Gas Shale Permeability and Velocity Measurement at Laboratory Scale

Matrix permeability of gas shales is a crucial parameter for their characterization, production potential, and commercial development. Gas shales are an important reservoir type from an economic perspective because of their potential to hold large volume reserves and produce economically over time. However, shale matrix permeability can not be easily acquired from direct field measurements; it can only be measured in the laboratory. The main goal of this thesis was to characterize the elastic properties and gas transport properties for the Barnett shale which comes from the Fort Worth basin in North Texas, of the United States. We measured density and ultrasonic velocity based on the three plug technique. Matrix permeability and porosity were measured simultaneously by using a specially designed apparatus and a newly developed transient pressure technique invented by Metwally and Sondergeld, 2011. Measurement results show evidence for strong anisotropy in both velocity and permeability attributes. Nonlinear reduction in permeability and effective porosity with an increase of effective pressure has been observed. Correlation between elastic constant C44 and permeability parallel to the bedding plane has been clearly identified, which may offer an indicator for estimating permeability.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Geophysics

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Lu, Kefei 1975-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Chesnokov, Evgeni M.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Castagna, John P.
• Metwally, Yasser M.
• Jurick, Dana

• Matrix Permeability
• Gas shales
• Ultrasonic velocity
• Pressure decay

Statement dc:rights

• The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10657/2181

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/2181