Unconventional Oil & Gas

UNCONVENTIONAL OIL & GAS
COURSE LECTURE NOTES/PRESENTATION

FOR
INSTITUT SUPERIEUR AFRICAIN
D’ENSIGNEMENT MANGERIAL ET
TCHNOLOGIQUE
ISA-EMT, MAKEPE-DOUALA
Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 1

Module UNCONVENTIONAL OIL AND GAS
Petroleum Engineering -IP III Course no. IP 604
Lectures, Nov 2015
Instructor: Pary-cao Agbortar

(MD, Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Douala)
Experience: Fmr. Geoscientist EurOil Cameroon & Bowleven
Oil & Gas UK)
Phone: (+237) 677-32-74-02

660-96-52-84
660-98-02-41
E-mail: aa.parycao@gmail.com
Classes Monday 8.00am-12.00 noon, ISA-EMT Douala

(Office hours): Tuesday 8.00am-12.00 noon, ISA-EMT Douala
Wednesday 8.00am-12.00 noon, ISA-EMT Douala
Thursday 8.00am-12.00 noon, ISA-EMT Douala
Friday 8.00am-12.00 noon, ISA-EMT Douala
and by appointment
Course Description
Introduction to Unconventional
Energy Resources
• What are unconventional resources?

• Where do they occur?
• Economic significance of each
• Technical, economic, political, and
environmental constraints on
development
Petroleum Systems (review)
• Systematic approaches to resource

assessment
• Hydrocarbon origin
• Hydrocarbon migration
• Hydrocarbon entrapment

Low-permeability (Tight) Sands
• Occurrences, resources, reservoir

characteristics
• Drilling and completion
methods
• Facilities, reservoir management,
limitations on development,
present activity
Coalbed Methane (CBM) or Coal
Seam Gas

characteristics
• Drilling and completion methods
limitations on development, present
activity
• Water and environmental issues
Shale Reservoirs (Gas and Oil)

characteristics
limitations on development, present
activity
• Water and environmental issues

Heavy Oil & Oil sands

characteristics
limitations on development,
present activity
• Environmental issues

Gas Hydrates

characteristics
• Recovery methods
• Limitations on development, present
activity
• Environmental issues

Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• What are greenhouse gases

• Sources of greenhouse gases
• Climate change effects associated
with Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Mitigation of CO2 Emissions to fight
climate change

CO2 Management
• CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) – CO2

Sequestration
• CO2 Monitoring related to oil and gas

activities
• Enhanced Oil Recovery-EOR

Introduction to Unconventional
Energy Resources
• What are unconventional resources?

• Where do they occur?
• Economic significance of each
• Technical, economic, political, and
environmental constraints on
development

Introduction to Unconventional Energy
World Energy Demand, Price, Technology and
Independency Drive.
• Crude oil is one of the most actively traded

commodities in the world. Because of this, oil
prices change daily in response to changing
conditions that affect supply and demand.
• Decades of oil and natural gas production in

North America and around the world have
resulted in a decline of conventional
• Finding new reservoirs of oil and
natural gas has become more
challenging and complex.
• Basically, most of the oil and natural

gas that can be produced using
traditional methods is already being
accessed and depleted.

As new technologies are introduced, oil and
natural gas producers are able to produce
“unconventional” oil and gas resources that
were previously impossible to obtain.
In the next decade, over 100,000 shale wells

and one to two million hydraulic fracturing
stages could be executed, with industry
spending close to U.S $1 trillion. This growth
will require knowledgeable professionals in all
areas of exploitation and development.
• One of America's & China’s biggest energy
challenges is dependency on foreign oil &
gas.
• The U.S. imports about half the oil it uses,

putting the nation's energy security at risk and
costing hundreds of billions of dollars per
year.
• Research and innovation on unconventional

oil and gas have been driven by market needs
– specifically concerns over oil and gas
demand & supply – as well as technological
development, and energy security.
• This opens up a new energy revolution in
the oil & gas industry and changing geo-
political consequences that defines the
worlds oil & gas market and future energy
policies in most countries of the world.
• America’s shale gas & shale oil and

Canada’s oil sand revolution has let to a
low price of natural gas and oil in the
world market, but giving them energy
independence from Russia, Middle East
and Europe.
• BP in early Nov. 2015, said the world is no
longer at risk of running out of oil or gas
for decades ahead.
• Existing technology is capable of unlocking

so much fossil fuel that global reserves
would almost double by 2050 to 4.8 trillion
barrels of oil equivalent (boe), the British
giant said.
• With new exploration and technology, the

resources could leap to a staggering 7.5
trillion boe, it said. (Reuters, Nov 2015)
• Economically speaking,
unconventional hydrocarbons are
usually (but not always) characterized
by
 high breakeven product prices and,

as such, become the focus of
attention as conventional resource
supplies deplete or become
unavailable to the multinational
companies Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 20
Major Phases in Oil & Natural gas Development

Types and locations of oil & gas resources
• Oil and natural gas are found in a variety of

geologic formations. In conventional
reservoirs, oil and gas can flow relatively
easily through a series of pores in the rock
to the well.
• Shale and tight sandstone formations

generally have low permeability and
therefore do not allow oil and gas to easily
flow to the well.
• Shale and tight sandstone formations can
occur at varying depths, including thousands
of feet beneath the surface.
• For example, the Bakken shale formation in

North Dakota and Montana USA, ranges from
4,500 to 11,000 feet (1350-3350m)beneath
the surface.

• Coalbed methane formations, often located
at shallow depths of several hundred to 3,000
feet (900m) are generally formations through
which gas can flow more freely.
• however, capturing the gas requires

operators to pump water out of the coal
formation to reduce the pressure and allow
the gas to flow.

• Extra heavy oil and Oil Sand deposits occur
both at shallow and greater depths, such as:
 the Peace River,
 the Cold Lake and
 the Athabasca oil sand deposits, of the
Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation in
northern Alberta, Canada
 the Orinoco heavy oil deposits in

Venezuela

• Shale, tight sandstone, and coalbed methane
formations are located within basins, which are
large-scale geological depressions, often
hundreds of miles across, which also may
contain other oil and gas resources.
• There is no clear and consistently agreed upon

distinction between conventional and
unconventional oil and gas, but unconventional
sources generally require more complex and
expensive technologies for production, such as
the combination of horizontal drilling and
multiple hydraulic fractures.
Global Unconventional Opportunities

Where are the shales?

Unconventional Shale Plays in the Lower 48 states
(with Federal Land shown)

Source: International Energy
Agency (IEA) Energy Technology
System Analyses Programme
(ETSAP) Technology brief P02- May
2010

• Table 1 above shows resources, reserves
and cumulative production of extra heavy
oil, oil sand and oil shale as estimated at
the end of 2005.
• Out of the 2484 billion barrels (BBL) of

extra heavy oil resources, only 60 BBL were
considered economically profitable and
approved for production.

• The cumulative production amounted to 27%
of the reserves (16 BBL). Some 166 extra
heavy oil deposits have been discovered in
the world.
• The largest one is the Orinoco Oil Belt in

Venezuela, with estimated resources of 2200
BBL and a production capacity of 570
thousand barrels per day (kb/d) according to
International Energy Agency (IEA)’s Energy
Technology System Analyses Programme
(ETSAP) May 2010 report.
• As for bitumen from oil sand, at the end of 2005
the estimated global resources were 3272 BBL, of
which only 256 BBL economically profitable for
production. The cumulative production was 2% of
the reserves (5 BBL).
• Some 586 recorded oil sand deposits exist in 22

countries. The largest deposits are located in the
Western Canada sedimentary basin where the
three oil sand areas,
 Athabasca,
 Peace River and
 Cold Lake contain about two thirds of the world
resources.
Canada’s Oil sand deposits
• Canada is the only country where oil sand are
commercially extracted to produce synthetic
crude oil.
• The oil sand production was 1.3 million

barrels per day (mb/d) in 2008.
• With 3272 BBL at the end of 2005, oil sand is

the largest unconventional oil resource.

• For comparison, the 2005 estimate of
worldwide conventional oil reserves was
1215 BBL.
• Also, at the end of 2005, oil shale

resources were estimated at 2826 BBL,
mostly located in the United States.
• They are currently exploited in Brazil,

China, Estonia, Germany and Israel, but
the 2005 production was only 5mb. (IEA
ETSAP, 2010)
• Table 2 shows regional distribution of
unconventional gas resources world wide.
(IEA ETSAP, 2010)
• Shale gas is the largest resource with 456

trillion cubic meter (tcm), followed by Coal
Bed Methane (CBM) with 180 tcm and tight
gas with 210 bcm.
• North America is the continent with the

largest unconventional gas production.

• In the United States between 1996 and
2006, the total production of
unconventional gas has increased by 72%,
mostly based on tight gas.
• Natural gas hydrates are by far the largest

unconventional gas resource, with
estimated resources between 1000 and
5000 tcm. Their exploitation requires
however improved technologies and at
present there is no commercial
production of natural gas hydrates.
What are unconventional oil & gas
resources?
The Society of Petroleum Engineers describes
• “unconventional resources” as petroleum

accumulations that are pervasive throughout
a large area and are not significantly affected
by pressure exerted by water (hydrodynamic
influences);
• they are also called “continuous-type

deposits” or “tight formations.”
• In contrast, conventional oil and natural
gas deposits occur in porous and
permeable sandstone and carbonate
reservoirs.
• Under pressure exerted by water, the

hydrocarbons migrated upward from
organic sources until an impermeable cap-
rock (such as shale) trapped it in the
reservoir rock. Buoyancy is a control to
fluid migration

• Although the unconventional formations may
be as porous as other sedimentary reservoir
rocks, their extremely small pore sizes and
lack of permeability make them relatively
resistant to hydrocarbon flow.
• The lack of permeability means that the oil

and gas typically remain in the source rock
unless natural or artificial fractures (i.e.
stimulation) is introduced into the rock.

• Regardless of how they are produced or the
rock they come from, unconventional oil and
natural gas are essentially the same as their
conventional counterparts.
• The term “unconventional” simply refers to the

methods that are used, as well as the types of
rock from which the oil and natural gas are
produced. We call them "unconventional"
because of their atypical (uncommon, unusual,
abnormal, etc.) geological locations
• The term “unconventional oil” is
synonymous with oil that cannot be
produced, or using traditional
techniques.
• Crude oil that does not flow or

cannot be pumped without being
heated or diluted is called
unconventional crude oil, such as
bitumen
• The term ‘’Unconventional oil’’ deposits
include bitumen and extra heavy oil that
is viscous and more difficult to produce
than conventional oil.
• It covers three main types of oil

resources:
oil sands,
oil shale
and extra heavy oil.
• The term "unconventional gas"
actually covers four main types of
natural gas resources:
shale gas,
tight gas,
coalbed methane(also known as
coal seam gas)
and natural gas hydrates (as
known as clathrates)

• Conventional and unconventional gases
differ not by their chemical
compositions (they are all natural gas)
but rather by the geological
characteristics of their reservoir rock.
• In terms of their chemical composition

(primarily methane), these resources are
identical to conventional natural gas.

• Unconventional formations are fine-
grained, organic-rich, sedimentary
rocks—usually shales and similar
rocks.
• The shales and similar rocks are both

the source of and the reservoir for the
oil and natural gas, unlike
conventional petroleum reservoirs.

• Unlike the conventional pools of oil and
natural gas, unconventional oil and natural
gas do not flow naturally through the rock,
making them much more difficult to produce.
• Economically speaking, unconventional

hydrocarbons are usually (but not always)
characterized by high breakeven product
prices and, as such, become the focus of
attention as conventional resource supplies
diminish or become unavailable to the
multinational companies
Conventional and Unconventional Oil and Gas Reservoirs

Unconventional Oil & gas accumulations-Distribution Model
After Caineng Zou et al 2013;Earth-Science Reviews, Volume 126.

Conventional vs. Unconventional
Reservoirs
Conventional reservoir:
Any reservoir in which fluids flow easily
through the rock matrix
Unconventional reservoir:
Any reservoir that requires stimulation
post-drilling to initiate economic
production
What is Differentiating factor ?
Permeability
early shale production required no

fracture stimulation
•Natural fractures create pathways (and

storage space) for oil/gas
•Reservoir is not in the rock matrix itself,

but in the fracture network
Fracture network in shale unconventional reservoir
Source: Halliburton Digital Asset, 2012
Petroleum Systems (review)
• Systematic approaches to resource

assessment
• Hydrocarbon origin
• Hydrocarbon migration
• Hydrocarbon entrapment

Conventional Hydrocarbons
• Conventional crude oil is oil that flows naturally or
can be pumped to the surface without being heated
or diluted. This includes light, medium and heavy
forms of oil.
• Conventional deposits are found between layers of

saltwater/fresh water and raw natural gas i.e. the oil
is separated from water below and gas above by a
contact called oil-water-contact (OWC) or gas-oil-
contact (GOC).
• The layer of raw natural gas puts pressure on the
crude oil reservoir, causing it to flow out when a
well is initially drilled.
Geological Characteristics of conventional
hydrocarbon accumulations
• Conventional hydrocarbon accumulation is the

key to traditional petroleum geology and usually
refers to an individual hydrocarbon
accumulation in a single trap with a uniform
pressure system and oil–water contact.
• A trap is a reservoir rock capable of

accumulating and retaining petroleum. If there is
only oil (gas) in the trap, it is called an oil (gas)
pool, whereas if there are both oil and gas, it is
called a petroleum pool.
• A conventional hydrocarbon accumulation is a
three-dimensional (3D) geological entity with
clear boundaries. The bulk of a pool can be
described through defined parameters, e.g., seep
point, altitude and area of entrapment.
• Other parameters can be used to calculate the

reserves in a pool, e.g., volume height of oil or
gas, oil- or gas-bearing boundaries and extent
area, gas top and oil ring and pore space.

• In conventional hydrocarbon accumulations,
hydrocarbon migration and fluid flow follow
Darcy's law.
• Based on hydrodynamics, a conventional

hydrocarbon reservoir is located in a zone with
low hydraulic potential energy.
• It is entrapped individually or sealed by a

higher-potential zone or impermeable rock.
• This type of accumulation usually forms in

millimeter (micrometer)-pore reservoir rock and
is distributed in a discrete or clustered pattern.
Darcy's law is a an equation that describes
the flow of a fluid through a porous
medium. The law was formulated by
Henry Darcy based on the results of
experiments on the flow of water through
beds of sand.

• The equation can also be solved for permeability,
allowing for relative permeability to be calculated
by forcing a fluid of known viscosity through a
core of a known length and area, and measuring
the pressure drop across the length of the core.
• Darcy's law is used extensively in petroleum

engineering to determine the flow through
permeable media - the most simple of which is for
a one-dimensional, homogeneous rock formation
with a fluid of constant viscosity.

The characteristics of hydrodynamics in a
conventional accumulation include the
following:
(1)applicability of Darcy's law;

(2)clear oil–gas–water contact; and
(3) obvious effects of gravitational
segregation and buoyancy.
Therefore, hydrocarbons are likely to

accumulate in an individual trap.

Unconventional hydrocarbons
Crude oil the does not flow or cannot be pumped

without being heated or diluted is called
unconventional crude oil.
Unconventional oil deposits include bitumen and extra

heavy oil that is thick, viscous and more difficult to
produce than conventional oil.
Canada's oil sands are an example of unconventional

oil.

Geological Characteristics of Unconventional
hydrocarbons accumulations
Tight sand reservoirs show characteristics distinct

from those of conventional hydrocarbon sources
hosted in structural and stratigraphic traps.
The characteristic features include the following:
1)a hydrocarbon source and reservoir coexist;
2) porosity and permeability are ultra-low;
3) nano-pore throats are widely distributed;
4) hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir bodies are

continuously distributed;
5) there is no obvious trap boundary;
6) buoyancy and hydrodynamics have only a

minor effect, and Darcy's law does not
apply;
7) phase separation is poor; there is no

uniform oil–gas–water interface or pressure
system; and oil or gas saturation varies.

Global petroleum exploration is currently
undergoing a strategic shift from conventional
to unconventional hydrocarbon resources.
Unconventional petroleum geology differs from

traditional petroleum geology in terms of trap
conditions, reservoir properties, combination of
source and reservoir rocks, accumulation
features, percolation mechanism, occurrence
features, etc.

Unconventional petroleum resources are
continuously or regionally distributed
hydrocarbon accumulations, which generally
cannot be exploited through conventional
methods and techniques, but they can be
extracted economically using new
technologies, e.g., improving reservoirs'
permeability or fluid viscosity, or stimulation.
An unconventional petroleum accumulation

usually occupies a large volume, with low air
permeability (< 1 × 10-3 μm2) and low porosity
(< 10%).
End-Member & Composite Petroleum Systems

Characteristics of Tight Gas Sands:
after Cumella (2008), Law (2002), Shanley (2004) and others
1)Low permeability (<0.1md) reservoirs
2)Abnormally pressured
overpressured = accumulating
underpressured = dissipating
3) Regionally pervasive gas saturation (extensive gas shows while
drilling)
4)Little produced water
5)Lack a downdip water contact (rare or no gas-water contacts
seen on logs)
6)Hydraulic fracturing is required
7)May grade updip into wet zones
8)Sweet spots are very important
9)Structure is often synclinal (poorly defined traps and seals)
10) Often the largest gas field in the basin

Three Things are Required for a Tight
Gas Sands PetSys
1)Preexisting tight rock (compaction,

diagenesis, etc.)
2)A gas source (thermogenic, biogenic,

coal, etc.)
3)Leaky seals (to get large volumes of

water out of the basin)
Sweet Spots are Composites of Conventional & Tight
Gas Petroleum System Elements
Notes on Source Rock Reservoirs (SRRs)

1)Most shales are NOT source rocks
2)SRRs are oil or gas-wet NOT water-wet rocks
3)Por in SRRs is NOT the same as in conventional rocks
4)Free gas & adsorbed gas is in the kerogen porosity
5)Oil molecules = same size as SRR pore throats
6)Oil SRRs are composites of the SRR and other PetSys
7)SRRs require both horizontal wells & multiple fracs
8)Maturity of the SRR can be modeled and calibrated
9) Maturity informs oil vs. gas production & the clay
reactivity
Some Gas and ALL Oil SRRs are Composites of SRR

&/or Conventional &/or Tight Petroleum System
Elements
• Known shale gas systems have been
characterized by a number of parameters
including :
 total organic carbon content,
 thermal maturity,
 kerogen transformation,
 the efficiency of the source rock to retain its
generated hydrocarbon products
 and the nature of the storage system.
• However, examination of productive shale gas

systems indicates that the current parameters
used to assess shale gas prospectivity vary greatly
and may not provide a strong predictive model.
Unconventional Oil & gas Production: Processes
and Technologies
Unconventional resources covered in this course include

the following:
Extra heavy oil (oil with high viscosity <10o API); Oil
sand (sand containing bitumen); Oil shale (rocks
containing kerogen, a solid bituminous materials); Tight
sand gas (natural gas with low permeability) Coal Bed
Methane, CBM (natural gas associated with coal that is
not profitable for extraction); Shale gas (natural gas
associated to oil shale); and Natural gas hydrates
(natural gas trapped in the structure of water ice).
Courtesy: Total Exploration & Production
[1] Extra Heavy Oil
• Because of the high viscosity, extra heavy oil does

not flow easily and some deposits are too viscous
to flow at reservoir conditions.
• There are several techniques to reduce viscosity. A

traditional production technology is the Cyclic
Steam Simulation (CSS) that involves steam
injection in the reservoir (through wells) to heat
the viscous oil.
• Extra heavy oil “is that portion of heavy oil having

an API gravity of less than 10°.”
BITUMEN

Very Viscous unable to flow

• Heavy oil “is an asphaltic, dense (low API
gravity) and viscous oil that is chemically
characterized by its content of asphaltenes
(very large molecules incorporating most of
the sulfur and perhaps 90% of the metals in
the oil).
• Although variously defined, the upper limit

for heavy oil has been set at 22° API gravity
and a viscosity of 100 cP.”

• The mixture of steam, condensed water and
heated oil are then pumped to the surface. A
new, more recent technology is the Steam
Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), which
implies two horizontal wells.
• Steam injected in the upper well heats the

ground to reduce oil viscosity and allow oil to
flow down and to be extracted through the
lower horizontal well.

• In the Orinoco Belt, in Venezuela, the most used
recovery technique is more simple as extra heavy
oil can flow at reservoir conditions through
horizontal wells using multilateral technology
(several wells drilled in the same reservoir).
• However, at present, the Orinoco fields have a low

recovery factor. The expected recovery factor in
that area is between 8% and 12% and the use of
in-situ viscosity reduction techniques could
significantly increase the recovery rate. At the
surface conditions, the oil is too viscous to be
transported by pipeline. Therefore, oil upgrading or
the use of heated pipelines is needed.
• Ultra-heavy oil is too heavy or viscous to be
produced by conventional flow from a
reservoir. Biodegradation is generally
responsible for the specific gravity and
viscosity. Consequently, such accumulations are
often found shallowly buried or even at surface.
• Again, there has been a resurgence of interest

in exploiting ultra-heavy oil driven by the price
rises of the mid-2000s. This enterprise is,
however, technically and logistically demanding
and is characterized by high break-even prices.
• Concerns also exist over the environmental challenges
of exploiting this resource, since such enterprises can
be seen as environmentally disruptive and CO2-
intensive.
• The heavy oil deposits of Canada are a case in point.

With an estimated 1.7 x 1012 barrels in place, some
assessments rank Canada second behind Saudi Arabia
in terms of oil resources.
• Heavy oil makes up 98% of this resource, with the

Athabasca Oil Sands of the Lower Cretaceous
McMurray Formation in northern Alberta containing
approximately 900 x 109 barrels in place.

• Depending upon the amount of
overburden, the oil sands are developed
through either surface mining or thermal in
situ techniques, including steam assisted
gravity drainage (SAGD).
• For heavy oil thermal developments, the

understanding and prediction of reservoir
characteristics is particularly important
because mudstone units within the reservoir
can have a dramatic effect on steam
chamber growth and the subsequent oil
recovery.
[2] Oil sand or tar sand?
• According to Alberta Energy, historically, oil sand

was incorrectly referred to as tar sand due to the
now outdated and largely ineffective practice of
using it for roofing and paving tar (oil sand will
not harden suitably for these purposes).
• Though they appear to be visibly similar, tar and

oil sands are different; while oil sand is a naturally
occurring petrochemical, tar is a synthetically
produced substance that is largely the last waste
product of the destructive degradation of
hydrocarbons. Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 98
 Liquified Natural Gas (dry gas or methane) (C1 )
 Liquified Petroleum gas or wet gas (C2 to C3)
 Condensates (C4 to C6)
 Gasoline (C7 t0 C10)
 Kerosine (C11 to C13)
 Light Gas oil -Diesel fuel, jet fuel ( C14 to C18)
 Heavy Gas oil ( C19 t0 C25)
 Lubracating oil ( C26 to C40) or from C20 - C50
 Residium (> C40). This include Asphaltenes (with
Nitrogen, Sulphur and Nitrogen-NSO compounds which
influences API gravity), Resin, Waxes
• Furthermore, their uses are completely
different: oil sand can be refined to make oil
and ultimately fuel, while tar cannot and has
historically been used to seal wood and roof
against moisture.
• Oil sand is a mixture of about 83% sand, 10%

bitumen, 3% clay and 4% water and traces of
mica, zircon, tourmaline, rutile and pyrite.
Bitumen is the heavy oil extracted from oil
sand. It is a tar-like mixture of petroleum
hydrocarbons with a density > 960 kg/m3.
Light crude oil has lower density of
• On average bitumen is made up of 83.2 %
carbon, 10% hydrogen, 4.8% sulphur, and
small quantities of oxygen, nitrogen,
methane, nickel, iron and vanadium.
• Bitumen is oil that is too heavy or thick to

flow or be pumped without being diluted
or heated. At 10° C/50° F, bitumen is hard.
Some bitumen is found within 70 metres
(200 feet) of the surface, but the majority
is deeper underground.
• Bitumen is so viscous that at room temperature it
acts much like cold molasses( by-product of refined
sugar cane). A variety of treatment methods are
currently available to oil sands producers and new
methods are put into practice as more research is
completed and new technology is developed.
• Oil sand can be found in several locations around

the globe, including Venezuela, the United States
and Russia, but the Athabasca deposit in Alberta
Canada is the largest, most developed and utilizes
the most technologically advanced production
processes
Athabasca oil sands in Alberta Canada is the
largest deposits in the world

Athabasca Oil Sand deposit, Alberta Canada
Megastructure Ultimate oil sands mine
Source: National Geographic

Oil sand:
Composition
 83% sand,
 with >10-20%
bitumen, (is termed
rich oil sand)
 3% clay,
 4% water
 and traces of mica,
zircon, tourmaline,
rutile and pyrite
Note: Oil sand with 6-

10% bitumen are
considered moderate,
and < 6% bitumen are
termed lean oil sands
The sand mineral composition is:
92%

Bitumen average composition is:

To produce 1 bbl of oil
from oil sands,
1- 2 tons (about 1000-
2000kg) of the oil
sand deposit has to be
dogged or scoop into
trucks, transported and
processed. Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 113
• Oil sand can be mined from either the surface
(i.e. open-pit mining) or by in-situ mining (i.e.
drilling).
• Oil sand located within a 75-m depth is

considered suitable for surface mining. Of the
remaining reserves, about 80% are considered
recoverable by in-situ methods and 20 % is
considered recoverable by traditional open-pit
mining.

• In surface mining, open-pit mining is
used. This is similar to many coal mining
operations – where large shovels devices
scoop the oil sand into trucks. Then taken
to crushers where the large clumps of
earth are broken down.
• This mixture is then thinned out with

water and transported to an extraction
plant, where the bitumen is separated
from the other components and
upgraded to create synthetic crude oil
(SCO).
• This technique is sometimes misrepresented
as the only method of mining oil sands. About
90% of the bitumen is recovered in the
process.
• The separation of heavy oil (bitumen) from oil

sand is done by using hot water and
chemicals. After the extraction, oil can be
sold as raw bitumen or upgraded to a
lighter hydrocarbon called synthetic crude
oil (SCO).

• The upgrading is done by increasing the ratio
of hydrogen to carbon by either removing
carbon (coking) or adding hydrogen (hydro-
cracking).
• The production of 1 barrel of oil from surface

mining requires a removal of at least two tons
(2000kg) of oil sand.
• Production of synthetic crude oil from

Canada’s Athabasca Oil Sand Project, in
August 2004 had a monthly record production
averaging 182bbl of bitumen per day
Heavy oil and bitumen processing
• Since most refineries in Canada were designed

to process conventional light crude oils, some
heavy oil and about half the bitumen
produced are upgraded to create synthetic
crude oil.
• Synthetic oil is usually low in sulphur and

contains no residue or very heavy
components. Upgrading can occur at or near
the producing area or the refinery.

• Upgrading uses temperature, pressure
and catalysts to crack the big molecules
into smaller ones.
• Adding hydrogen or removing carbon

from the oil creates hydrocarbon
molecules like those in light oil.
• Upgraded oil is used as a replacement for

conventional crude oil to make gasoline,
diesel, jet fuel and heating oil.

Some means of transportation that uses jet fuel
• Upgrading is usually a two-stage process:
1.Coking or hydrocracking - used to break

up the molecules.
 Coking removes the carbon,
 while hydrocracking adds hydrogen.
2.Hydrotreating - used to stabilize the oil

and remove impurities such as sulphur.

• Bitumen and some heavy oils are too
viscous to flow through pipelines.
• As mandated by pipeline operators, pipeline

users would then have to dilute the product
with condensate or other natural gas liquid
before it could be transported.
• Once mixed with a diluent, the product does

not separate, but becomes is a new mixture
a condensate-bitumen blend (called dilbit)

• With in-situ drilling technique, steam is
injected into wells to allow the bitumen to flow
to the well head. In-situ mining techniques
include :
Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS)
and the new, promising Steam Assisted

Gravity Drainage (SAGD), also used for the
extra heavy oil production.

• In 2008 Canada had two large CSS facilities
in operation producing around 200 kb/d
and 6 large SAGD facilities producing about
130 kb/d .
• As in the case of extra heavy oil recovery,

CSS is based on steam injection into
vertical wells, with bitumen being
pumped up to the surface using the
same well.

• SAGD involves hot steam injection
through horizontal wells, and the
bitumen pumped out from a second
horizontal well located below the first
one.
• The SAGD process requires thick and

clean deposits, but needs less energy
input and offers higher bitumen
recovery, i.e. about 80% against 25%–
30% from CSS technique.

CYCLIC STEAM STIMULATION TECHNIQUE
Source: Alberta’s Oil sand C21ETV Production

STEAM ASSISTED GRAVITY DRAINAGE TECHNIQUE



Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) Method

• About 80 per cent of oil sands reserves
are recoverable through in situ
technology, with limited surface
disturbance.
• Advances in technology, such as

directional drilling, enable in situ
operations to drill multiple wells
(sometimes more than 20) from a
single location, further reducing the
surface disturbance.
• The majority of in situ operations use
steam-assisted gravity drainage
(SAGD).
• This method involves pumping steam

underground through a horizontal
well to liquefy the bitumen that is
then pumped to the surface through
a second well.

Source: Devon, Jackfish Project Canada

Multiple Directional Wells from a single
surface location


Steam Injected from the upper Horizontal
well into the oil sand bed


Heat from the injected steam mobilizes the
bitumen that flows down into the lower
horizontal well. The bitumen then flows to
the surface


Opportunities & Challenges in Oil Sand Production
• Oil production from oil sand is a water consuming

process.
• It takes about 2 to 4.5 barrels of water (~400 to 750

liters of H2O) for one barrel of bitumen. The water
however is often recycled. If so, water requirement
decreases to about 0.5 barrel water per barrel of oil.
• According to the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board

(EUB), Alberta’s oil sands contain an ultimately
recoverable crude bitumen resource of 50 billion cubic
metres (m3) (=315 billion barrels), with remaining
established reserves of almost 28 billion cubic metres
(m3) (=174 billion barrels) at year-end 2004
Source: National Energy Board, 2006
The rapid pace of oil sand development continues
to be driven by several factors, including:
• higher oil prices;
• concerns surrounding the global supply of oil;
• market potential in the U.S. and Asia; and
• stable generic fiscal terms for producers.

Table showing estimates of operating and supply costs for various types of
oil sands recovery methods in 2006.
Integrated mining and SAGD operations are estimated to be economic at

US$30 to $35 per barrel for West Texas Intermediate(WTI) crude oil in 2006.
Upgrading to synthetic crude oil (SCO) of similar quality and value to

conventional light oil at the plant gate has a supply cost about $39 per
barrel in 2006.
(Source: National Energy Board, 2006)
• Operating costs can generally be considered
as reflecting the cash costs of operation.
• While supply costs include all costs

associated with production, including
operating cost, capital cost, taxes, royalties
and a rate of return on investment.
• Supply costs are stated as a range, reflecting

variables such as: reservoir quality, depth of
the producing formation, project size,
recovery method and operating parameters.
Diagram showing the major influences on oil sands development as
production grows from 175 000 m3/d (1.1 MMb/d) in 2005 to a projected
472 000 m3/d (3.0 MMb/d) by 2015.
(Source: National Energy Board, 2016)

• higher oil prices have boosted revenues from oil
sand projects;
• however, operating costs have also increased

significantly with the rise in electricity and natural
gas prices.
• oil sands projects are very energy intensive

operations and require significant amounts of
natural gas to produce electricity for plant
operations for bitumen recovery
• an estimated 1 Mcf of natural gas energy source

is required to produce 1 barrel of bitumen.
Environmental Issues
• The economic potential of oil sands projects is
undisputed, but the fast pace and large scale of
its development has considerable
environmental impact
• the major challenges oil sands operators must

confront, including:
• water conservation,
• Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,
• land disturbance and
• waste management
• concern around the management of
environmental impacts related to developing
the oil sands has reached new highs.
Water Use and Conservation in Canada Oil
sands projects
• Both mining and in situ operations use large

volumes of water for extracting bitumen
from the oil sands.
• Between 2 to 4.5 barrels of water are

withdrawn, primarily from the Athabasca
River, to produce each barrel of synthetic
crude oil (SCO) in a mining operation.

• Currently, approved oil sands mining
projects are licensed to divert 370 million
cubic metres (2.3 billion barrels) of
freshwater per year from the Athabasca
River.
• Planned oil sands mines would push the

cumulative withdrawal to 529 million cubic
metres (3.3 billion barrels) per year.
• Despite some recycling, almost all of the

water withdrawn for oil sands operations
ends up in tailings ponds.
• The demand for fresh water for in situ oil
sands projects is projected to more than
double between 2004 and 2015:
From 5 million (31.5 million barrels) to 13

million cubic metres (82 million barrels) per
year.
• In SAGD operations, 90 to 95 percent of the

water used for steam to recover bitumen is
reused, but for every cubic meter (6.3 barrels)
of bitumen produced, about 0.2 cubic meters
(1.3 barrels) of additional groundwater must
be used.
• SAGD projects minimize the use of freshwater
aquifers by using some freshwater mixed with
saline groundwater.
• However, treating saline groundwater for the

steam generators produces large volumes of
solid waste.
• The disposal of this waste to landfills is another

long-term concern because it could impact
nearby soil and groundwater. This waste has a
high concentration of acids, hydrocarbon
residues, trace metals and other contaminants

Air Emissions
• The production of bitumen and SCO from oil sands

emits higher GHG emissions than the production of
conventional crude oil and has been identified as
the largest contributor to GHG emissions growth in
Canada.
• In 2006 Pembina Institute projected emissions, with

total emissions estimated to be 67 megatonnes (Mt)
per year by 2015
• The oil sands projects are a major source of CO2

emissions
• Carbon Dioxide-Research is being conducted
to determine the feasibility of CO2 capture
and storage in Canada.
• According to the Alberta Geological Survey,

the cumulative capacity of oil and gas
reservoirs located in western Canada with an
estimated CO2 sequestration capacity greater
than 1.0 Mt each is 3.2 gigatonnes CO2 for
gas reservoirs and 560 Mt for oil reservoirs.

• Carbon dioxide flooding in mature oil
reservoirs for enhanced oil recovery
(EOR) could increase production from
mature Canadian oil reserves by
between 8 and 25 percent.
• This means increasing the potential

recovery by between 0.5 and 1.4 billion
cubic metres (3 and 9 billion barrels) of
oil.

• At current oil prices, there is renewed
interest in EOR projects but the
economics are still marginal.
• Carbon dioxide injection for enhancing

coal bed methane (CBM) recovery has
also generated much interest but is
currently much less economic than for
EOR.

• The oil sands projects are a major source
of CO2 emissions, but a dedicated CO2
pipeline from Fort McMurray to a large
light oil or CBM pools in central Alberta
will be needed to encourage the capture,
storage and use of large volumes of CO2.
• A number of provincial and federal

government incentives are in place to
promote the development of CO2 capture
and storage, but the uncertainty of policy
regarding long-term storage is an
obstacle.
Figure: Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) and Disposal Well
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

[3] Tight sand oil & oil shale
• Oil shale is an impermeable rock

containing kerogen, an organic
bituminous material. Would it have been
buried deep enough and at high
temperatures, kerogen would have been
converted into oil and natural gas.
• As a consequence, oil shale resources are

generally located at shallow depths.
A sedimentary
rock that contain
organic matter
called
When heated the kerogen

turns into a vapor that can
be condensed into crude oil

Oil Shale

Almost 75% of world oil shale deposits are the United State
Bakken oil shales is
described as self-contained,
with long history of oil
production
Green River
Formation
has the largest oil
shale deposits

U.S Green River Formation in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado has the largest oil
shale deposits in the world. There may be 2-3 trillion barrels of oil locked-up in
the Kerogen. That is several times the total oil reserves of Saudi Arabia, today.
About 34 billion Barrels of Oil Resources is locked up in oil shales in the U.S

• Oil shale processing include two main
techniques: Ex-situ and In-situ
 Ex-situ or surface retorting (the most

common mining )
 and In-situ retorting,
• In-situ retorting is profitable when oil

shale traditional mining is too costly
because of the site characteristics.
Oil Shale open-pit mining
Oil shale underground mining.

Surface retorting plant. A specialized furnace that cooks up the liquid out of the
oil shale kerogen to oil.

• Oil shale can be combusted (or cooked)
directly and converted into oil by retorting,
i.e. kerogen heating up to 500°C in the
absence of oxygen.
• The resulting product is a liquid with high

concentration of nitrogen and other
impurities that needs an upgrading process.

Condensed oil cooked out of the oil shale

• While surface mining involves low technical risks, in-
situ retorting needs tight control of ground water
to prevent environmental problems.
• Techniques involving underground oil-shale heating

may access resources at greater depth.
• An experimental project is on-going. With this pilot

project, Shell is developing a new in-situ conversion
processing plant where oil shale is heated using
electrical heaters placed in vertically drilled wells.

• After a heating period of 2 to 3 years, the
shale is converted into oil and flows through
the production wells. The in-situ process may
include “freezing walls” created by pumping
cooling fluids through a set of wells around
the extraction area.
• In 2010, Shell was expected to decide whether

this technology will be commercialized.

Shell’s pilot project, in-situ oil shale retorting plant
Source: National Oil Shale Association

By 2035, the U.S and Canada is projected to produce
3 Million Barrels of Oil/day from oil shales.
That is more than what U.S currently import from Persian Gulf
and Venezuela Combined
Oil Production from Texas’ Eagle Ford Oil Shale between 2004 to
2011

Estonia
Brazil China

Tight sand oil & shale oil play
• North America continent has a long history of
producing oil from shales & very tight sand reservoirs.
Considerable interest currently focuses on the
Devonian–Mississippian Bakken petroleum system of
the Williston Basin in central North America.
• This formation is generally regarded as a prime

example of a continuous, unconventional tight oil
exploration play, that is, a petroleum system where
the source, seal and reservoir are the same unit,
and prospectivity is not constrained by conventional
trapping mechanisms.
• The play is commonly described as self-
contained, with short migration distances
from mature source rock of the Bakken
Formation (Sonneberg & Pramudito 2009).
• High pressure within the formation has

been attributed to the generation of
hydrocarbons within the Bakken and only
limited fluid expulsion. However, there is
probably more migration within the
Bakken Formation than previously
assumed according to other authors
Bakken oil shales is
described as self-contained,
with long history of oil
production
Green River
Formation
has the largest oil
shale deposits

[4] Tight sand gas & Shale Gas
• Natural gas with low permeability (below 0.1 mD) does
not flow easily. Low permeability rocks, with natural gas
is called tight gas when it is contained fine- very fine
sandstones and siltstones rock and shale gas when it is
in shale rock. This resource can not be developed
profitably by vertical wells because of low flow rates.
• Production of tight and shale gas require hydraulic

fracturing or horizontal wells. Hydraulic fracturing
consists of pumping a fluid into wells to increase
pressure and produce fractures in the formation rock. In
order to keep the fracture open after the injection stops,
sand with high permeability is added to the fracture.
• Horizontal wells techniques provide greater surface
area in contact with the deposit compared to vertical
wells, and enables more effective gas transfer and
recovery of the gas in place.
• Today’s technology is only suitable for onshore

production and offers a maximum recovery rate of
20% of the volume in place. These production
technologies have significant potential for
improvements as there is a lack of basic research on
tight and shale gas production.
• So far, current production techniques have been

developed based on empirical approaches (i.e.
knowledge derived from experiment and observation
rather than theory)
• As with shale oil, shale gas systems are
considered discrete, self enclosed systems in
which the source, seal and reservoir are one
and the same.
• Shale gas is a very important exploration

target in North America, where the resource
falls into two distinct types: biogenic and
thermogenic, although there can also be
mixtures of the two gas types.

• Known shale gas systems have been characterized
by a number of parameters including :
 total organic carbon content,
 thermal maturity,
 kerogen transformation,
 the efficiency of the source rock to retain its
generated hydrocarbon products
 and the nature of the storage system.
• However, examination of productive shale gas

systems indicates that the current parameters
used to assess shale gas prospectivity vary greatly
and may not provide a strong predictive model.
• Consequently, additional criteria, such as
the clay and mineral content of the shales,
the burial history and the precise nature of
the gas storage and retention systems are
fertile grounds for further research.
• No major economic shale-gas enterprises

are currently known from outside of North
America, but many parts of Europe contain
targets for shale gas exploration and
commercial production is considered
purely a matter of time.
Tight Gas Recovery Challenges
• Tight Gas assets are those where permeability is so

low that commercial recovery is limited by existing
technology.
• Today, that limit corresponds to micro-Darcy (10-3 mD)

rock, which is tighter than concrete (0.1-1 mD).
• In most shale gas assets, permeability drops to nano-

Darcy (10-6 mD) levels, where connected pore throats
may be as small as a few methane (CH4) molecules in
width.

Image of tight gas sandstone showing little or no resolvable porosity.
Courtesy ExxonMobil 2010
• The unit of permeability measurement is
the Darcy. Permeability is one of the
parameters by which conventional gas
reservoirs can be distinguished from
unconventional formations.
• A good-quality hydrocarbon trap will have

permeability of 1 Darcy or more, while tight
sand gas reservoirs, more compact than
brick, may have permeability of only a few
dozen microDarcy.

• The permeability values of gas shales are even
lower – as little as one one-thousandth of the
permeability of tight gas formations. The unit
here is the nanoDarcy.
• Tight gas is trapped in ultra-compact

reservoirs characterized by very low porosity
and permeability.
• The rock pores that contain the gas are

minuscule, and the interconnections between
them are so limited that the gas can only
migrate through them with great difficulty.
Shale gas is extracted from a geological layer
known as the "source rock" rather than from a
conventional petroleum reservoir structure. This
clay-rich sedimentary rock has naturally low
permeability.
The gas it contains is either adsorbed (i.e.,

closely "adhered" onto the organic matter) or
left in a free state in the void spaces (pores) of
the rock.

Permeability & Pore throat size

Hydraulic Fracturing
• Hydraulic fracturing, sometimes referred
to as "fracking," or fracture stimulation?
• is the process of pumping a fluid down

a well into a target formation at depth
considered appropriate for hydrocarbon
production - up to 3,000 metres below
the surface.

• The high enough pressure this fluids
creates, causes the rock within that
target formation to crack, or fracture.
• A fluid (usually water with some

additives) holding a suspended
proppant (usually sand) then flows
into the cracks.

• When the pumping pressure is
relieved, the water disperses leaving a
thin layer of the sand to prop open
the cracks.
• This allows the natural gas to escape

from tight (low permeability)
formations and flow to the well so that
it can be recovered.

• The technology is carefully used and
managed to minimize any
environmental impact, particularly on
groundwater.
• The hydraulic fracturing of a well can

use between 2 million and 5.6 million
gallons of fresh water ( about 16
million liters of water)

• Because unconventional oil and natural gas
is trapped in low-permeability rock,
pathways need to be created to allow oil
and natural gas to move through the rock to
the well and to enable it to be pumped to
the surface.
• A common method of doing this is to use

hydraulic fracturing to “fracture” or crack the
rock and create the paths required.

• Hydraulic well fracturing (“fracking”) is the
process of pumping fluid into a wellbore to
create enough pressure to crack, or fracture,
the rock layer.
• The fluid usually contains a “proppant,” like

sand, that helps keep the fractures open to
allow oil and gas to be produced to the well.
• The aim of this process is to create

permeability where nature did not.

• Injecting highly pressurized water into the
rock creates a network of cracks that allow
the gas to migrate to the wells.
• The injection water is mixed with:

 proppants, materials such as sand or
ceramics that hold the cracks open once
they have been formed;
 a limited quantity of additives (in the
order of 0.5% of the total injection volume).
These additives are mainly bactericides,
gelling agents, and surfactants.
• The composition of the additive package
depends primarily on the well conditions:
 pressure,
 temperature,
 proppant quantity.
• In addition to sterilizing and preventing

bacterial contamination of the reservoir,
the additives serve to improve the
efficiency of the process.

• To produce unconventional oil and natural
gas, horizontal wells and multistage
fracturing are used. These wells start by
drilling vertically (straight down) and then
turning the drill bit so that it drills
horizontally through the formation.
• Typically, the formations being targeted

with horizontal multistage fracturing are
between 650 and 3500 metres below
ground.

• While horizontal well drilling has been
around for decades, improvements in the
technology have made it possible to
combine horizontal drilling with hydraulic
fracturing to help coax oil and natural gas
out of tight rock.
• Each well must be fractured in several

stages; the less permeable the reservoir,
the more stages are needed

• Unconventional oil and natural gas
development will occur in many instances by
drilling multiple horizontal wells from a
single surface location.
• Wells in an "unconventional" formation

drain a smaller volume of rock than wells in
a conventional gas reservoir. To limit the
physical footprint of the operations,
wellheads are grouped together in clusters,
with many (10 to 15) horizontal wells being
drilled from a single point.
Courtesy: Total E& P

• After drilling, these wells will often be
stimulated by hydraulic fracturing, which
can involve round-the-clock operations for
extended periods of time with increased
truck traffic, dust, noise, and industrial
lighting.
• Some aspects of this activity can be

managed to reduce the impact on the
local area. For example The Alberta Energy
Regulator (AER) Canada has
comprehensive requirements related to
noise. Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 216
• Conventional drilling methods require many wells
to obtain the same amount of oil or natural gas as
multistage horizontal wells, which reduce the
surface impact and improve efficiency.
Conventional well spacing Multistage horizontal wells

SHALE GAS WELL FRACTURING – KEY FIGURES
• An average of 5 to 15 fracs for a 1,000-m well
• For each fracking: around 1,500 m3(1.5million

liters) of water, 360 metric tons of sand and
0.5% of additives
• Typical fracking dimensions: lateral distance

of about 150 m on either side of the well;
vertically over a height of a few tens of meters
(limited by the formation thickness).
• Drilling begins with a vertical well down to
the target production zone, which lies
1,500 to 3,000 meters below the surface for
shale gas and at sometimes greater depth
for tight gas.
• When the production zone is reached, the

well deviates to the horizontal and
continues over a distance of several
thousand meters within that zone.

• Advanced geo-steering tools permit real-time well
steering adjustments while drilling in horizontal drilling .,
the horizontal wells sometimes follow reservoir layers a
mere few meters thick over sometimes very great
distances.
• Wells are built by lining the wellbore with steel tubes

called "casings", then cementing the space between the
liner and the rock to ensure that the well is perfectly
sealed, especially in water-bearing zones.
• Cement and casings are perforated only in the

horizontal section of the wellbore (several thousand
meters underground) to access the productive layer.
Hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") is the final step before
the well is brought on stream.
Composition of hydraulic fracturing fluid
• The fluid mixture—or hydraulic fracturing

fluid—generally contains a number of
chemical additives, each of which is designed
to serve a particular purpose.
• For example, operators may use a friction

reducer to minimize friction between the fluid
and the pipe, acid to help dissolve minerals
and initiate cracks in the rock, and a biocide
to eliminate bacteria in the water that cause
corrosion.
• The number of chemicals used and their
concentrations depend on the particular
conditions of the well. After hydraulic
fracturing, a mixture of fluids, gases, and
dissolved solids flows to the surface (often
called flowback).
• In acquiring water, operators must comply

with applicable state and regional laws or
rules regarding water withdrawals, after
which production can begin, and the well
is said to have been completed.
• Operators use hydraulic fracturing in many
shale and tight sandstone formations. Some
coalbed methane wells are hydraulically
fractured (see fig. 5), but operators may use
different combinations of water, sand, and
chemicals than with other unconventional
wells.
• In addition, operators must “dewater” coalbed

methane formations in order to get the natural
gas to begin flowing—a process that can
generate large amounts of water.

Figure : Horizontal Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing in an Unconventional Shale Formation

[5] Coalbed Methane or Coal gasification
• Coalbed methane, as its name suggests, is trapped

in coal deposits. It is also known as coal seam gas.
• Most of the gas is adsorbed on the surface of the

coal, which is an excellent "storage medium":
• It can contain two to three times more gas per unit

of rock volume than conventional gas deposits.

• In coal deposits, significant amounts of
methane-rich gas are generated and stored
within the coal structure.
• The gas is normally released during mining

but more recent practices aimed to capture
and extract the gas not only for safety and
environmental reasons, but also for economic
exploitation.
• CBM however is typically methane gas

trapped within coal deposits that are not
profitable for extraction because of high
depth or poor coal quality.
From about 350 to 2.5 My ago, the Earth Experience the Caboniferous, Permian,
Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period with favorable climate conditions for Plants
growth in Marshy Areas. Subsequent events, affected the climate and led to mass
extinction resulting to the Formation of Coal deposits.
Death Plants buried over time formed Coal deposits

Peat- A Dark Brown Mud-Like Substance

Brown Coal (Lignite)

Lignite undergoing thermal alteration

Coal Deposit

Coal

The Burning of Coal

Reducing Coal Seam Water Pressure to Free the Gas
• Coal has commonly been seen as a potential fall-back

fossil fuel resource as hydrocarbons become depleted.
• Deep-seated coal resources may be exploited by means

of underground coal gasification (UCG) with the
possibility for coupling the technique to CSS.
• Significantly for the petroleum industry, the

technological requirements for UCG, using directionally
drilled boreholes from ground level, are far more akin
to those of oil and gas production than they are to
those of deep mining.
• The recovery of coalbed methane is less
technology-intensive than producing other
types of unconventional gas, but it does
require a specific approach:
• the water pressure in the coal seam must

be reduced in order to free the gas.
• This is achieved by pumping out the

water that is present in the coalbed’s
natural fracture system.

• Coalbed methane can be produced via
"conventional" vertical wells.
• However, depending on the geology of

the deposit (depth and thickness of the
coalbed), it may be necessary to drill
deviated wells from a cluster to
optimize the cost of surface
developments.

• Wells must be equipped with bottom
hole pumps to impart the energy needed
to boost the water from the fracture
network up to the surface.
• During the initial production phases, the

water volume exceeds the volume of gas.
• Peak productivity is not reached until 1 to

5 years after starting up a well.

Queensland Talinga Coal Water Treatment Facility, Australia
Source: Australia Pacific LNG

• To increase the wellbore contact with the
reservoir – and thereby maximize gas
recovery – localized hydraulic fracturing
may prove necessary, particularly in the
deepest layers of the deposit.
• This process helps optimize a natural

fracture system that is less developed than
in layers closer to the surface.

Figure : Hydraulic Fracturing in a Coalbed Methane Formation

• Coal beds have low permeability that decreases with
increasing depth.
• Therefore, hydraulic fracturing and/ or horizontal

wells are needed to ease the fluid to flow through a
well.
• Because of the pressure, water permeates into coal

and traps the gas.
• It is then extracted again thus reducing the pressure

and enabling methane to flow out of the coal
through the well.

• Diagram below, show a typical production
curve of CBM, with volumes of methane
and water production over time.
• In the first phase, a large amount of

contaminated water is produced, which is
usually re-injected in the formations.

A Typical CBM Production Curve

• Today’s research efforts aim to develop
techniques based on CO2 injections into
coal bed formations to enhance methane
production.
• The easy CO2 adsorption by coal helps

methane to be released and offers
significant potential for CO2 geological
storage and reduction of CO2 in the
atmosphere

[6] Gas hydrates (clathrates)
• Gas hydrates (also known as clathrates) are

naturally occurring ‘ice-like or snow- like’
combinations of natural gas and water. They are
solid gas molecules surrounded by a lattice of water
molecules formed by water and natural gas
(methane) at high pressures and low temperatures.
• In such conditions they are rather stable or

dissociate very slowly. At present, in oil and gas
industry, natural gas hydrates are seen as a problem
rather than as a resource. Formation of “snow alike”
hydrates can damage oil and gas pipelines and
cause problems in well drilling.
• Gas hydrate (also known as clathrates) is an ice-
like crystalline form of water and low molecular
weight gas (e.g., methane, ethane, carbon
dioxide). On Earth, gas hydrates occur naturally in
some marine sediments and within and beneath
permafrost. Gas hydrates have also been inferred
on other planets or their moons.
• At the molecular level, gas hydrate consists of

gas molecules surrounded by cages of water
molecules. “gas hydrate” and “methane hydrate”
are often used interchangeably by researchers.

• Methane hydrate, sometimes colloquially
referred to as "methane ice," takes on many
forms in sediments. In fine-grained
sediments, the methane hydrate can form in
small pores and cement the grains, but may
not be visible.
• Gas hydrate has also been recovered in

chunks, in veins within sediments, and
occasionally in large masses. Gas hydrate
should not be thought of as forming within a
thick seam, like coal.
Grain Texture and Pore Structure in Gas hydrates
on the sea floor
Structure of Gas hydrates in nature on the sea floor

Recovered Gas hydrate Sample from sea floor

Burning Gas hydrate

Source USGS PROJECT

Where Does Methane Hydrate Occur?
Source U.S Geological Survey, May 2014

• Globally, gas hydrate has been recovered
or inferred in many continental margin
settings and in onshore permafrost or
offshore relict permafrost that was
flooded by sea level rise over the past
~15,000 years.
• Gas hydrate has also been recovered from

sediments beneath the Earth’s largest
freshwater lake, which is Lake Baikal in
Southern Siberia, Russia
• More than 5,000 feet deep (1637m) at its most
profound, with another four-mile-thick layer of
sediment further down, the lake’s cold, oxygen-rich
waters teem with bizarre life-forms.
• Geologists estimate that Lake Baikal formed

somewhere 20-25 million years ago, during the
Mesozoic.
• It is estimated that 99% of the world’s gas
hydrate occurs in marine sediments.
• However, recent research has made scientists to

believe that most of the global gas hydrate
occurs in the uppermost hundreds of meters of
sediments at ocean water depths greater than
~500 m and close to continental margins.
• Except on upper continental slopes (300-700 m

water depth), the sea floor of most of the world’s
oceans lies within the hydrate stability zone.
How Does Gas Hydrate Form?
• Gas hydrate forms when methane and water combine

at pressure and temperature conditions that are
common in the marine sediments of Earth’s
continental margins and below about 200 m depth in
permafrost areas.
A theoretical gas hydrate stability curve is calculated for

a particular gas mixture and pore water salinity shown
below.
• Methane hydrate can form where local thermal

conditions (geotherms) are colder than (to the left of)
the gas hydrate stability curve (phase boundary; in red
below) at any given depth (pressure).
• The ocean water temperature is cold enough
to permit hydrate to be stable at a water
depths greater than ~575 m, and gas hydrate
is stable in the underlying sediments to a
depth of about 225 m below the sea floor.
• For the permafrost example on the right

(below), gas hydrate is stable from about 200
to 600 m within the permafrost and from 600
m to ~1100 m beneath the permafrost.

• Just because gas hydrate is stable at a particular
location does not mean that it actually occurs there.
Methane must be present in excess of its local solubility
in sediment pore waters or in the water column for gas
hydrate to form and be preserved.
• Methane hydrate formation can only proceed when

sufficient methane is present and when there is
available water.
• Certain conditions (e.g., the presence of saline pore

waters or clays) can inhibit gas hydrate formation.
Other conditions (high fluid flux) can encourage gas
hydrate formation.

• The association of gas hydrates with continental
margins is related to the availability of ample
organic carbon that is being shed from the
continents in these settings.
• Microbes use this carbon to generate methane

(biogenic gas). Such microbial methane is the
most widespread source for methane in most
natural gas hydrates, an interpretation that may
be biased by the relatively shallow subseafloor
depths from which most of gas hydrate samples
have been recovered.

• In some locations and in sediment layers deep
beneath the sea floor in petroleum basins, gas
hydrates form instead from thermogenic gas that is
generated through the deep-seated processes that
are similar to those responsible for the formation of
oil.

How Much Gas Hydrate Exists?
• Prior to 1995, there had been no dedicated drilling

of gas hydrate-bearing deposits, and estimates of
the amount of methane sequestered globally in
gas hydrate deposits ranged over several orders of
magnitude.
• Gas volumes are often cited in units of trillion

(10^12) cubic feet (TCF), and there are
approximately 35.3 cubic feet in a cubic meter.

• The most careful pre-1990s estimates varied
between 10^5 and 10^8 TCF of methane in
gas hydrate globally, and numerous
researchers devised global estimates
between these end-members as late as the
mid-1990s.
• Since the start of dedicated drilling in 1995,
researchers have learned that the saturation
of gas hydrates in marine sediments is often
far lower than the theoretical amount of gas
hydrate that could be hosted in all available
pore space.
• This has led to downward revisions of global and
regional estimates. Most studies published in the
past 15 years have concluded that between 10^5
and 5x10^6 TCF of methane is trapped in global
gas hydrate deposits.
• While the minimum estimate is more than 4000

times the amount of natural gas consumed in
the USA in 2010, only a fraction of the methane
sequestered in global gas hydrate deposits is
likely to be concentrated enough and accessible
enough to ever be considered a potential target
for energy resource studies.
• Also, until recently, there had never been
any published estimate for gas sequestered
in methane hydrates beneath the ice sheets
of the Antarctic continent.
• This fact highlights the need for further
updates to global gas-in-place estimates as
new studies emerge.

Drilling History

Gas Hydrate Exploitation Techniques
• Three basic methods exist for gas hydrate

exploitation as an energy resource,
 depressurization,
thermal injection and
inhibitor injection.
• In some cases, hydrates are located above gas

reservoirs and dissociate as the production of
natural gas reduces the underground
pressure. Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 295
P-Cable seismic survey produces Ultra High Resolution 3D (UHR3D)
Pleistocene
Glacial Deposits
Dipping Paleogene
Intra-Glacial Unconformity sandstones
Top Free Gas

Methane Hydrate Identified on Seismic

• Depressurization is therefore the easiest method
to extract hydrates and implies a few technical
challenges.
• However, well depressurization does not

necessarily reduce the pressure of entire hydrate
layer. In general, more research is needed to
improve understanding of hydrates behaviour.
• In thermal Injection techniques, steam and hot

water are injected into the well to decompose
hydrates and generate gas. A challenge in this
process is that hydrates are often found at deep
locations and injected fluids are cooled before it
reaches the hydrate layer.
• Inhibitors injection techniques are used in
offshore natural gas pipelines to prevent
hydrate formation. Injection of inhibitors like
methanol will dissolve methane from the
hydrate and the gas is released.
• More research is needed to ensure that the

inhibitor is evenly distributed through the
hydrate layer.
• Ongoing research efforts are also exploring

if compact hydrate structures can be used to
transport natural gas over long distances.
What are greenhouse gases

• A greenhouse gas is any gaseous compound
in the atmosphere that is capable of
absorbing infrared radiation, thereby trapping
and holding heat in the atmosphere.
(sometimes abbreviated as GHG)
• By increasing the heat in the atmosphere,

greenhouse gases are responsible for the
greenhouse effect, which ultimately leads to
global warming
Fig: % of Greenhouse gases in the Atmosphere

Sources of greenhouse gases
• Some greenhouse gases, like methane, are produced

through agricultural practices including livestock
manure management.
• Others, like CO2, largely result from natural processes

like respiration and from the burning of fossil fuels
like coal, oil and gas.
• The production of electricity is the source of 70% of

the United States' sulfur dioxide emissions, 13
percent of nitrogen oxide emissions, and 40 percent
of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the EPA.
• The second cause of CO2 release is
deforestation, according to research published
by Duke University. When trees are killed to
produce wood or heat, they release the carbon
that is normally stored for photosynthesis.
• This process releases nearly a billion tons of

carbon into the atmosphere per year, according
to the 2010 Global Forest Resources Assessment.
It's worth noting that forestry and other land-
use practices offset some of these greenhouse
gas emissions, according to the EPA.

Fig: Emission sources from Oil & gas activities

Climate change effects associated with
• The sun bombards the Earth with

enormous amounts of radiation.
• These radiations strike the Earth's

atmosphere in the form of visible light
(ROYGBIV), plus ultraviolet (UV), infrared
(IR) and other types of radiations that are
invisible to the human eye.
ROYGBIV

• About 30 percent of the radiation
striking the Earth is reflected back out
to space by clouds, ice and other
reflective surfaces.
• The remaining 70 % is absorbed by the

atmosphere, oceans, and the land,
according to National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA)

• As these bodies absorb the radiations
and heat up, they release heat in the
form of IR thermal radiation, which
passes out of the atmosphere into
space.
• The balance between incoming and

outgoing radiation keeps Earth's
overall average temperature at about
59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees
Celsius), according to NASA.
• This exchange of incoming and outgoing
radiation that warms Earth is often referred to
as the "greenhouse effect" because a
greenhouse works in much the same way.
• Incoming UV radiation easily passes through

the glass walls of a greenhouse and is
absorbed by the plants and hard surfaces
inside.
• Weaker IR radiation, however, has difficulty

passing out through the glass walls and is
trapped inside, warming the greenhouse.
• The greenhouse effect, in turn, is one of the
leading causes of global warming.
• The most significant greenhouse gases are

water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2),
methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O),
according to the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
• "While oxygen (O2) is the second most

abundant gas in our atmosphere, O2 does
not absorb thermal infrared radiation’’.
• Ozone is a highly reactive molecule
that contains three oxygen atoms (O3).
• The ozone layer is a belt of naturally

occurring ozone gas that sits 9.3 to
18.6 miles (15 to 30 kilometers) above
Earth and serves as a shield from the
harmful ultraviolet B radiation emitted
by the sun.

• A hole in the ozone layer identified over
Antarctica currently covers an area four
times the size of Australian or the size of
Russia & Canada combined – UN
scientists report, Oct. 30th, 2015
the hole has reached 28.2 million square kilometers in size

According to Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO),
the increase in ozone-depleting chemicals in
the atmosphere and very special cold
conditions that occur in winter and spring
over Antarctica, provide a special catalytic
ozone destruction vessel that allows the
ozone to be rapidly deployed with the higher
concentrations of chlorofluorocarbons —
ozone-depleting chemicals that have
occurred in the stratosphere due to human
activity.“
• Fluorinated gases — that is, gases to which the
element fluorine was added — including
hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur
hexafluoride, are created during industrial processes
and are also considered greenhouse gases.
• Though they are present in very small

concentrations, they trap heat very effectively,
making them high "global-warming potential"
(GWP) gases.
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), once used as

refrigerants and aerosol propellants until they were
phased out by international agreement, are also
greenhouse gases.
• Three factors affect the degree to
which any greenhouse gas will
influence global warming:
Its abundance in the atmosphere
How long it stays in the atmosphere
Its global-warming potential

• Carbon dioxide has a significant impact
on global warming partly because of its
abundance in the atmosphere.
• According to the EPA, in 2012, U.S.

greenhouse gas emissions totaled 6,526
million metric tons of carbon dioxide
equivalents, which equaled 82 percent of
all human caused greenhouse gasses.
• Additionally, CO2 stays in the atmosphere

for thousands of years.
• Another GHG, methane(CH4) is about 21
times more efficient at absorbing
radiation than CO2.
• This gives methane a high Global-

Warming Potential (GWP) rating, even
though it stays in the atmosphere only
about 10 years, compared to CO2 that
stays in the atmosphere for thousands of
year, according to the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)

Mitigation of Co2 Emissions & other
greenhouse gases to fight climate change
• Worldwide, the output of greenhouse

gases is a source of grave concern. "The
warming we observe affects atmospheric
circulation, which impacts rainfall patterns
globally.
• This will lead to big environmental

changes, and challenges, for people all
across the globe,"
• Behind the struggle to address global warming
and climate change lies the increase in
greenhouse gases in our atmosphere
• The increase in oil and gas development from

unconventional reservoirs has raised concerns
about the potential environmental and public
health effects of such development.
• For example, several environmental groups have

expressed concerns that this development
releases hazardous air pollutants, such as
benzene, and may contaminate underground
drinking water supplies and surface waters due to
spills or faulty well construction.
• In the U.S, these concerns have raised questions
about existing federal and state requirements
governing oil and gas development from
unconventional reservoirs on both private and
federal lands.
• The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

administers and enforces key federal laws, such as
the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act,
Clean Air Act (CAA), Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) and others, that aim to
reduce hazardous gas emissions, protect human
health and the environment and fight climate
change.
• From the time the Industrial Revolution
began to the recent years, atmospheric CO2
levels have increased almost 38 percent and
methane (CH4) levels have increased a
whopping 148 percent, according to NASA,
and most of that increase has been in the
past 50 years.
• Because of global warming, 2014 was the

warmest year on record and 10 of the
hottest years, have all come after 1998.

• If mitigation steps are not taken to reduce
greenhouse gases emissions, fears are that
the worst effects of global warming, which
include, extreme weather, rising sea levels,
plant and animal extinctions, ocean
acidification, major shifts in climate and
unprecedented social upheaval — will be
inevitable.
• In answer to these problems caused by

global warming by greenhouse gasses,
governments created a climate action plan
in 2013.
• The World Bank, in September, held the 2014
Climate Summit, which was aim to raise
political momentum for a global climate
agreement in Paris in 2015.
• There was reconfirmation that climate change

is a defining issue of our time and that action
is needed today to reduce emissions.
• R&D Programme 2015.

• The Summit reaffirmed the desire to limit
global temperature rise to 2oC and for
national governments to take emissions
below the 2oC target, according to
International Energy Agency Greenhouse
Gas (IEAGHG)
• The EU reached an agreement on a broad

climate change pact obliging the EU as a
whole to cut greenhouse gases by at least
40% by 2030.

• The EU accounted for some 10% of global
CO2 emissions in 2012 so action to reduce
emissions in the EU has global significance.
• This was then followed by the joint US-

China announcement on Climate Change
and Clean Energy cooperation that the US
will reduce its emissions by some 27%
from 2005 levels by 2025 and by 80% in
2050.

• The EU, US and China, account for around
55% of global CO2 emissions according to
IEAGHG R&D programme report 2015.
• In October 2015, the Oil and Gas Climate

Initiative (OGCI), which is a voluntary, CEO-
led, industry group comprising ten of the
largest energy firms, has pledged to
further reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions in an attempt to limit global
average temperature rise to 2oc

• The group will also strive to eliminate routine
flaring, reduce methane emissions from
operations, increase efficiency across the
industry and progress carbon capture and
storage processes.
• OGCI member companies have already taken

significant actions to reduce their GHG
footprint, with combined GHG emissions from
their operations decreasing by around 20
percent over the past ten years, and have
previously promoted the idea that natural gas
can play a role in fighting climate change.
• The ten companies that currently make up
the OGCI are BG Group, BP, Eni, Pemex,
Reliance Industries, Repsol, Saudi Aramco,
Shell, Statoil and Total.
• The latest development comes before the

21st session of the United Nations
Conference of Parties to the UN Framework
on Climate Change (COP21), planned for
Paris from Nov 30th – Dec 11th 2015.

• The United Nations believes sharp reductions in
fossil fuel use are also necessary to protect the earth
from catastrophic effects of climate change.
• Higher fuel efficiencies for cars and the industry's

switch towards less-polluting sources of energy such
as gas, biofuels, solar and wind power, mean that oil
demand could plateau in the coming decades.
• Lower future demand for fossil fuels could wreck the

finances of producing countries like Saudi Arabia,
Russia and Venezuela that depend on high oil prices
to fund public spending, but would be an overall
boon (benefit) for the world.
• Fossil fuel consumption could be further clipped if
governments tighten regulations in order to combat
climate change at a U.N. conference in Paris next
month.
• Earlier in the month of Nov, 2015, BP said the world

is no longer at risk of running out of oil or gas for
decades ahead. Existing technology is capable of
unlocking so much fossil fuel that global reserves
would almost double by 2050 to 4.8 trillion barrels
of oil equivalent (boe), Source: www.rigzone.com

CO2 Management

CO2 capture and Storage (CCS) – CO2 Sequestration
& Enhance Oil Recovery (EOR)
• Replanting trees, will help to reduce the buildup of

carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as growing trees
sequester (i.e. remove and isolate) carbon dioxide
through photosynthesis.
• Atmospheric carbon dioxide is converted and stored

in the vegetation's and soils of the large forests, like
the Congo and Amazon Basins called the “lungs of the
World”

Plants Sequester CO2 within them and into the soil

• However, forests cannot sequester all of the carbon
dioxide we are emitting to the atmosphere through
the burning of fossil fuels.
• A reduction in fossil fuel emissions is still necessary

to avoid build up in the atmosphere,"
• Industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions

contribute to climate change.

• Using existing technologies in innovative ways can
help to reduce the impact, by capturing CO2 and
storing it safely underground.
• In Canada, Shell is demonstrating how large-scale

CO2 emissions can be managed through the use of
Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS), known
as “CO2 Sequestration”

• On Friday Nov 8th 2015, Shell officially opened
its ”Quest Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)” project
in Alberta, Canada, and the start of commercial
operations there.
• Quest is designed to capture and safely store more than

one million tones of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year –
equal to the emissions from about 250,000 cars.
• CCS is critical to meeting the world’s need to limit

carbon dioxide emissions and minimize the effects of
climate change.

Shell’s ”Quest Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)” project in Alberta, Canada. Projects designed
to capture CO2 emissions from upgrading Bitumen to SCO by hydrocracking.

Source: “Carbon Sequestration
Atlas of the United States and
Canada,” DOE/Office of Fossil
Energy/NETL, November 2008.
North American CO2 source distribution

Deep Saline storage opportunities in South Africa.
Source IEAGHG, CCS Deployment in meeting long term climate change 2015/TR3, July 2015

CO2 emission by
region and sector
2012. Note “Other
energy industry “
include emissions
from Petroleum
refining, coal
mining, oil & gas
extraction and
other energy
producing
industries. EIA 2014

• CCS is currently the only technology available to
mitigate large-scale industrial emissions from fossil
fuel use.
• The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes CCS

could provide as much as one-sixth of the world’s
CO2 emissions reductions by 2050.
• IEA further estimates the cost of tackling climate

change will be 40 per cent higher without CCS.

• According to Bellona, three main technologies used to
capture CO2, are namely:
post-combustion,
pre-combustion
Oxyfuel
• All of these technologies can capture at least 90% of

the CO2 emitted; current higher costs are the only
constraint to capturing 100% of CO2 emissions using
CCS.

• The selection of any capture technology will
be dependent on a variety of criteria
including;
 the state of development of the
technology,
the application, if the facility is new or
existing and would therefore require
retrofitting,
as well as the capital and operating costs.

• Flue gas contains only 10% CO2. Flue gas is the gas
exiting to the atmosphere via a flue, which is a
pipe or channel for conveying exhaust gases from
a fireplace, oven, furnace, boiler , steam generator or
and industrial plant .
• It is better to separate the CO2 from the other

components (mainly steam and nitrogen, but also
some particles, sulfur, etc.) to get the smallest
possible volume for transport and storage.

• Furthermore, the other components in the flue
gas would cause corrosion problems and would
contaminate the storage site.
• Therefore, the best solution is to separate

CO2 from the other components in the flue gas.
• This separation process is referred to as

CO2 capture.

This is referred to as post-combustion CO2 capture

Post-combustion CO2 Capture
• The most prevalent capture technology, has been post-
combustion CO2 capture, which can be added to existing
plants (i.e. retrofit) to filter CO2 from their flue gas.
• This ability to install post-combustion technologies to existing

power plants is a core advantage given the average power plant
lifecycle of 40 years or longer.
• Capturing CO2 from the flue gas of a power plant is referred to

as post-combustion CO2 capture because CO2 is removed after
(i.e. post) the combustion in the power plant.

• The Post-combustion process is straightforward:
• The flue gas from a power plant, or an industrial

plant, enters a scrubbing tank.
• A liquid solvent is also added to this tank, and this

solvent reacts with CO2, but not with the other
components of the flue gas, like nitrogen.
• The nitrogen gas flows through the tank and leaves

at the top of the tank.

• The liquid solvent, which has reacted with the CO2, leaves
at the bottom of the tank.
• Typical solvents are chemical compounds like amines or

ammonia dissolved in water. In the regeneration tank the
solvent-CO2 mixture is heated, and the bonds between
solvent and CO2 are broken.
• The CO2 is then released and leaves the top of the

regeneration tank as gas.
• The pure amine leaves the bottom of the tank and is

recirculated to the scrubber tank.

Post-combustion CO2 capture technology. Source Bellona

• There are two main challenges for post-
combustion capture technologies. These
include:
 the large volumes of gas that must be

handled, thus requiring large-scale equipment
and resulting in high capital costs,
and the amount of additional energy needed

to operate the process.

• Post-combustion technologies enable
approximately 90% of the CO2 to be captured.
• As a result of its retrofitting option and

applicability to both the power generation
plants and the majority of industry plants,
post-combustion CO2 storage technologies
are the most widely used.

referred to as pre-combustion CO2 capture

Pre-combustion CO2 Capture
• In pre-combustion CO2 capture, the CO2 is removed from

the fuel prior to combustion.
• The process is carried out in a traditional steam reformer

where the fuel is converted to hydrogen (H2) and carbon
monoxide (CO).
• The CO-gas and steam is then converted into H2 and CO2.
• Finally, the H2 and CO2 gas is separated in the same way as

in post-combustion CO2 capture.

• The fuel conversion procedure required for pre-combustion
is more complex than that involved in post-combustion,
thus making the technology more difficult to apply to
existing plants and best built simultaneously with a
facility.
• Pre-combustion capture increases the CO2 concentration of

the flue stream, requiring smaller equipment and different
solvents with lower regeneration energy requirements.

Pre-combustion CO2 capture technology. Source Bellona

referred to as oxyfuel CO2 capture

Oxyfuel CO2 capture
• A traditional fossil fuel power plant is operated by

combusting fuel and air.
• The distinguishing characteristic of oxyfuel

combustion with CO2 capture is that combustion is
carried out with oxygen instead of air.
• This method deploys an air separation unit that

removes nitrogen from the air, producing oxygen.

• This leaves the captured CO2 to be compressed and
dehydrated, ready for transport and storage.
• The advantage of oxyfuel combustion is that, because

the flue gas contains a high concentration of CO2, the
CO2 separation stage is simplified.
• This technology therefore makes it possible to

capture 100% of the CO2. The high costs of
producing pure oxygen, however, act somewhat as
a barrier to the wider adoption of oxyfuel CO2
capture technologies.

Oxyfuel CO2 capture technology. Source Bellona

Geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2)
• There is a range of options regarding the geological
storage of CO2.
• One possibility is the use of CO2 in enhanced oil

recovery and this is already commercial in some
circumstances.
• The other main options are:

 storage within depleted oil and gas fields or
saline aquifers,
 other techniques, such as storage in coals with
enhanced coal bed methane, remain at an early
stage.

• After transportation through pipelines, the CO2 is stored
in porous geological formations typically located more
than 800 meters below the earth’s surface, where
pressure and temperatures cause CO2 to be retain in a
liquid or dense phase.
• Suitable storage sites include former gas and oil fields,

deep saline formations or depleting oil and gas fields.
• Storing CO2 underground uses much of the same

techniques and principals that have naturally trapped oil
and gas underground for millions of years. Storage can
take place both underground on land and offshore.

• Before selecting a storage site, however, it is necessary to
make sure that once injected the CO2 will not leak out. Safe
and effective storage sites are marked by the following
characteristics:
Storage formations, such as sandstone, must be capable

of receiving CO2 This requires sufficient pore space, tiny
water filled gaps between the grains of the rock
Pores in the rock are connected well enough, a feature

called ‘permeability’, so that the CO2 can move and
spread out within the formation, providing the capacity
needed to accept the necessary amount of CO2
Formations must have an extensive cap or barrier at the

top to contain the CO2 for hundreds to thousands of
years and longer
CO2 storage in a saline aquifer below a caprock: Source: Bellona

• An aquifer is porous sandstone where salt water is
present naturally in the pores in the sand.
• It is important to note that only aquifers containing

salt water are suitable for CO2 storage. Aquifers
containing fresh water will not be used for CO2
storage as such aquifers can be used for the
production of drinking water.
• An important limitation to aquifers as storage sites

is the quality of the bedrock. CO2 injected into an
aquifer is buoyant, meaning that it will try to move
upwards.
CO2 is injected
into pores in sand
aquifer and will
try to move
upwards, but it is
stopped by the
impermeable
Physical trapping caprock on top of
the aquifer. When
CO2 is injected,
care must be
taken not to
exceed the
allowable
pressure to avoid
fracturing the
caprock or
reactivating
faults.

CO2 is initially
trapped by the
caprock (left), but as
times goes by CO2
dissolves into water
to form ions (middle).
Physical trapping
Finally, after
Geochemical or thousands of years,
Mineral trapping the ions will reacts
with the rock
minerals to form
Solubility carbonate minerals
trapping e.g. limestone which
is the safest way to
store the CO2 (right).
Mineral trapping, is
the most permanent
form of geological
storage.

• The best evidence that CO2 can be stored safely are the natural
accumulations of relatively pure CO2 that are found all over the world
in a range of geological settings.
• CO2 has been trapped in such natural reservoirs for millions of years,
which is a clear indication that injected CO2 can be stored for millions
of years.
• For instance, 200 million tonnes of CO2 trapped in the Pisgah Anticline
in the USA is thought to have been generated more than 65 million
years ago.
• With no evidence of leakage, this site proves long-term trapping of

CO2.

CO2 Monitoring
• There is already considerable experience with injecting
CO2 deep underground for storage at a number of CCS
projects.
• These storage sites for the projects have been carefully

selected and monitoring evidence concludes that the
CO2 has been completely and safely locked into the
geological formations.
• Careful storage system design and site selection, together

with methods for early detection of leakage (preferably
long before CO2 reaches the land surface), are effective
ways of monitoring and reducing hazards associated with
diffuse leakage.
• The offshore gas field Sleipner, in the middle of the
North Sea, produces natural gas that contains up to
9 % CO2.
• CO2 has been separated from the natural gas and

injected into a sand layer containing salt water,
called the Utsira formation, which lies 1000 meter
below the sea bed.
• Norway’s tax on emitted carbon of $200 to $140 per

metric ton of CO2—led StatoilHydro to compress
the captured CO2 and inject it into a deep saltwater
formation below the seabed.
• Since 1996, about 1 million tonnes of CO2 has been
injected annually, and there have not been any
indications of leakages.
• Regular monitoring of the subsurface shows that the

formation is retaining the injected CO2.
• A range of monitoring techniques are available for CO2

geological storage offshore,
 both deep-focussed (providing surveillance of the

reservoir and deeper overburden)
 and shallow-focussed (providing surveillance of the

near seabed, seabed and water-column).
• Deep-focussed operational monitoring systems have
been deployed for a number of years at Sleipner and
Snøhvit gas fields of Norway and also at the pilot-scale K12-
B project in the offshore Netherlands, and conclusions
regarding the efficacy of key technologies are starting to
emerge.
• 3D seismic surveys have been highly effective for tracking

CO2 plume development in Norway’s Sleipner and Snøhvit
reservoirs.
• A combination of the 3D seismic survey and downhole

pressure / temperature monitoring at Snøhvit has
demonstrated the benefit of complementary techniques in
monitoring CO2

P-Cable seismic survey produces Ultra High Resolution 3D (UHR3D)
Seabed pock-marks

• Shallow-focussed monitoring systems are
being developed and demonstrated.
• New marine sensor and existing underwater

platform technology such as Automated
Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and mini-Remotely
Operated Vehicles (Mini-ROVs) enable
deployment and observation over large areas
at potentially relatively low cost.
• Seafloor and ocean monitoring technologies

can detect both dissolved phase CO2 and
precursor fluids (using chemical analysis) and
gas phase CO2.
• Developments in geophysical techniques, such as the P-
Cable seismic survey to produce Ultra High Resolution
3D data, in the overburden, have demonstrated the
successful and effective integration of shallow
subsurface technologies with the seabed monitoring
data will help to understand shallow migration
processes.
• Monitoring strategies need to be devised to cover large

areas, typically tens to hundreds of km2 and also
achieve accurate measurement and characterization
possibly over lengthy periods.
• Limited spatial coverage could lead to the risk that

anomalies remain undetected or are only detected after
a lengthy period of time.
P-Cable seismic survey produces Ultra high resolution 3D (UHR3D)
Pleistocen
e Glacial
Deposits
Dipping Paleogene
Intra-Glacial Unconformity
sandstones
Top Free Gas

P-Cable seismic survey produces Ultra High Resolution 3D (UHR3D) data of seabed

P-Cable seismic survey produces Ultra high resolution 3D (UHR3D)

Constant Monitoring wells both at shallow and greater depths

Enhanced Recovery (ER) and Disposal Well
• Enhanced recovery wells inject produced water

or other fluids or gases into oil- or gas-
producing formations to increase the pressure
in the formation and force additional oil or gas
out of nearby producing wells.
• Disposal wells inject produced water or other

fluids associated with oil and gas production
into formations that are intended to hold the
fluids permanently.

Figure: Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) and Disposal Well
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

CO2- EOR Principles

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COURSE LECTURE NOTES/PRESENTATION

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 1

Instructor: Pary-cao Agbortar

Phone: (+237) 677-32-74-02

Classes Monday 8.00am-12.00 noon, ISA-EMT Douala

• What are unconventional resources?

• Systematic approaches to resource

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 5

• Occurrences, resources, reservoir

• Occurrences, resources, reservoir

• Occurrences, resources, reservoir

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 8

• Occurrences, resources, reservoir

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 9

• Occurrences, resources, reservoir

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 10

• What are greenhouse gases

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 11

• CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) – CO2

• CO2 Monitoring related to oil and gas

• Enhanced Oil Recovery-EOR

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 12

• What are unconventional resources?

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 13

• Crude oil is one of the most actively traded

• Decades of oil and natural gas production in

• Basically, most of the oil and natural

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 15

In the next decade, over 100,000 shale wells

• The U.S. imports about half the oil it uses,

• Research and innovation on unconventional

• America’s shale gas & shale oil and

• Existing technology is capable of unlocking

• With new exploration and technology, the

 high breakeven product prices and,

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 21

• Oil and natural gas are found in a variety of

• Shale and tight sandstone formations

• For example, the Bakken shale formation in

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 23

• however, capturing the gas requires

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 24

 the Orinoco heavy oil deposits in

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 25

• There is no clear and consistently agreed upon

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 27

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 29

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 30

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 31

• Out of the 2484 billion barrels (BBL) of

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 32

• The largest one is the Orinoco Oil Belt in

• Some 586 recorded oil sand deposits exist in 22

• The oil sand production was 1.3 million

• With 3272 BBL at the end of 2005, oil sand is

Oacyrap Geoscience Consulting, Nov 2015 36

• Also, at the end of 2005, oil shale