Possible Shale Gas Development?

[mrpeteng]

Hi,

I've identified a shale formation with a thickness of 2,700+ ft and the age of the layer is "Upper Miocene". I've yet to determine its areal extent.
I understand that age is critical to its gas content. The older the shale rock, the greater its potential gas content.

Is this shale formation feasible for gas production through hydraulic fracturing? And how old should be the shale formation for it to be considered viable for production?

I'd really appreciate your comments.

[kochichiro]

Actually, age is not that important. For US gas shale more age is better because older rock means larger hydrocarbon generation temperature and it is highly possible that we meet matured fluid – retrograde gas or wet gas.

In your case, you should know current temperature of your formation and paleotemperatures during hydrocarbon generation and migration. If paleotemperatures during generation process exceeded 160 degrees of Celsius than it highly possible that you meet gas reservoir. Otherwise, you would get shale oil or bitumen reservoir.

Before consider flow tests and commercial production you should double-check your logs and estimate TOC with Passey or other techniques.