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Project Details

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Project Information Sheet 2000-03

Simulation-enhanced fracture detection for natural gas exploration

Funding Source:	U.S. Department of Energy; Chevron; Shell; Texaco
Period of Contract:	1 Feb 2000 to 1 Feb 2004
Status:	active — Definition of status type
Project Director:	John Comer, John Rupp, and Peter Ortoleva (Indiana University Department of Geological Sciences)

Issue

Natural gas is a relatively clean-burning fuel that is an important part of the long-term strategy to provide power and reduce emissions from the burning of fossil fuels in the United States. It is estimated that roughly 350 trillion cubic feet of gas, more than 20 years worth of consumption at current rates, are in difficult-to-produce densely packed ("tight") reservoirs in the United States and technologies must be developed to locate and extract these resources.

Objective

The study will develop a simulation-enhanced fracture detection strategy for predicting the location and characteristics of naturally fractured gas reservoirs in sedimentary basins.

Approach

The project will develop and test a new fracture detection method based on the unique finite element basin simulator developed at Indiana University by the Laboratory of Computational Geodynamics. Simulations will be parameterized for all of the relevant reactions, transport, and mechanical processes that operate during the evolution of a sedimentary basin. Three-dimensional predictions at both the field and basin scale will be evaluated using existing production, engineering, seismic, and geological data contributed by the participating companies and the Indiana Geological Survey.

Products

Products will include the new simulator software and a detailed evaluation of the simulation results with the final predicted locations and characteristics of naturally fractured strata that are potential natural gas reservoirs in each of the three targeted basins.

Benefits

Comprehensive forward-modeling promises to provide new insights about the evolution and distribution of naturally fractured gas reservoirs in sedimentary basins. The project will demonstrate a new technology that should improve our ability to produce the natural gas in densely packed ("tight") reservoirs.

Locations Affected:

Outside Indiana

Indiana House Districts Affected:

70

73

Indiana Senate Districts Affected:

47

Information Updated February 2, 2007

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