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Unconventional Reservoir: Definitions, Types and Egypt’s Potential

Technical Report · December 2015

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3846.0880

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Unconventional Reservoir: Definitions, Types and Egypt’s Potential
Mohammad Hafez Abdelfattah, Suez University
Ammar Mohsen Abdelalim, Suez University
Mohamed Hamed Ahmed Yassin, Suez University

Introduction
The world will always need energy. Energy is a lifeline for
communications, transportation, and heating and electric
power generation. The most feasible energy source is Fossil
Fuel and therefore the world will always need Oil. According
to table 1, forecasting the world’s production in the next 85
years. Based on three scenarios of the minimum forecasted
production, maximum forecasted production and the most
probable production.
The supply of and demand for energy in the 21st century
can only happen together with scientific-technical
development including financial and political support.

Figure 1: Definition of Unconventional varies with time

Addition, there has been some attempts to differentiate

Table 1: Estimated worlds production
Since the begging of commercial petroleum production in
Pennsylvania 1859, oil producers have been exploiting the
easiest reservoirs, in terms of development. Easy to access,
easy to drill and easy to produce.
Since we have realized that easy to get petroleum is becoming
scarce and harder to reach, and hence we turned to the term
unconventional reservoirs to describe oil and gas
accumulations that are vast in size and lower in profitability
since they require pioneering innovative technological
solutions.
Definitions
1- What differentiate between unconventional and
conventional Ones ?
between conventional and unconventional petroleum
accumulations. These include both technical and economic
considerations.
2- Economic Considerations
Economically, Unconventional Reservoirs are defined based
on the rate of return, specific costs, the EROEI index (energy
returned / energy invested). For example, in the 1970s the U.S.
government defined a tight gas (unconventional gas) reservoir
as having a permeability of less than 0.1 mD (Law B.E. and
Curtis J.B. 2002; Holditch S.A. et al. 2007). This was a
political definition for federal or state tax credits on low
permeability reservoirs (e.g. sandstones, carbonates, coal, and
shale).

There is no sharp definition of unconventional resources that In addition, Baker[1] has based his definition of unconventional
differentiates it from conventional resources. In spite of the reservoirs on a purely economic context. “It is located in a
fact that unconventional resources are the most active reservoir with properties that prevent its recovery by
petroleum plays in North America. conventional practice at current prices”.
The definition of conventional and unconventional varies with
time, depends mainly on technical competency and
economics. As shown in the following table the New Zealand
petroleum and mining institute alters its definition with the
evolution and advancement in the industry.
Table 2: Definition of unconventional petroleum rock and fluids
Notes: * political definition, ** estimation, *** presently accepted
terminology (referring to original reservoir conditions).
 3- Technical Perspective
Due to the recovery dynamics of petroleum in rocks, the
classification of petroleum became a hard task, leading to two
types of hydrocarbon accumulations: conventional and
unconventional. Conventional reservoirs have small volumes
and are easy to develop (due to high mobility or cheap
production technology), whereas unconventional reservoirs
have large volumes but are difficult to develop (due to low
mobility or expensive production technology). Figure 1, shows
a resource triangle, after Holditch S.A. et al. (2007), but with
some modification. The base of the triangle is proportional to
the volume of resource, and its height is proportional to the
transmissibility in its original state.
Figure 2: The resource triangle far petroleum reservoirs
In addition, PRMS “Petroleum Resources Management
System” has differentiated between them by defining each one
as follows:
• Conventional resources exist in discrete petroleum
accumulations related to a localized geological structural
feature and/or stratigraphic condition, typically with each
accumulation bounded by a down dip contact with an aquifer,
and which is significantly affected by hydrodynamic
influences such as buoyancy of petroleum in water. The
petroleum is recovered through wellbores and typically
requires minimal processing prior to sale.
• Unconventional resources exist in petroleum
accumulations that are pervasive throughout a large area and
that are not significantly affected by hydrodynamic influences
(also called “continuous-type deposits”). Examples include
Coal Bed Methane (CBM), shale gas, gas hydrates, natural
bitumen, and oil shale deposits. Typically, such accumulations
require specialized extraction technology (e.g., dewatering of
CBM, massive fracturing programs for shale gas, steam and/or
solvents to mobilize bitumen for in-situ recovery, and, in some
cases, mining activities). Moreover, the extracted petroleum
may require significant processing prior to sale (e.g., bitumen
upgraders
Types of Unconventional Reservoirs:
Oil Shale:
Definition. These are fine-grained sedimentary rocks, which
are rich in immature organic material called kerogen.
Properties. Oil shale is a mother rock, which was not buried
at a depth great enough for thermal maturity, which is
necessary to transform kerogen into oil and/or gas. It contains
more inert mineral matter (Carbonates, silicates or even
sulphides) than coal. Its heating value, when crushed and
burned directly, ranges between (500-4000 Kcal/kg).
Places of Occurrence and Resource Estimation. Shale
oil exists in many countries including the U.S.A., Germany,
China, Brazil, Morocco, and Jordon. It is used on a
commercial scale only in Estonia (in power plants)
Shale Oil is estimated to about 2.6 x 1012 bbl as oil
equivalent of the world resource volume of shale oil, where
the U.S.A have about 2.1 x 1012 according to Fletcher S.
(205a,2005b), USGS.
There are 3 kinds of shale oil quality: (5-10 gal oil /1 t
rock), (10-25 gal/t) and (25-100 gal/t), where the last type is
the most attractive economically.
Recovery Technology and Extraction. Shale oil is produced
by surface or underground mining (room and pillar method).
The mined rock (oil shale) is shipped for a chemical process
called pyrolysis, during which the crushed rock is heated to
400-500 oC (free of oxygen), so that the kerogen is converted
to shale oil and shale gas.
In situ retorting and production, combined with petroleum
engineering methods, are used as a result of environmental
considerations. Wells are drilled with electrical heaters in the
interior of a project area, which heats the rock slowly for
about 1-2 years or more. The oil (and/or gas) is pumped into
traditional wells of depths ranges between 1000-2000 ft.
according to Fisher P.A. (2008). A freeze wall around the pilot
area is established, to prevent the contamination of the
groundwater around it.
Commercial use and Economics. Failed attempts, since
1912, have been made to produce oil from oil shale and to
compete with conventional oil. However, due to the current oil
prices and the depletion of the conventional reserves, shale oil
recovery has been improved a lot. Royal Dutch Shell’s in situ
technologies require 1200 MW of power for each 100 Mbbl
oil produced according to Fisher P.A. (2008). Average shale
oil production cost is greater than 60 $/bbl, which is
comparatively high.
Environmental issues. When shale extraction operation
ceases, groundwater filtrates into the operation area, which has
become permeable, due to production and it may filtrate
residual hydrocarbons or chemicals, so it can be used to
improve recovery. However, due to its heavy environmental
impact (e.g. groundwater contamination), environmentalists
oppose the production and usage of oil shale
Oil Shale potential in Egypt. Discovered in 1940, as a
result of self-ignition rocks near populated areas or areas of
civil works. Early studies by 1970 presented that Egypt had a
potential for economic shale oil accumulations in the Quseir-
Safaga (Red Sea Region) 5 Bbbl, and Abu Tartour area
(Eastern Desert) 1.2 Bbbl.
The reserves in Red Sea region and Eastern Desert region
were then raised to 8.11 Bbbl by a study ventured between
EMRA Egyptian Mineral Resources Agency and Canadian
Consortium Centurion, later bought by Dana Gas.
There are also other possible Oil Shale reserves in the vicinity
of Edfu (Nile Valley Region), Abu Zenima (Western Sinai
Region) and Al Maghara (Northern Sinai Region). These
regions are waiting for research and exploration opportunities
in order to asses and evaluate the probability of commercial
production
Figure 3: Oil Shale Map
Coal-Bed Methane Gas
Definition Coal bed methane (CBM) is natural gas that is
stored (or absorbed) in deeply buried coal seams. It has been
employed with ventilation and/or drilled production wells to
depressurize coal seams in order to prevent the formation of
an air-methane blasting mixture during coal mining
Properties. Coal originates from buried organic matter in
an environment free from oxygen. Biogenic methane is
produced during the transformation process. With deeper
burial, Carbon-carbon bonds break up generating gas as well
as liquid hydrocarbons. More deeply buried bituminous coals
crack generating thermogenetic methane.
During these transformations, coal shrinks, microporosity
increases and coal strength decreases and fractures occur. Coal
Seams generally contain methane, but carbon dioxide CO2,
nitrogen N2, ethane C2H5, hydrogen sulphide H2S, and
hydrogen H2 can also occur in them. The quantity of adsorbed
gas at a shallow depth is usually higher than the quantity of
conventional gas located at the same depth; it depends on the
pressure, type of coal, temperature, burial and uplift history.
Places of Occurrence and Resource Estimation.
According to Kawata Y. and Fujita K. (2001), the CBM gas
volume distribution is as follows:
North America (33%), former Soviet Union (44%), Central
Asia including China (13%) and other countries (10%). They
estimated the world total CBM resources at 9090 Tcf.
Recovery Technology and Extraction. Fluid movement in
coal is controlled by diffusion in coal matrix and by Darcy
flow in a fracture system. The cleat system is filled with water
at its initial condition in most CBM reservoirs. If aquifer
intensity is low or moderate, reservoir pressure is decreased by
producing water from cleats, consequently amount of gas
exceeds critical gas saturation and the gas flows to the
wellbore. Due to the decreasing pressure, cleats’ permeability
decreases, however due to desorption, permeability increases.
These two opposing effects determine the origin of
permeability and well capacity.
Figure 4: Reservoir Structure of Coal Bed
Enhanced CBM Production. The injection of CO2 and N2
to displace CBM is only in its experimental phase. Gas
injection significantly enhances CBM recovery. The recovery
factors in laboratory cases are >94%. The injection takes place
to displace methane adsorbed on the coal (kerogen) surface
without decreasing reservoir pressure. CO2 frontally displaces
methane, while N2 decreases the partial pressure of CH4,
which results in it’s desorption. CO2 adsorbs on the coal
surface until N2 breaks through practically without adsorption.
Adsorption of CO2 results in coal-swelling and permeability
reduction (e.g. 100 times lower). In the case of nitrogen
injection, N2 breaks through very early, but the permeability of
the cleats may multiply 10 times compared to its original
extent.
Commercial Use and Economics In 1980, the development
of CBM production resulted in CBM proved reserves of about
10 Tcf for approximately 10,000 wells. The technology is
economically viable without tax allowances with the present
petroleum price
CBM Potential in Egypt. There is no information
regarding CBM Reserves in Egypt, however Halliburton has
reported the occurrence of CBM in southern parts of Egypt.
Figure 5: Halliburton's Global Coal Map
Tight Gas Sands
Definition. A tight gas reservoir is one having
permeability less than 0.1 mD. The sand is called tight since it
has low permeability due to cementation, compaction, poor
sorting and/or fine rock grains.
Properties. Kuuskraa characterizes a tight gas sand
reservoir as follows: Continuous deposition, Low permeability
and Both traditional and basin center settings.The buoyancy
forces does not succeed because of the low permeability “jail”
: there is only one-phase flow that, due to permeability “jail”,
the relative permeability (and capillary curve) of the
traditional and low permeability reservoirs are quite different.
Figure 6: water Block concept
Modeling the fluid filtration in this type of sandstone rock
is problematical due to the phenomenon of permeability “jail”.
The permeability “jail” results in an unusual form of relative
permeability (capillary) curves, gas slippage, diffusion, or
turbulence flow and it includes different rock types. That is
why predicting the recovery efficiency is a difficult task for
reservoir engineers.
Figure 7: Capillary Pressure and Relative permeability curve
Places of Occurrence and Resource Estimation. The tight
sand gas volume distribution, in 2001, was as follows: North
America (19%), Latin America (17%), Western Europe (5%),
Central and Eastern Europe (1%), former Soviet Union (12%),
Middle East and North Africa (11%), Sub-Sahara and Africa
(10%), Centrally planned Asia including China (5%), Pacific
OECD (10%), other parts of Pacific Asia (7%) and South Asia
(3%). The world is estimated to have a total volume of 7405
Tcf gas located in tight sands in 2001.
Recovery Technology and Extraction. Unconventional
gas is difficult to produce because of its low permeability and
because production mechanisms are poorly understood, which
results in high production costs.
The production mechanism involves expansion,
compaction, and turbulence around the wellbore due to
microdarcy range of permeability. Permeability might also
decrease around the wellbore due to the pressure load,
consequently tight well-spacing and/or fracturing or horizontal
well completion is required. Multistage hydraulic fracturing is
preferred.
For an efficient and economical production from tight gas
reservoirs, well stimulation is required in both vertical and
horizontal wells. The formation is fractured in order to have a
good conductive path between the reservoir rock and the well.
The recovery factor varies from less than 10% to more
than 50% of OGIP, due to the complicated pore structure,
lithology, morphology and the driving mechanism
Commercial use and Economics. Tight gas sand
production between 2010 and 2030 is estimated to be about
5.5-6 Tcf/year in the U.S.A, which is a significant value.
Tight Gas Sand potential in Egypt (Obaiyed Field
Overview). Obaiyed field is a tight gas condensate field in the
Western Desert of Egypt (Aly et a., 2001; Bouman et al.,
2001; Strating et al., 2005). The field is a deep, tight gas
condensate reservoir. The reservoir trap is mainly stratigraphic
with heterogeneous sand/shale sequence. On a macroscopic
level, the reservoir is low permeability, thick sandstone that
contains thin, high permeability sand streak. Several wells
were drilled to delineate and develop the reservoir for
production; all of them encountered tight sands. The high
permeability sand streak varied from the top portion of the
reservoir to the bottom. The reservoir sand contains rich gas
condensate with condensate yield of around 160 bbl/MMscf.
The initial plan was to develop the field using 23 wells to
achieve the required production levels as per the daily
contracted quantity (DCQ). However, our approach to
optimize the field production and the field applications
resulted in achieving the target production by drilling only 13
wells and hydraulically fracturing those wells. This resulted in
savings of around 42% from the project authorization for
expenditure (AFE) while achieving the production target.
Shale Gas
Definition Shale gas is the gas produced from shale. Shale
is a clastic sedimentary rock, well-layered, with clay-size
particles, which is considered as a source and/or a cap rock.
Properties. Shale permeability varies between the range of
micro and nanodarcy. Long completion is required for
commercial viability for this reason, where diffusion flow is
dominant in nanodarcy range and viscous flow is dominant in
microdarcy range. The commercial development of many
shale reservoirs has been made possible by using stimulation
techniques and horizontal drilling.
Each shale play has three types of resources qualities:
- Compact core sweet-spot area (e.g. with resource
concentration of 150-200 Bscf/sq. mile and ultimate
recovery of 3 Bscf/horizontal well)
- A reasonably sized average production area.
- An extensive fringe area (e.g. with resource
concentration of 50-70 Bscf/sq.mile and ultimate
recovery about 1 Bscf/horizontal well)
The high resource quality of gas shale is represented by:
- Thick net pay. (typically 50-600 ft.)
- Porosity is >3 % (typically 2-8%)
- High pressure (overpressure zone)
- TOC is >2 wt. % (typically 1-14%)
- Higher thermal maturity shrinks the in-place organics
and creates more pore space for storing gas.
- Favorable in situ stress for fracturing.
- Depth is 1,000-13,000 ft. typically.
TOC is the potential production of hydrocarbons by the
shale. Thermal maturity is a measure of the conversion of
organic material into shale hydrocarbon.
Commercial use and Economics. The recoverable
resources are probably quite large in the North America from
the quantity of geological and reservoir data available.
However, costs and affordability are still uncertain, but the
higher gas quality in gas shale basins and plays represents a
low cost portion of North America gas production. North
America gas shale contributes over 9 Bscf/day. Gas shale will
account for a third of North America gas production in 10
years’ time.
Its potential in Egypt. The potential of Shale Gas is
describe in detailed in case study
Natural Gas Hydrate
Definition. Gas hydrate is a cage-like lattice of ice or
compact snow. It forms only in the presence of liquid water
(having a gas-liquid interface) even at positive temperatures.
The hydrate can be lit and burns, leaving some water that does
not evaporate during burning.
Properties. Gas hydrates behave more like solutions of
gases in crystalline solids rather than chemical compounds.
Hydrocarbon molecules occupy the void spaces within the
lattice of water molecules. The water framework seems ice-
like because of comparable formation heats. The ice lattice
provides no space even for the smallest hydrocarbon molecule.
There are two types of hydrates:
- Hydrate crystal type I:
 There are 6 medium and 2 small voids.
Water moles are 46. If all voids are filled by
smaller molecules (CH4, H2S, CO2, etc.), the
general formula is 8M46 H2O. If only large
voids are filled, the general formula is
M72/3 H2O
- Hydrate crystal type II:
 This hydrate crystal forms if the number of
water moles is 136 and there are 16 small
and 8 large voids. Its formula is 8M136 H2O
or M17 H2O
Components whose size is larger than the large voids of
hydrate crystals do not form hydrate at all. Depending on the
type of hydrate crystals, there are different natural hydrate
formulas: Methane hydrate (from hydrate crystal type I),
Propane hydrate (from hydrate crystal type II) and composite
hydrate (i.e. Propane +H2S)
Gas components which form hydrate are the following:
CH4 , C2H6, C3H8, iC4, H2S, CO2, SO2, N2 and H2. Hydrate
density is 0.9 g/cm3. The formation heat of ice is 12.35
kcal/mol and that of hydrate is 14-17 or 29-32 kcal/mole.
Above the critical temperature of a given component, no
hydrate forms.
Critical temperatures are as follows: for ethane (14.4 ᵒC),
propane (8.5ᵒC), isobutene (2.1ᵒC), carbon dioxide (10 ᵒC) and
H2S (29.5ᵒC) and practically no critical temperature for CH4
and N2.
Places of Occurrence and Resource Estimation.
Methane hydrate occurs at high pressure and low temperature
in the arctic, below permafrost as “boulders” on the sea floor
and beneath the ocean floor at water depth greater than 500
meter. Hydrate deposits can be several meters thick. If these
occur in sedimentary rocks, the value of hydrate saturation and
rock permeability for future production is very important.
Kawata Y. and Fujita K. estimated methane hydrate gas
resources to be about 731,000 Tcft in 2001
Recovery Technology and Extraction. The following
possible methods can be used:
- Reducing reservoir pressure below hydrate
equilibrium pressure ( a favored deposition situation
when a gas reservoir has a “hydrate cap”) as shown
in the figure 8 below
- Thermal methods.
- Injection Chemicals for dissociation.
 Case Study

Shale Gas in Western Desert

Egypt has four basins in the Western Desert with potential for
shale gas; Abu Gharadig, Alamein, Natrun and Shoushan-
Matruh. Figure 10. The target horizon is the organic-rich
Khatatba Shale, sometimes referred to as the Kabrit Shale or
Safa Shale, within the larger Middle Jurassic Khatatba
Formation.

Figure 8: Messoyakha Field Methane Hydrate Gas Production

Reservoir Cross section
- A combination of the above methods.

The thermal method will be the most realistic one and the
modeling of gas production from hydrate accumulations
located in underground structures can be done with numerical
models worked out for thermal and/or chemical methods in
conventional reservoirs.
A Case study in Messoyakha Field (in Russia) methane
hydrate gas production was conducted as shown in figure 8.
The authors (Makogon Y.F., Holditch S.A., et al) claim that Figure 10: Western Desert Basins
during gas production the gas-water boundary in the reservoir The Khatatba Shale contains approximately 535 Tcf of
(GWC) is constant, therefore additional gas is due to hydrate risked shale gas in-place, with 100 Tcf of risked, technically
decomposition. The pressure decreases in the gas reservoir, so recoverable shale gas resources, Table.
the hydrate cap slowly separates into gas and water. It is
believed that this is the source of additional gas. It is noted
that the system is at, or near to, the pressure-temperature
equilibrium boundary with respect to the original state. This is
considered to be a favorable initial condition for economical
gas production.
Commercial use and Economics. The Messoyakha Field
is the only gas field, connected with hydrate deposit that was
produced on a commercial scale. The U.S.A and Japan have
started their intention to have their technology for the
commercial production of hydrate by 2016-2020. However, it
seems that hydrate deposits will become an available energy
source only in the distant future
Its potential in Egypt. Research shows that methane
hydrates are stable throughout the Mediterranean deep water Table 3: Western Desert Reserves
(>1000 m) basins and potentially occur more widely in the
gas-rich eastern basin; this potential is confirmed on the Nile Conclusion
Delta fan. Therefore, further investigations must be made to
determine the actual reserves of gas hydrate in Egypt.A Egypt has major plays in Unconventional reservoirs, a small
amount of which is being produced e.g. Obaiyed field, and
other projects are being planned for development. This will
benefit the Egyptian economy by providing additional sources
for electric power generation and creating a surplus in natural
gas and fossil fuels. Academic research will also thrive, which
will encourage the students and researchers to perform more
research and aid the government into upgrading our
possible/probable reserves to proven or increasing the volumes
of existing reserves. Moreover, long term small scale projects

Figure 9: Modeled Methane Hydrate in Stable Zone

in western dessert will allow for a socioeconomic
development of the underdeveloped rural areas of Upper
Egypt.

References
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2. József Pápay.: “Exploitation of U nconventional Petroleum
Accumulations Theory and Practice,” English edition (2013) 11-
150.
3. Mahmoud A. S. and Mostafa A. G..: “Oil Shale in upper Egypt
and it’s economic” paper SPE 175752 presented at the 2015
North African Technical Conference and Exhbition, Cairo,
Egypt September, 14-16.
4. Mohamed S. A. K. ..: “Oil Shale Technology and Efficient
Utilization of Oil Shale Resources in Egypt” paper SPE 160910
presented at the 2012 Annual Technical Conference and
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Resources: Egypt Independent Statistics,” September 2015.
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