown in
OCTOBER 1982 2229
 that these fractures enter adjacent beds above and
below the zone of interest. Veatch presents an
excellent review of current hydraulic fracture
technology. 17
Other forms of stimulation, such as the use of
chemical explosives and nuclear devices, have been
considered, but those results have not been as
encouraging as MHF results. 5,11

Fracturing Fluids and Proppant. Fracturing fluids

are water-, oil-, or acid-base viscous emulsions or
gels. Each fluid is designed to have many specific
properties that enable the fluid (1) to act as a wedge to
open and to extend the fracture, (2) to have low filter
loss and proper viscosity to transport the proppants in
Fig. 1-Twelve tight-gas basins appraised in the Natl. the fracture, (3) to flow back to the fracture and the
Petroleum Council study. 4
wellbore after fracturing is complete, and (4) to have
minimal formation damage (i.e., gas flow impairment)
Fig. 1. The three western tight-gas basins-the along the fracture face. Water-base fluids containing
Piceance of Colorado, Green River of Wyoming, and polymers often are used because of good transport
Uinta of Utah-are in the Rocky Mountain area. properties, lower cost, and greater safety. Foams
Basically, gas is accumulated either in the deep sometimes are used to stimulate shallow reservoirs.
blanket sands or in the shallower lenticular sands. It is Proppants are necessary to hold the fractures open, and
estimated that about 40% of the gas reserves are in the they require careful design attention regarding
lenticular sands, which are more difficult to explore strength, transportabilit5' in the fracturing fluids, and
and produce than are the blanket sands. The NPC cost. Howard and Fast and Satriana II discuss
report puts the tight-gas recoverable reserves in the fracturing fluids and proppants in detail.
range of 190 to 570 Tcf (5.4 to 16x 10 12 m 3 ),
equivalent to 30 to 100 billion bbl (4.7 to 15.9x 10 9 Fracture Design and Calculations. To determine the
m 3) of crude oil. This should be compared with the size, amount of proppants, and fracture conductivity,
estimated 800 Tcf (22.6x 10 12 m 3 ) of conventional an estimate is needed of the fracture width, height,
gas to be discovered. Current U.S. proved and length before a fracturing job. In addition, length
conventional gas reserves are estimated at 200 Tcf and fracture conductivity are used to forecast the
(5.6 x 10 12 m 3 ), with an annual production rate of 20 production decline behavior with time, as well as
Tcf(0.6X10 12 m 3 /yr). ultimate gas recovery.
It is evident that tight-gas reserves can contribute Several hand-calculation methods have been
substantially to U.S. energy supply. At present, 5% of developed to estimate the width and length of a
the produced natural gas is from such reservoirs, but it fracture given the injection rate, fracture height,
can be as much as 50% by the year 2020. 4 The daily injected-fluid rheological and filtration properties, and
flow rate per well could be anywhere from 50 to 5,000 reservoir-rock mechanical and filtration
McflD (1.4 to 1415x10 3 m 3 /d). Cumulative gas- characteristics. 5 ,18 For ease of use and flexibility,
recovery potential from coal seams, Devonian shale, when many iterations are required, hand-calculation
and geopressured brines is estimated to be as high as methods should be programmed for a small desk-top
18 % of tight gas in the year 2000. calculator or a minicomputer.
Those estimates and appraisals are subject to In the past 5 years, more elaborate fracture
considerable uncertainty. Nonetheless, we can be sure calculation methods have been developed. 15,16 These
that a vast amount of recoverable gas is available to be methods basically are numerical simulators that, in
produced. complexity, are in the same class as large reservoir
numerical simulators. Whether simple or elaborate,
Stimulation. The proven stimulation for tight-gas fracture design methods cannot predict realistically
deposits is MHF. In such treatments, several hundred what happens in the ground. 19,20 Nonetheless, without
thousand gallons of fracturing fluid and several them, we would be in total darkness!
hundred thousand pounds of proppants could be used.
The fractures generally are vertical and designed to Fracture Treatment Interpretation. Careful
have a fracture half-length on the order of 1,000 to observation of pressure/time behavior during fracturing
4,000 ft (300 to 1200 m). The fractures are formed operations, plus some help from earlier theories, has
perpendicular to the least principal stress in the led engineers to come up with a promising diagnostic
deposit. Not much is known about the nature of method. 21 Simply, when the difference between
fracture containment. In other words, it is very likely wellbore pressure and closure pressure is plotted vs.
2230 JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY
injection time on log-log paper, one can interpret reservoir behavior with time. Earlougher provides the
whether the fracture is propagating (1) radially in the details of such procedures. 25
formation, (2) vertically into the adjacent formations, The second approach is to use a reservoir simulator
or (3) is sanding out. that can account for a vertical fracture. Here again, the
After a fracture is created and the well is put on same basic data are required to make a model
production, the match of pressure/time and flow prediction. 14 The reservoir simulators generally are
rate/time behavior with a conventional gas reservoir more versatile (Le., can account for more elaborate
simulator, which allows for a vertical fracture, could wellbore and reservoir conditions). I believe this
lead to a realistic determination of effective fracture approach is the best method of evaluating a fracturing
half-length. 14 The reliability of such matching job.
techniques improves considerably if high-quality
prefracture and postfracture pressure drawdown and Summary. This paper is an overview of the
buildup tests are available. technology related to low-permeability gas sands. The
salient points are as follows.
Pressure Transient Testing. Both constant-rate and 1. There is no highly reliable estimate of recoverable
constant-pressure transient testing, before and after reserves for tight-gas deposits. Nonetheless, educated
well stimulation, are used to determine reservoir judgment suggests that such deposits are likely to
permeability and near-well conditions. 22 ,23 The latter contribute substantially to future natural gas
includes quantification of well bore damage or markets-perhaps 190 to 570 Tcf (5.4 to 16 x 10 12
improvement caused by hydraulic fracturing. This m 3), equivalent to 30 to 100 billion bbl (4.7 to
information is used to forecast reservoir 15.9x 10 9 m 3) oil.
performance. 24 2. Favorable price and other economic incentives are
Before well stimulation, the production rate can be needed to attain high recoveries. In addition,
so small that wellbore storage and other wellbore stimulation technology must improve substantially for
phenomena generally mask the otherwise interpretable further increases in recoverable reserves. We have a
pressure/time data. Bottomhole shut-in tests, such as long way to go in developing the technology needed to
drillstem testing, reduce wellbore storage; nonetheless, recover a substantial amount of gas from tight-gas
one still may obtain only the permeability of the deposits.
damaged zone because of ,the short production time. 3. Proper placement and containment of MHF's is
After well stimulation by MHF, analysis of beyond our control at this time. In fact, the shape and
pressure/time and/or rate/time data is not much easier size of these fractures cannot be predicted with
than before. Chances for success improve if production adequate certainty.
time is long and both pressure and rate are measured 4. Fracturing fluids and proppants can affect
carefully with time. In general, a long pressure substantially the degree of success of a stimulation
buildup after a long drawdown provides a better job-i.e., fracture size and the postfracture gas rate are
pressure/time record for formation evaluation. very dependent on the injected material.
In tight-gas reservoirs, some wells are produced 5. Pressure transient testing and reservoir simulation
directly against a gathering-line pressure. In such have contributed substantially to the understanding and
cases, the wells produce at declining flow rates with delineation of hydraulic fractures. In general, pressure
time. To determine reservoir properties, the transient .tests predict much smaller effective fracture
conventional graph of pressure vs. log of time can be half-lengths than expected from hydraulic fracturing
replaced with the graph of reciprocal rate vs. log of design calculations.
time for computational purposes.
A summary of several analysis methods and many Acknowledgment. I thank Marathon Oil Co. for
references are provided by Cinco-Ley, Earlougher, and permission to publish this paper.
Ramey. 22,23,25,26
References
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can be used. The first is a simple hand-calculation Federal Power Commission, Washington, DC (April 1973).
procedure,24 which requires knowledge of the 2. Enhanced Recovery of Oil and Gas, Lewin & Assocs. Inc.,
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thickness, water saturation, fracture length, drainage Report on Unconventional Gas Sources, Vol. V, Washington, DC
area of a well, gas specific gravity, reservoir static (Dec. 1980).
pressure and temperature, and the well's operating 4. Baker, Ovid: "Gas Resources in Low-Penneability Fonnations
conditions (i.e., constant rate or constant pressure). and the Effect of Price and Technology," paper SPE 9897
Once these data are known, use of the appropriate presented at the 1981 SPEIDOE Low-Penneability Gas Reservoirs
Symposium, Denver, May 27-29.
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dimensionless rate (lIqD) and dimensionless time (tD Series, SPE, Dallas (1970) 2.
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OCTOBER 1982 2231

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1-3. Distinguished Author Series articles are general, descriptive presentations that
17. Veatch, R.W. Jr.: "Current Hydraulic Fracturing Treatment summarize the state of the art in an area of technology by describing recent
Design Technology," paper SPE 10039 presented at the Interna- developments for readers who are not specialists in the topics discussed. Written by
tional Petroleum Exhibition and Technical Symposium, Beijing, individuals recognized as experts in the areas, these articles provide key references
to more definitive work and present specific details only to illustrate the technology.
March 18-26, 1982. Purpose: To inform the general readership of recent advances in various areas of
18. Geertsma, J. and de Klerk, F.: "A Rapid Method of Predicting petroleum engineering. The series is a project of the Technical Coverage Committee.

2232 JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY