Oil below the shale

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by parker on July 21, 2009 at 11:44pm

Checkmateking,

Could it be that some of these old fields might be rejuvinated with CO2 flooding to make them more productive?

An Oil play might just be an urban legend, but it has gone from a wisper to a loud yell.

I've just heard the rumor in so many places, that it has me wondering what the buzz is about.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Checkmateking on July 22, 2009 at 9:17am

I am not sure Parker, but I bet one of our local freindly reservoir engineers would help us out.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shayne on July 21, 2009 at 11:17pm

I know the engineers at Smith Bits are doing some very concentrated work on how to work this formation.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jordan A. Reamer on July 22, 2009 at 8:09am

If anyone is interested Petroleum Technology Transfer Connections has an article"Deep Gas Presents Sizeable Target in Central and Eastern Gulf" dated June 2007 providing some interesting number about the Oil and Gas in place in this part of the country, some huge numbers. Evan at 1% recovery, the potenetial could run the U.S. for many years.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bacon on July 22, 2009 at 10:48am

http://www.pttc.org/aogr_columns/aogrcojune07.htm

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Adam on July 22, 2009 at 11:45am

By no means am I an expert, but here is a possibility.

Hypothetically, if there is Oil beneath the Haynesville in significant amounts to garner all these rumors it would probably need to be a more conventional play and it would probably need to be beneath the louann salt. Conventional because you’re not going to get oil out of a shale at that depth on the cheap.

Under the salt because we’ve had a pretty good look at everything above it over the years. Although many of the wells in the rest of the country are drilled to Paleozoic formations, almost all of the stratigraphic columns I’ve looked at for this area stop at the base of the Jurassic formation. Obviously there is potential at greater depths for gas.

This doesn’t explain how oil can be present in such a high temperature environment. I grabbed this bit of an abstract off the web in regards to temperature variations created by Salt Formation. The Louann Salt is just below the Smackover Formation across this entire area. If I’m reading it correctly the salt layer can conduct heat in a manner that makes the top hotter than the bottom.

Just food for thought.

Here’s the Abstract

Abstract Salt and related structures have played important roles in controlling hydrocarbon accumulations in the Gulf of Mexico. Using a two-dimensional fluid flow/compaction model, which allows for both conduction and convection of heat, an examination is given of the effects on thermal patterns of the combined influence of multiple salt features, including diapirs, pillows, sheets and wedges. The focusing and defocusing of heat due to the higher thermal conductivity of salt are accounted for in the modeling. The results show that there could be as much as a 30°C anomaly above multi-salt bodies due to the focusing of heat by salt, and as much as 50°C temperature contrast between internal salt positions and sediments external to the salt in the deep part of a section. The magnitude of the thermal anomaly depends on the size (or width) of the salt and on the depth of the rooted salt. The modeled results provide estimates of the influence of salt in expanding the oil generation window by approximately half of the salt thickness.


Here’s another


Abstract
The presence of salt within a sedimentary basin can potentially modify its temperature distribution and history. In particular, the positive thermal anomaly associated with the top of salt domes has attracted considerable attention in the past. The role of the lesser appreciated negative thermal anomaly associated with the base of salt domes in modifying the maturation history of subsalt source rocks is explored. The finite element method was used to model the transient and steady-state conductive temperature perturbations induced by salt layers, domes and pillows. The results indicate that the modification of the thermal regime due to evolving salt domes may significantly affect the maturation level of source rocks in the vicinity of the domes. Modelling the temperature structure of various salt structures has shown that, in general, the refraction of heat flow induces a dipole-shaped temperature anomaly; a positive anomaly located towards the top of the salt structure and a negative anomaly located towards its base. These dipole anomalies can be strongly asymmetrical, the degree of asymmetry depending on the shape of the salt structure and the proximity of the top of the salt structure to the surface of the basin. However, when the salt structure reaches the surface, the dipole-shaped temperature anomaly collapses to a monopole. Below the salt structure, all sediments, independent of their depth and lithology, are colder relative to a section with no salt. Similarly, salt domes that reach the surface very efficiently drain the heat from below and from the side of the dome. These negative thermal anomalies may extend for a considerable depth beneath the base of the salt dome and may reach values of −85°C locally. Because of the large contrast in thermal conductivity between the highly porous sediments and salt at lower temperatures, the efficiency of a salt dome to channel heat increases the closer the salt dome is to the surface.
These results indicate that deep sedimentary basins containing salt are more prospective than basins without salt and/or salt diapirism. In addition to the structural traps associated with salt tectonics, salt domes and tongues connected to their source dissipate heat more efficiently and thus keep deeper regions of the basin relatively colder and potentially within the oil window for a longer time. This cooling effect is maximized when the top of the salt dome remains close to the surface of the sedimentary basin for a significant period of time and may be especially important for continental margins such as Brazil and offshore West Africa, where most of the source rocks lie beneath extensive evaporite deposits. In contrast, it was found that for the Gulf of Mexico basin, pre- and Early Tertiary salt diapirism and sheet emplacement may have caused significant delays in the maturation of subsalt source rocks in the deeper regions of the Gulf basin, but the maturation is likely to be relatively insensitive to the Late Miocene-Pliocene stage of salt mobilization because the time interval has been too short (< 6 Ma). In general, the earlier the deposition or emplacement of salt sheets, the larger the restraint in the maturation level because the thermal anomalies induced by the salt have more time to affect the maturation history of source rocks.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by parker on July 23, 2009 at 11:33am

Wolf,

It looks like being on the fringe might turn out to be a good thing.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Caliente on July 23, 2009 at 11:36am

hey, having been "told" we were on the "fringe" last summah, and seeing this summah, I sport a new bumper sticker:
F R I NG E IS IN!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by parker on July 23, 2009 at 11:45am

Evidently oil may be in too.

But don't forget, Jay, Jim and Les all said it wouldn't be below the shale (and this isn't).

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by parker on July 23, 2009 at 11:50am

I misunderstood your post. I thought you said above.

▶ Reply to This

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next ›
• Page