Understanding the

fracture systems of the

Second White Specks Fm.

Paul MacKay

Shale Petroleum Ltd.

June 2013

Life Cycle of a Resource Play

$

Immature Mature

Un-named Horizons

Second White Specks

Duvernay

Montney

Pembina Cardium

Development Stage

Definition Mode Early Entrant

Low Land Cost Innovator

Manufacture Mode Entry through Corporate Acquisition

Low Cost Operator Continuous Improvement

De-Risk Mode Competitive

High Land Cost Implement Technology

2011

2012

2013

Second White Specks Play

2

3

Stratigraphic Chart Alberta - Cretaceous

Characteristics of a Resource Play

• Application of Technology

• Geochemistry – Total Organic

Content – Thermal Maturity – Generating vs.

Migration

• Over-pressure • Fracture

Development • Thickness • Fluid Distribution (no

water) • Numerous Vertical

Wells • Surface Access

5

Geochemical Results from Core

Alberta Geological Survey

2 - 4%

The Fundamental Question:

How do fluids move through the crust?

• Requires a pathway

• Requires increased Fluid Pressure

Nano-permeability

vs.

Fracture systems

Pressure Pump

charges adjoining beds

Buoyancy Forces are equal to the density

contrast between the generated hydrocarbons

and formation water. Generally these are not

strong enough to overcome the frictional forces

resisting flow (pore entry pressures).

Increased Fracture Intensity

Increased Fracture Intensity

William Matthews, 2008

Basic Mechanics of Failure

Stress Conditions vs. Strength Characteristics 7

Mohr Diagram:

a critically stressed material

8

How to induce failure

increase s1 s3 s1

s3 s1

s3 s1

decrease s3

decrease s1 and s3

9

s3 s1

Role of Fluid Pressure

s1* s3

*

Increasing Pf

DPf

10

sn

s 3 s1

s

tan n

s1 s1Pf

Strata is critically

stressed

sn

s3 s1

s

tan n

Pf

Fai lu re con diti on

Fai lu re con diti on

s1 s1Pf

Fluid pressure increases

Effective Stress reduced

Failure Conditions

sn

s 3 s1

s

tann

s1 s1Pf

Fluid Escape System fails and

releases fluid

original fluid pressure is

restored

Strata returns to

critically stressed

conditions

11

Coal Type III

Coal Type III

Marine Type I & II

Marine Type I & II

Marine Type I & II

Mixed Type I, II & III

Mixed Type I, II & III

Gas Dominant

(Biogenic)

Oil Dominant

Gas Dominant

Oil Dominant

Detachments Follow

Source Rock (with some exceptions)

No Source

12

Second White Specks

Relationship of Frontal Structures

to the Thrust Belt

Conventional Thrust Play

Unconventional 2WS Play

• Numerous wells • Established Fracture System • Oil Saturated • Extensive Fairway • Overpressured

Overpressure

(Skuce, 1996)

14

Tectonic Domains for the Basement of the

Western Canadian Sedimentary basin

Archean

L. Proterozoic metavolcanics

L. Proterozoic Terranes

Aeromagnetic Data

Ross et al., 1994 Ross et al., 1994

Thermogenic Gas

Biogenic Gas

Pressure Gradient = 1

Second White Specks Pressure vs. Depth

Pressure Gradient

Second White Specks

Pressure gradient of one equivalent to hydrostatic pressure

16

Second White Specks – South-Central Alberta

Fracture Development Fractures enhanced by drape

into Basement Structures

Fractures form during

deformation related to

mountains and oil generation

2WS Oil generating horizon

increases fluid pressure

Thrust Faults follow high

pressure horizon

17

Second White Specks Oil Source for Cardium Fm.

Structurally enhanced

Seismically Identifiable

Fractured Reservoir

Oil Saturated

No Water

Fracture

Fairway

17

Vertical Well

Fractured Reservoirs

A

B

• Porous medium.

• Pressure Gradient in the flow direction (not a direct line)

• k is the permeability along the fluid path

• Incompressible fluid

• Roughness not considered

• Cross-sectional shape not circular

• Permeability is not a physical property

• Permeability ‘averaged’

Darcy’s Law:

Fractured Sandstone - Utah

Well Drainage

(low Pressure)

P1 P2

> P1 P2 >

> P1 P2 >

P1 P2

A

B

B

B

A

A

P2 P1

> P1 P2 >

Well No Drainage

Radial Flow: • Particle A will reach the well bore before particle B • Pressure Front radiates from the well bore as a

function of the radius of the well bore • Drainage is along straight lines towards the well

bore

Elliptical Flow: • Particle A will reach the well bore before particle B • Pressure Front radiates from the well bore as a

function of the radius of the well bore and the difference in permeability between khmax and khmin

• Drainage is along lines perpendicular to the pressure front creating smooth curve drainage trajectory to the well bore

Fracture Flow: • Particle B will reach the well bore before particle A • Pressure Front radiates from the fractures and is a

complex relationship between the matrix permeability and the fracture permeability

• Drainage is along tortuous paths in the reservoir and distance is difficult to determine

• A well not connected to fractures likely will not have flow

P1

P2

Well Drainage

(low Pressure)

Well Drainage

(low Pressure)

fractures

Second White Specks – Highwood River

M. Lamb

Second White Specks – Highwood River

B

A

Conceptual View of a

Fractured Reservoir Plan View

Vertical Well

Drainage (low

Pressure)

Vertical Well

NO Drainage (low

Pressure)

Cardium Horizontals Garrington

Cardium Horizontal Well Results Garrington

• ~120 wells • 88 wells with reported

deviation surveys • 8 wells missed Cardium

sandstone by more than 5 metres

7

2

0.1

1

10

100

1000

10000

1

10

100

1000

10000

100000

1 2 3 4 5 6

Cumm

Cumm

Rate

Rate

Cumul. P10

Cumul. P90

Rate P10

Rate P90

Garrington HZ Wells Cardium

Rat

e (

bb

l/d

)

Cu

mu

lati

ve P

rod

uct

ion

(b

bls

)

50 bopd

250 bopd

time

Production Data

Averaged decline curve

Explanation:

• All horizontal wells in the Cardium from the Garrington Area

• IP(30), IP(90), IP(180), IP(360), IP(540), IP(1080)

• Back Calculate the average rate

• Use Arithmetic Average

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

Rat

e (

bar

rels

/day

)

Days

Average Production from Cardium Horizontal wells - Garrington

Averaged decline curve

Explanation:

• All horizontal wells in the Cardium from the Garrington Area

• Accumap IP(30), IP(90), IP(180), IP(360), IP(540), IP(1080)

• Back Calculate the average rate

• Use Arithmetic Average

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

Rat

e (

bar

rels

/day

)

Days

Average Production from Cardium Horizontal wells - Garrington

0

50

100

150

200

250

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

Cumm

missed Cumm

Rate

missed Rate

Rat

e (

bo

pd

)

Cu

mm

Pro

d (

bar

rels

)

time (days)

Wells within the Cardium Sandstone Dayrate

Wells within the Cardium Sandstone Cumulative Production

Wells within the Shale Dayrate

Wells within the Shale Cumulative Production

Garrington Horizontal Wells Targeted for Cardium

Highwood River

Southern Alberta

Foothills

Second White Specks

Inter-bedded Shale, Siltstone,

and fine-grained Sandstone

oil stain organic rich

silty/sandy

fractured

organic rich

29

Second White Specks (Upper Cretaceous)

Fractures

Lower Shale Section

Highwood River

30

90o calliper

washout

Second White Specks

50 ohms

20 ohms

Bit Size

Oil Generation

Fracture

Zone

Barrons Sandstone

Mannville Low Pressure Gas

Base of Fish Scales

Fluid Migration In

Second White Specks

Calliper

Pres > Phyd

Dec

rea

sin

g P

f D

ecre

asi

ng

Pf

Moderate Washout moderate Fractures

Large Washout Fractures

Large Washout Fractures

Little Washout very minor Fractures

Large Washout Fractures

Low Resistivity High Sw

Low Resistivity High Sw

High Resistivity Generating (?)

High Resistivity Generating (?)

High Resistivity Generating (?)

High Resistivity Generating (?)

Low Resistivity High Sw

Production: 266,000 barrels oil 116 mmcf gas 2,000 barrels wtr

Second White Specks Production +2.3 mmbbls liquids no water

Cardium Production no water other than injected flood water

6-22-36-5W5

Washout for 2WS System 13-16-33-4W5M SSPK

SSPK_A

SSPK_B

SSPK_C

SSPK_D

SSPK_E

BFS

VKNG

Bit

Siz

e

Washout

Washout for 2WS Upper

Increasing Washout

In Gauge

Regional 2nd

White Specks

Base map

Calgary

High River

Crowsnest Pass

Claresholm

Lethbridge

Regional

Aeromagnetic

Data – Southern

Alberta

Reduced to the pole (RTP)

magnetic data

GSC regional magnetic data

compilation, downloadable in

grid form with a 200 m cell size.

37

Calgary

High River

Crowsnest Pass

Claresholm

Lethbridge

Claresholm/Longview (Southern Alberta)

38

Basement

Second White

Specks

Surface

1.3 mmbbls

1.9 BCF

IP +5,000 bopd

39,000 bbls

Mossop et al., 1994

Mossop et al., 1994

Rundle Gp.

42

(Boerner et al., 1999)

Oilsands Deposit

Major Petroleum Migration Pathway

Regional Aeromagnetic

Data

Temperature Data

Temperature Gradients

Ts

d1

T1

dT1 dd

T1 - Ts

d1 =

Well 1 Well 2

Ts

d2

T2 Dd = d1-d2

dTr T1 – T2

Dd = Regional Gradient:

dd

d1 d2

d3

d4

Well 1 Well 4 Well 3 Well 2

surface

dep

th

temperature

1

2

3

4

dT dd1

dT dd2

dT dd3

dT dd4

dT dd

dT dd1

dT dd2

dT dd3

dT dd4

= = = dT dd

=

dT dd

• Two ways to calculate thermal gradient

1. Calculate each individual well

2. Calculate regional trend between wells (red)

• If wells at same elevation all gradients will be equal

• Cannot confirm flow between wells

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Belly River

Wabamun

Banff

L Cret Cardium

Viking Colorado

Jurassic Nisku

Rundle Leduc

Average Temperature vs. Depth

Oil Production in Central Alberta – Ricinus to

Willesden Green

Tem

pe

ratu

re (

0C

)

Depth (m)

Average Temperature vs. Depth Oil Production in Southern Alberta

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

Wabamun Cardium

Ellerslie Banff

Barons

Arcs

Livingstone

Detrital

Mannville and Lower Mannville

Average Temperature vs. Depth

Oil Production in Southern Alberta

Medicine Hat High

Matzewan High

Red Deer Low

Change in Thermal

Gradient to Basement Structure

Southern Alberta

d1 d2

d3

d4

Well 1

Well 4

Well 3

Well 2

surface

dep

th

temperature

1

2

3

4

dT dd1

dT dd2

dT dd3

dT dd4

dT dd

dT dd1

dT dd2

dT dd3

dT dd4

< < < dT dd

<

dT dd

• If wells are at different elevation all individual well gradients will

be unequal:

• Provided there is flow between wells

• Flow causes formation T to equilibrate with the seepage point

• Effect is to suppress individual well temperature gradients

d1 d2

d3

d4

Well 1

Well 4

Well 3

Well 2

surface

dT dd1

dT dd2

dT dd3

dT dd4

dT dd d

epth

temperature

1

2

3

4 dT dd

X

4

3

2

1

dT dd

Seep

X X

Thermal Gradient restricted by Formations

Stylized Oil Migration Patterns

Cardium

Lower Colorado

Lower Cretaceous

Jurassic

Rundle

Banff

Wabamun

Nisku

West East

Exshaw

2WS

BFS

Leduc

Ave

rage

Ge

oth

erm

al G

rad

ien

t =

25

.3oC

/km

Upper Colorado

Belly River

18.7oC/km

19.9oC/km

21.2oC/km

22.2oC/km

23.5oC/km

23.7oC/km

23.7oC/km

23.2oC/km

21.4oC/km

24.4oC/km

23.3oC/km

Mature Immature

Thermal Gradients – Central Alberta

Ricinus to Willesden Green

Medicine Hat High

Matzewan High

Red Deer Low

Thermal Gradient restricted by Formations

Stylized Oil Migration Patterns

Cardium

Lower Colorado

Upper Mannville

Lower Mannville

Livingstone

Banff

Wabamun

Arcs

19oC/km

West East

19.6oC/km

14.1oC/km

12.0 – 14.8oC/km

16.0oC/km

14.3oC/km

16.5oC/km

18.0oC/km

12.3oC/km

2WS

BFS

Exshaw

Source Interval

Oil Halo

Mature Immature

Source Interval

Medicine Hat High

Matzewan High

Red Deer Low

Thermal Gradients – Southern Alberta

South Calgary to USA

Resource Target

Petroleum System in South – Central Alberta

Thrust Belt Plains

Regional Migration

To the Oilsands

Biogenic Gas

?

55