Authors:
Manas Pathak1, Milind Deo1, and Raymond Levey2
1Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Utah, 50 S. Central Campus Dr., Rm. 3290, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
2Energy & Geoscience Institute, 423 Wakara Way, Ste. 300, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108
Examination of the Generation of Overpressure in the Eagle Ford
Session:
Extracting Hydrocarbons from Source Rocks (GRBCC, Room 320ABC)
Monday, September 21, 2015, 9:00 am
Abstract:
There are many reasons why overpressure in shales is critical for the commercialization of shale plays. Overpressure in shales creates higher fluid flow potential (Pathak et al., 2014). Overpressure helps shale reservoirs to stay in single phase and holds open the pore throats by reducing effective stress (Cander, 2012). Overpressure may induce microfracturing in shales. Microfractures play a key role in the fluid flow in shales by increasing the effective permeability of the shales. In general, with the burial of shales, overpressure is generated because of different combinations of the following three mechanisms…