Distinguished Author Series

Low-Permeability Gas Sands

by Hossein Kazemi, SPE
Hossein Kazemi is manager of the Engineering Dept. at Marathon Oil Co. 's Denver
Research Center in Littleton, CO. Since receiving a PhD degree in petroleum
engineering from the U. of Texas in 1963, he has been involved in pressure transient
testing and reservoir simulation. He has published more than 20 papers on petroleum
engineering topics. Kazemi is 1981-83 Monograph Committee chairman and has
served on the committee since 1979. He was program chairman and general
cochairman of the 1981 SPEIDOE Low-Permeability Gas Reservoirs Symposium in
Denver. He also has served on the Well Testing and Reservoir Engineering technical
program committees for several Annual Meetings and was membership chairman of
the Denver Petroleum Section during 1975-76. Kazemi received the section's Henry
Mattson Technical Service Award in 1980.

Introduction. Low-permeability or tight-gas reservoirs
are gas-bearing fonnations with gas penneabilities of
less than 1 md and as low as 1 p,d. Gas from
reservoirs with gas penneabilities greater than 1 md is
known as conventional gas. Gas from low-penneability
reservoirs, coal seams, Devonian shale, and
geopressured brines is known as unconventional gas.
From a price-incentive point of view, a regulation
pursuant to the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978
requires that the estimated average in-situ gas
penneability be 0.1 md or less to qualify the gas from
a gas-bearing fonnation as tight gas.
A U.S. Federal Power Commission study in 1973,
supplemented by the USGS and a second study by
Lewin & Assocs. Inc. in 1978, provided the first
publicized estimates of tight-gas reserves in several
well-known basins in the lower 48 states. 1.2 A more
comprehensive study by the Nat!. Petroleum Council
(NPC) followed in 1980 3 and later was summarized
by Baker. 4
The industry has been exploring and producing gas
from tight-gas basins for nearly 30 years. It was the
private sector that developed the basic stimulation
technology to enhance gas production from such
basins. 5 To accelerate development of domestic gas
resources, the U.S. DOE initiated the Western Gas
Sands Project in 1977. This project has brought
government and industry closer in a common cause. In
addition to the periodic governmental reports
(exemplified by Ref. 6), SPE and DOE have been
conducting joint annual meetings to disseminate the
technology. The proceedings of these symposia are
excellent reference sources. 7- 1O A recent book,
Unconventional Natural Gas, also presents a clear
picture of various technologies related to tight gas,
coal-seam gas, Devonian-shale gas, and geopressured
gas. II The gas from gas hydrates (discussed by
Holder et al. 12) is very unlikely to contribute much to
the recoverable reserves.
The magnitude of recoverable reserves from tight-
gas deposits is a function of two factors: (I) price and
other favorable economic incentives, and (2) advances
Copyright 1982 Society of Petroleum Engineers of AI ME
0149·2136/8210101-1330$00.25
OCTOBER 1982
in stimulation technology. The first factor is easier to
achieve than the second. In fact, recent government
incentives have stimulated drilling in tight gas
sands. 13
Although stimulation technology has improved
considerably-specifically, massive hydraulic
fracturing (MHF) technology-it is very far from the
desired target. As it stands, proper placement and
containment of fractures during MHF cannot be
controlled or predicted with adequate certainty.
Properly placed fractures should improve recoveries
substantially. This is why the placement of vertical
fractures to fonn a well-defined flow network is a
fundamental concept in NPC's "advanced
technology" scenario.
Once a fracture is created, its properties can be
estimated from well-designed pressure drawdown and
buildup tests. Nonnally, these tests must last much
longer than those in conventional gas reservoirs.
These pressure transient tests often are difficult to
interpret by conventional hand calculation. In the past
several years, numerical simulators for interpreting
such tests have played a significant role. 14 The
procedure is to match the pre fracture and postfracture
pressure transient data (drawdown and buildup tests)
with a simulator, then to use the simulator to predict
the well's future perfonnance.
Recently, attempts have been made to develop a
new class of simulators that simulate the creation of a
fracture using rock mechanics and fluid flow
principles. The same simulators also are used to
simulate producing the reservoir through the created
fracture. This kind of technology is in its infancy but
certainly adds a new and important dimension to our
understanding of stimu'lation technology. 15.16
I have presented an overview of the present state of
the technology. In what follows, I attempt to shed
additional light on pertinent details.
The Resource Base. The NPC report identifies 113
natural-gas basins in the lower 48 states. 3,4
Recoverable reserves for these 113 basins were
estimated from infonnation gathered in a detailed
appraisal of 12 already explored basins, as shown in
2229

Fig. 1-Twelve tight-gas basins appraised in the Natl.
Petroleum Council study. 4
Fig. 1. The three western tight-gas basins-the
Piceance of Colorado, Green River of Wyoming, and
Uinta of Utah-are in the Rocky Mountain area.
Basically, gas is accumulated either in the deep
blanket sands or in the shallower lenticular sands. It is
estimated that about 40% of the gas reserves are in the
lenticular sands, which are more difficult to explore
and produce than are the blanket sands. The NPC
report puts the tight-gas recoverable reserves in the
range of 190 to 570 Tcf (5.4 to 16x 10 12 m 3 ),
equivalent to 30 to 100 billion bbl (4.7 to 15.9x 10 9
m 3) of crude oil. This should be compared with the
estimated 800 Tcf (22.6x 10 12 m 3 ) of conventional
gas to be discovered. Current U.S. proved
conventional gas reserves are estimated at 200 Tcf
(5.6 x 10 12 m 3 ), with an annual production rate of 20
Tcf(0.6X10 12 m 3 /yr).
It is evident that tight-gas reserves can contribute
substantially to U.S. energy supply. At present, 5% of
the produced natural gas is from such reservoirs, but it
can be as much as 50% by the year 2020. 4 The daily
flow rate per well could be anywhere from 50 to 5,000
McflD (1.4 to 1415x10 3 m 3 /d). Cumulative gas-
recovery potential from coal seams, Devonian shale,
and geopressured brines is estimated to be as high as
18 % of tight gas in the year 2000.
Those estimates and appraisals are subject to
considerable uncertainty. Nonetheless, we can be sure
that a vast amount of recoverable gas is available to be
produced.
Stimulation. The proven stimulation for tight-gas
deposits is MHF. In such treatments, several hundred
thousand gallons of fracturing fluid and several
hundred thousand pounds of proppants could be used.
The fractures generally are vertical and designed to
have a fracture half-length on the order of 1,000 to
4,000 ft (300 to 1200 m). The fractures are formed
perpendicular to the least principal stress in the
deposit. Not much is known about the nature of
fracture containment. In other words, it is very likely
2230
that these fractures enter adjacent beds above and
below the zone of interest. Veatch presents an
excellent review of current hydraulic fracture
technology. 17
Other forms of stimulation, such as the use of
chemical explosives and nuclear devices, have been
considered, but those results have not been as
encouraging as MHF results. 5,11
Fracturing Fluids and Proppant. Fracturing fluids
are water-, oil-, or acid-base viscous emulsions or
gels. Each fluid is designed to have many specific
properties that enable the fluid (1) to act as a wedge to
open and to extend the fracture, (2) to have low filter
loss and proper viscosity to transport the proppants in
the fracture, (3) to flow back to the fracture and the
wellbore after fracturing is complete, and (4) to have
minimal formation damage (i.e., gas flow impairment)
along the fracture face. Water-base fluids containing
polymers often are used because of good transport
properties, lower cost, and greater safety. Foams
sometimes are used to stimulate shallow reservoirs.
Proppants are necessary to hold the fractures open, and
they require careful design attention regarding
strength, transportabilit5' in the fracturing fluids, and
cost. Howard and Fast and Satriana II discuss
fracturing fluids and proppants in detail.
Fracture Design and Calculations. To determine the
size, amount of proppants, and fracture conductivity,
an estimate is needed of the fracture width, height,
and length before a fracturing job. In addition, length
and fracture conductivity are used to forecast the
production decline behavior with time, as well as
ultimate gas recovery.
Several hand-calculation methods have been
developed to estimate the width and length of a
fracture given the injection rate, fracture height,
injected-fluid rheological and filtration properties, and
reservoir-rock mechanical and filtration
characteristics. 5 ,18 For ease of use and flexibility,
when many iterations are required, hand-calculation
methods should be programmed for a small desk-top
calculator or a minicomputer.
In the past 5 years, more elaborate fracture
calculation methods have been developed. 15,16 These
methods basically are numerical simulators that, in
complexity, are in the same class as large reservoir
numerical simulators. Whether simple or elaborate,
fracture design methods cannot predict realistically
what happens in the ground. 19,20 Nonetheless, without
them, we would be in total darkness!
Fracture Treatment Interpretation. Careful
observation of pressure/time behavior during fracturing
operations, plus some help from earlier theories, has
led engineers to come up with a promising diagnostic
method. 21 Simply, when the difference between
wellbore pressure and closure pressure is plotted vs.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY
injection time on log-log paper, one can interpret
whether the fracture is propagating (1) radially in the
formation, (2) vertically into the adjacent formations,
or (3) is sanding out.
After a fracture is created and the well is put on
production, the match of pressure/time and flow
rate/time behavior with a conventional gas reservoir
simulator, which allows for a vertical fracture, could
lead to a realistic determination of effective fracture
half-length. 14 The reliability of such matching
techniques improves considerably if high-quality
prefracture and postfracture pressure drawdown and
buildup tests are available.
Pressure Transient Testing. Both constant-rate and
constant-pressure transient testing, before and after
well stimulation, are used to determine reservoir
permeability and near-well conditions. 22 ,23 The latter
includes quantification of well bore damage or
improvement caused by hydraulic fracturing. This
information is used to forecast reservoir
performance. 24
Before well stimulation, the production rate can be
so small that wellbore storage and other wellbore
phenomena generally mask the otherwise interpretable
pressure/time data. Bottomhole shut-in tests, such as
drillstem testing, reduce wellbore storage; nonetheless,
one still may obtain only the permeability of the
damaged zone because of ,the short production time.
After well stimulation by MHF, analysis of
pressure/time and/or rate/time data is not much easier
than before. Chances for success improve if production
time is long and both pressure and rate are measured
carefully with time. In general, a long pressure
buildup after a long drawdown provides a better
pressure/time record for formation evaluation.
In tight-gas reservoirs, some wells are produced
directly against a gathering-line pressure. In such
cases, the wells produce at declining flow rates with
time. To determine reservoir properties, the
conventional graph of pressure vs. log of time can be
replaced with the graph of reciprocal rate vs. log of
time for computational purposes.
A summary of several analysis methods and many
references are provided by Cinco-Ley, Earlougher, and
Ramey. 22,23,25,26
Reservoir Performance Forecasting. Two approaches
can be used. The first is a simple hand-calculation
procedure,24 which requires knowledge of the
reservoir and gas properties: permeability, porosity,
thickness, water saturation, fracture length, drainage
area of a well, gas specific gravity, reservoir static
pressure and temperature, and the well's operating
conditions (i.e., constant rate or constant pressure).
Once these data are known, use of the appropriate
dimensionless pressure (p D) or reciprocal
dimensionless rate (lIqD) and dimensionless time (tD
or t Dxf) in the unsteady-flow equations should forecast
OCTOBER 1982
reservoir behavior with time. Earlougher provides the
details of such procedures. 25
The second approach is to use a reservoir simulator
that can account for a vertical fracture. Here again, the
same basic data are required to make a model
prediction. 14 The reservoir simulators generally are
more versatile (Le., can account for more elaborate
wellbore and reservoir conditions). I believe this
approach is the best method of evaluating a fracturing
job.
Summary. This paper is an overview of the
technology related to low-permeability gas sands. The
salient points are as follows.
1. There is no highly reliable estimate of recoverable
reserves for tight-gas deposits. Nonetheless, educated
judgment suggests that such deposits are likely to
contribute substantially to future natural gas
markets-perhaps 190 to 570 Tcf (5.4 to 16 x 10 12
m 3), equivalent to 30 to 100 billion bbl (4.7 to
15.9x 10 9 m 3) oil.
2. Favorable price and other economic incentives are
needed to attain high recoveries. In addition,
stimulation technology must improve substantially for
further increases in recoverable reserves. We have a
long way to go in developing the technology needed to
recover a substantial amount of gas from tight-gas
deposits.
3. Proper placement and containment of MHF's is
beyond our control at this time. In fact, the shape and
size of these fractures cannot be predicted with
adequate certainty.
4. Fracturing fluids and proppants can affect
substantially the degree of success of a stimulation
job-i.e., fracture size and the postfracture gas rate are
very dependent on the injected material.
5. Pressure transient testing and reservoir simulation
have contributed substantially to the understanding and
delineation of hydraulic fractures. In general, pressure
transient .tests predict much smaller effective fracture
half-lengths than expected from hydraulic fracturing
design calculations.
Acknowledgment. I thank Marathon Oil Co. for
permission to publish this paper.
References
1. National Gas Survey-Supply, Task Force Reports Vol. II,
Federal Power Commission, Washington, DC (April 1973).
2. Enhanced Recovery of Oil and Gas, Lewin & Assocs. Inc.,
prepared for U.S. DOE (Feb. 1978).
3. Tight Gas Reservoirs (Parts I and II), Natl. Petroleum Council
Report on Unconventional Gas Sources, Vol. V, Washington, DC
(Dec. 1980).
4. Baker, Ovid: "Gas Resources in Low-Penneability Fonnations
and the Effect of Price and Technology," paper SPE 9897
presented at the 1981 SPEIDOE Low-Penneability Gas Reservoirs
Symposium, Denver, May 27-29.
5. Howard, G.C. and Fast, C.R.: Hydraulic Fracturing, Monograph
Series, SPE, Dallas (1970) 2.
6. Semi-Annual Repon for the Unconventional Gas Recovery Pro-
2231
 gram, U.S. DOE Morgantown Energy Technology Center,
Morgantown, WV (Nov. 1981).
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Distinguished Author Series articles are general, descriptive presentations that
summarize the state of the art in an area of technology by describing recent
developments for readers who are not specialists in the topics discussed. Written by
individuals recognized as experts in the areas, these articles provide key references
to more definitive work and present specific details only to illustrate the technology.
Purpose: To inform the general readership of recent advances in various areas of
petroleum engineering. The series is a project of the Technical Coverage Committee.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY