Tight Gas

-Prepared by : - Under supervision :

Taibi Zakaria *Dr.abdelmouiz

-djokhdom abdenour

- 2023/2024-
 While conventional natural gas streams from the earth relatively easily,
unconventional gas finds are more difficult to develop and more costly to produce. As
technologies and skills improve, unconventional gas is a variable concept because
some finds may become more easily or economically produced over time, no longer
making them unconventional. Right now, there are six main types of unconventional
gas, including deep gas, gas-containing shales, coalbed methane, geopressurized
zones, Arctic and subsea hydrates, and tight gas.

Unconventional natural gas deposits are likely to account for much of the world's
remaining reserves. According to the EIA, there is more than 309 Tcf of recoverable
tight natural gas deposits in the US, which represents some 17% of the total natural
gas reserves in the country.

Helping to boost interest in developing technologies that can overcome the

challenges of producing unconventional gas resources in the United States, the
Natural Gas Policy Act offers incentives to companies exploring for and producing
unconventional gas plays.

What Is Tight Gas?

Tight gas refers to natural gas reservoirs locked in extraordinarily impermeable, hard
rock, making the underground formation extremely "tight." Tight gas can also be
trapped in sandstone or limestone formations that are atypically impermeable or
nonporous, also known as tight sand.
While a conventional gas formation can be relatively easily drilled and extracted from
the ground unassisted, tight gas requires more effort to pull it from the ground
because of the extremely tight formation in which it is located. In other words, the
pores in the rock formation in which the gas is trapped are either irregularly
distributed or badly connected with overly narrow capillaries, lessening permeability --
or the ability of the gas to travel through the rock. Without secondary production
methods, gas from a tight formation would flow at very slow rates, making production
uneconomical.

While conventional gas formations tend to be found in the younger Tertiary basins,
tight gas formations are much older. Deposited some 248 million years ago, tight gas
formations are typically found in Palaeozoic formations. Over time, the rock
formations have been compacted and have undergone cementation and
recrystallisation, which all reduce the level of permeability in the rock.

Typical conventional natural gas deposits boast a permeability level of .01 to .5

darcy, but the formations trapping tight gas reserves portray permeability levels of
merely a fraction of that, measuring in the millidarcy or microdarcy range.

In order to overcome the challenges that the tight formation presents, there are a
number of additional procedures that can be enacted to help produce tight gas.
Deviating drilling practices and more specific seismic data can help in tapping tight
gas, as well as artificial stimulation, such as fracturing and acidizing.

Developing Tight Gas :

One of the most important aspects of drilling for any petroleum is predetermining the
success rate of the operation. Operators do not just drill anywhere. Extensive seismic
data is gathered and analyzed to determine where to drill and just what might be
located below the earth's surface.

These seismic surveys can help to pinpoint the best areas to tap tight gas reserves.
A survey might be able to locate an area that portrays an improved porosity or
permeability in the rock in which the gas is located. Should wells directly hit the best
area to develop the reserve, costs of development can be minimized.

Most tight gas formations are found onshore, and land seismic techniques are
undergoing transformations to better map out where drilling and development of
these unconventional plays. Typical land seismic techniques include exploding
dynamite and vibroseis, or measuring vibrations produced by purpose-built trucks.
While these techniques can produce informational surveys, advancements in marine
seismic technologies are now being applied to land seismic surveys, enhancing the
information available about the world below.

Not only providing operators with the best locations for drilling wells into tight gas
formations, extensive seismic surveys can help drilling engineers determine where
and to what extent drilling directions should be deviated.
While vertical wells may be easier and less expensive to drill, they are not the most
conducive to developing tight gas. In a tight gas formation, it is important to expose
as much of the reservoir as possible, making horizontal and directional drilling a
must. Here, the well can run along the formation, opening up more opportunities for
the natural gas to enter the wellbore.

A common technique for developing tight gas reserves includes drilling more wells.
The more the formation is tapped, the more the gas will be able to escape the
formation. This can be achieved through drilling myriad directional wells from one
location, lessening the operator's footprint and lowering costs.

Production Stimulation :
After seismic data has illuminated the best well locations, and the wells have been
drilled, production stimulation is employed on tight gas reservoirs to promote a
greater rate of flow. Production stimulation can be achieved on tight gas reservoirs
through both fracturing and acidizing the wells.

Fracturing, also known as "fracing," a well involves breaking the rocks in the
formation apart. Performed after the well has been drilled and completed, hydraulic
fracturing is achieved by pumping the well full of frac fluids under high pressure to
break the rocks in the reservoir apart and improve permeability, or the ability of the
gas to flow through the formation.

Additionally, acidizing the well is employed to improve permeability and production

rates of tight gas formations. Acidation involves pumping the well with acids that
dissolve the limestone, dolomite and calcite cement between the sediment grains of
the reservoir rocks. This form of production stimulation helps to reinvigorate
permeability by reestablishing the natural fissures that were present in the formation
before compaction and cementation.

Furthermore, deliquification of the tight gas wells can help to overcome some
production challenges. In many tight gas formations, the reservoirs also contain small
amounts of water. This water can collect and undermine production processes.
Deliquification is achieved in this instance through artificial lift techniques, such as
using a beam pumping system to remove the water from the reservoir, although this
has not proven the most effective way to overcome this challenge.
Engineers continue to develop new techniques and technologies to better produce
tight gas. Through their efforts, maybe one day, tight gas will no longer be considered
an unconventional play.

Difference between shale gas and tight gas :

The most significant difference between shale gas and tight gas is: Shale gas is
mostly found trapped in layers of sedimentary shale rocks. Tight gas is found trapped
in sandstone or limestone formations with relatively low permeability