Characterization of Unconventional Reservoirs: Shales (CUR-S)

Major focus of the group is the evaluation of the potential of unconventional reservoirs, such as shales, in Mexico, with the purpose of highlighting the important role that these types of reservoirs play within the national petroleum industry as additional hydrocarbon resources to change the Mexican oil and gas production curves from negative to positive.

Studies within the group focus on the following areas,

Reservoir Characterization

Integration of geochemical, petrophysical and geomechanical data for the identification and selection of those zones with a high potential for production of moveable hydrocarbons in order to be hydraulically fractured.

Reservoir Simulation

Integrated reservoir simulation studies, which include aspects such as viscous and non-Darcy flow mechanisms, adsorption (adsorbed porosity), diffusion of gas from solid organic material (kerogen), both inorganic and organic matter, natural fractures, and hydraulic fractures. Furthermore, the effects of confinement on PVT behavior, due to the presence of pores in the nanometer scale, is also investigated.