CLO 5: SUPPORT THE EVOLUTION

OF UNCONVENTIONAL
RESOURCES IN OIL AND GAS
INDUSTRY
LESSON LEARNING OUTCOMES
What are unconventional energy sources
Understand the extraction of shale gas
and hydraulic fracturing
Evaluate the economy and environmental
impact of shale gas extraction
WHAT ARE UNCONVENTIONAL
ENERGY SOURCES

LESSON LEARNING OUTCOME 1

ENERGY RESOURCES Non-renewable Renewable

Coal Solar
Oil and natural Wind
gas Hydro
Nuclear power Biomass
Unconventional Geothermal
Tidal

Sandstone Shale
 CONVENTIONAL VS
UNCONVENTIONAL

CONVENTIONAL UNCONVENTIONAL
Criteria Conventional Criteria Conventional
Hydrocarbon Oil & gas Hydrocarbon Oil & gas
PS Source, reservoir PS All in one
and trap
Hydrocarbon In the pores of Hydrocarbon Micropores
Occurrence reservoirs Occurrence
Drilling View wells (test and Drilling Many wells, horizontal
production) and vertical, hydraulic
Extraction Well-established fracturing
Technology exploration Extraction Technology Separation technology is
Environmental No environmental still under development
Concerns concerns/harms Environmental Concerns Still of great concern
Economy Economically feasible Economy Still some challenges
Recovery 70-80% Recovery 15-35%
Unconventional :
1. Something new for energy resources
2. Non-renewable energy source

Non-renewable:
o Have limited amount of resources
o Can change over time due to the advance of
technology
UNDERSTAND THE EXTRACTION OF
SHALE GAS AND HYDRAULIC
FRACTURING

LESSON LEARNING OUTCOME 2

OCCURANCE OF HYDROCARBON
IN SHALE

I. Hydrocarbon could already formed and stored

in the microporosity
II. Adsorption : capacity to absorb gas
III. Heat up the source rock so that kerogen can
produce oil
ORIGIN OF ORGANIC MATERIAL

ABSORBED GAS
PORE SPACE GAS

Gas inside shale (microporosity)

 SHALE OIL AND GAS

DEFINITION

Fine grained sedimentary rocks containing waxy insoluble hydrocarbons called

kerogen
Can be converted to oil at temperatures in excess of 500C

FORMATION

Deposited with fined-grained sediments (mud) that are rich in organic material
Anoxic environment
Lighter fraction is lost with temperatures in excess of 150C
Organic material is heavy
5-25% is recoverable organic material
Rich oil shales burn like coal
BLACK SHALE

PLANKTON

BLOOMS
BLACK SHALES IN MALAYSIA
 Sinking

Marine Organic-rich
organic matter sediments
Sedimentation

Increasing P&T
With depth
PRODUCTION OF OIL AND
GAS FROM BLACK SHALE Increasing P&T

Black shales
Oil
(kerogen-rich)
With depth

Increasing P&T

With depth
Gas
 HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

HORIZONTAL HYDROLIC
HYDROFRACTURING
Technique for extracting natural gas from
tight rock structures deep below surface
Has been since 1950s
Involves:
1. Drilling a well deep down below Earth
2. Turning drill to horizon
3. Inject 500,000 gallons of fluid to fracture shale
4. Fluid is 99% water plus sand and chemicals
5. Extracting natural gas
 ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

ADVANTAG E S AND Increase in production of Water contamination of

DI SADVANTAG ES OF natural gas chemicals
H Y DR AUL IC FR ACT UR I NG
Increase in economic Ingredients for fracking
activities process unknown to
public

Price for drilling natural Major health concerns

gas low for people that live
nearby drilling
 EVALUATE THE ECONOMY AND
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF SHALE GAS
EXTRACTION

LESSON LEARNING OUTCOME 3

 HAZARDOUS IMPACT ON WATER,
CHEMICALS IN THE LANDSCAPING AND
FRACKING PROCESS EARTHQUAKES

Pollute the underground water

Consume large amounts of
Fracturing fluid
groundwater
Sand-carrying fluid
Radioactive pollution
Displacing liquid
Traffic and noise pollution
Benzene, ethyl benzene, toluene
Injection of fluids into deep wells
and xylene
Use of reservoirs for waters
supplies
 EFFECT OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
TOWARDS ECONOMY

Most efficient way to pump natural gas from the ground

Oil price increased from $20 per barrel in 2002 to over
$100 per barrel now. But natural gas is currently at 2002
prices
An abundant supply of natural gas makes prices relatively
cheap to producers and consumers
Decreases exploitation cost and increase the benefit of
producers
Price for drilling natural gas low
 TIGHT GAS SAND

Low permeability
Conventional sandstone has
Term commonly used to refer to low- well-connected pores (dark
permeability reservoirs that produce blue)
mainly dry natural gas
Many of the low permeability reservoirs
developed in the past are sandstones
Only significant quantities of gas were The pores of tight gas
produced from low-permeability sandstone are irregularly
carbonates, shale and coal seams distributed and poorly
connected by very narrow
capillaries
Oil sands: A dense, sticky
mixture of sand, water
and tarry material found
underground

PROCESS DIAGRAM

MINING
OIL SANDS
PROJECTS
IN-SITU

IN-SITU PROCESS
 Forest fragmentation and loss of boreal forest habitat
and a lot of species in decline
Loss of lands that deserve protection or have high
alternative economic values
Risk of aquifer contamination and decline in surface
water quality
Sulphur and nitrous oxide emissions result in acid rain
and damage to northern lakes
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Unusually high greenhouse gas emissions compared to
FROM OIL SANDS conventional oil production

GREENHOUSE GAS
EMISSION

ACID RAINS
 FIRE ICE (METHANE HYDRATES)

Gas hydrates are solids formed

from hydrocarbon gas and liquid
water
They look like wet snow and can
exist at temperatures above the
freezing point of water
CH4 (most common), CO2, H2S
form hydrates
ORIGIN OF GAS HYDRATE

Moderately low temperatures

Moderately high pressure
 VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PBCTXHqZe
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