Permeability

Pore throats of shale are mostly narrower than 10nm and are inside organic
material on which CH4 gets adsorbed. As a result, the gas permeability of these
rocks is significantly impacted by the adsorbed gas and by the slip of flowing gas
on the pore wall.(Sakhaee-Pour & Bryant, 2012). In low-permeable formations
(tight-gas sandstones and shales), commonly, non-linear behaviour of pore
pressure relaxation is observed and the shale micro fabric (preferential
orientation of cracks) exhibits anisotropy(Bayuk, Ammerman, & Chesnokov,
2009). The maximum permeability values are observed in the bedding
plane, which sometimes attain the first microDarcy and even milliDarcy
depending on the effective pressure.(Mohammed, 2007). The low-permeability
characteristics of shales, coupled with reduced wellbore pressures and
expanding pore fluids, can form fractures in a shale and can produce shale
spalling into the wellbore.(Chenevert & Sharma, 1993).