A Material Balance Equation for Stress-Sensitive Shale Gas Condensate Reservoirs

During the last few years, production of liquid hydrocarbons has been reported from the gas-condensate window of the Eagle Ford, Barnett, Niobrara and Marcellus shale plays in the US. This paper presents a new Material Balance Equation (MBE) for estimation of Original Gas in Place (OGIP) and Original Condensate in Place (OCIP) in shale gas condensate reservoirs. This material balance methodology allows estimating the critical time for implementing gas injection in those cases where condensate buildup represents a problem. Additionally, the proposed MBE considers the effects of free, adsorbed and dissolved gas condensate production, and also takes into-account the stress-dependency of porosity and permeability. An extension of the methodology is implemented for estimating the optimum time for hydraulically re-fracturing shale condensate reservoirs.

The new MBE applies to shale gas condensate reservoirs by incorporating a two-phase gas deviation factor (Z₂) and total cumulative gas production (G_pt) that includes both gas and condensate. If a crossplot of P/Z2 (pressure/Z2) vs. G_pt is prepared for a conventional gas condensate reservoir, a single straight line is obtained. However, when the single-phase gas compressibility factor (Z) is used, a deviation from the linear behavior is observed once the reservoir pressure falls below the gas dew-point. This methodology is applied in this study to unconventional shale gas condensate. Since there are three characteristic stages of production in a shale gas reservoir (production of free, adsorbed and dissolved gas), the location of the aforementioned deviation will provide a hint of the production stage that will be affected by condensate buildup. For example, if the deviation point is located in the region where production of free gas is predominant, then the production due to desorption mechanisms will be negatively impacted because condensation will have already occurred in the reservoir, resulting on reduction of effective permeability to gas. This methodology allows then estimating the critical time for implementing gas injection on the basis of the total cumulative gas production.

Results are presented as crossplots of 1) P/Z₂ vs. G_pt, 2) G_pt vs. time and 3) gas rate vs. time. It is concluded that estimation of the critical time for implementing gas injection is useful for improving the performance of those shale gas condensate reservoirs where condensate buildup represents a threat that can negatively impact the gas production rate.

The novelty of this work resides on the fact that the combined effect of free, adsorbed and dissolved gas production mechanisms on stress-sensitive shale gas condensate reservoirs has not been considered previously in the literature for estimation of OGIP and OCIP using an analytical MBE.