GASH - The organic matter component of gas shales: evolving source and reservoir characteristics

In addition to gas storage capacity and brittleness of the overall mineralogical composition, the thermogenic gas generative potential of an organic rich source rock itself defines total GIP and the successful production of shale gas.

Our goals are primarily to analyse the masses, volumes and physical state of gas and oil generated throughout thermal evolution of organic matter, and to unravel the relationship between kerogen structure, gas retention and maturation level. We also focus on the development of novel, rapid evaluation methods as well as the implementation of new input parameters for basin modelling and other regional assessment tools.

We currently focus our investigations on the following black shales:
 

1. Posidonia Shale (Toarcian), Hils Syncline, Germany as a known source of black oil in Germany and The Netherlands
2. Wealden Shale, Lower Saxony Basin, Germany, constituting a main target for shale gas resources in Central Europe
3. Alum Shale, Bornholm, Denmark, with outstanding original source-rock potential
4. Barnett Shale, Texas, USA, currently the largest onshore US unconventional gas producing area (serves to help in calibration of key variables).

Figure1: a) Micro-Scale-Sealed-Vessel (MSSV-tube) filled with crushed sample material and quartz sand prior to sealing (H2-flame); b) compositional closed-system MSSV-pyrolysis data can serve as input parameter for the prediction of phase relationships using the PhaseKinetics approach (diPrimio and Horsfield, 2006) or to determine compositional kinetics of primary and secondary petroleum generation.

Participants:
Brian Horsfield
Nicolaj Mahlstedt
Clemens Glombitza (Univ. Potsdam)

Partners:
IFP: Isabella Morretti, Francois Lorant, Francoise Behar
Newcastle University: Andrew Aplin
RWTH Aachen: Bernd Krooss, Ralf Littke
GEUS: Niels Schovsbo

Sponsors: