The Exploration and Development of Unconventional Hydrocarbon Resources, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2025 | Viewed by 5588

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. School of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
2. Key Laboratory of Deep Oil and Gas, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Interests: unconventional resources; silicon enrichment; oil-gas accumulation; palaeoenvironmental reconstruction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
1. School of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
2. Key Laboratory of Deep Oil and Gas, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Interests: CO2 geological storage; reservoir geology; fluid–rock interaction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
1. School of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
2. Key Laboratory of Deep Oil and Gas, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Interests: modeling and characterization of subsurface reservoirs; diagenesis analysis and simulation; digital rock physics; shale gas and oil
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This is the second volume of the previously successful Special Issue "The Exploration and Development of Unconventional (Mainly Shale) Hydrocarbon Resources" (Link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/special_issues/760MCZ74Y9).

The exploration and development of hydrocarbons (gas and oil) in unconventional reservoirs have attracted a great deal of attention due to the vast potential in these areas. Over the past two decades, the production of hydrocarbons from reservoirs with disparate depositional environments has rapidly increased in many countries (e.g., North America and China) due to the application of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. However, there are still many scientific issues that are implicated in the sustainable development of hydrocarbon resources, including the hydrocarbon accumulation mechanisms and models, hydrocarbon occurrence state, and hydrocarbon loss mechanism.

Therefore, the Journal of Processes announces a Special Issue on “The Exploration and Development of Unconventional Hydrocarbon Resources” in order to present up-to-date advances in the theories and methodologies that are related to accumulation mechanisms for unconventional reservoirs. This Special Issue will mainly focus on the underlying scientific issues that are related to the accumulation and depletion of hydrocarbon mechanisms in shale reservoirs, in an attempt to improve our fundamental understanding of these processes for the high single-well productivity and low-cost sustainable development of hydrocarbon.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Applied Sciences.

Dr. Guoheng Liu
Dr. Jianhua Zhao
Dr. Xiaolong Sun
Dr. Yuqi Wu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • genesis and evolution of gas/oil and multiscale pores
  • genetic and distribution patterns of fractures
  • geological controls on reservoirs quality
  • hydrocarbon accumulation/depletion mechanisms
  • petrophysical characterization of formations
  • fluid flow and fluid–shale interactions

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

30 pages, 12178 KiB  
Article
Prediction of Oil Production in a Tight Sandstone Reservoir: Triassic Chang 9 Member, Jiyuan Area, Ordos Basin, NW China
by Zhaohui Zhang, Jianbo Liao and Zhiyong Li
Processes 2024, 12(2), 382; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12020382 - 14 Feb 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1427
Abstract
Tight sandstone oil reservoirs in the Upper Triassic Yanchang Formation of the Ordos Basin are the most promising exploration and development fields owing to their huge production potential. Even though they have received considerable attention in recent years, common productivity prediction methods were [...] Read more.
Tight sandstone oil reservoirs in the Upper Triassic Yanchang Formation of the Ordos Basin are the most promising exploration and development fields owing to their huge production potential. Even though they have received considerable attention in recent years, common productivity prediction methods were not well applied during pre-development owing to their strong internal heterogeneity. In this study, the factors influencing oil production of the Chang 9 Member in the Jiyuan area were investigated and summarized based on drill cores, such as sediment characteristic analysis, lithofacies analysis, other analytical tests, and conventional logging curves. The findings show that fine-sandstone reservoirs with smooth sand body architectures are the main types of tight sandstone commercial oil reservoirs. Furthermore, having high porosity and oil content are prerequisites for commercial oil reservoirs, and the cumulative thickness of effective reservoirs serves as a crucial resource base for them. Through the analysis of logging curves, the relative center of gravity, deviation root of variance, petrophysical index, effective reservoir thickness, and evaluation indicator were used to predict daily oil production, thereby establishing the identification criteria for the ranking of tight sandstone oil reservoirs using logging. Then, the productivity of each reservoir in a single well was predicted by processing the log data from each well using the proposed method, and the productivity prediction results agreed well with the tested results of the perforated interval. This approach highlights the integrated influence of geological factors, physical properties, and the thickness scale of an effective reservoir, thereby improving the predictive capacity of logging curves. Additionally, the proposed methods significantly reduce the need for reservoir parameters better than previous ones, streamline operations, and improve practical applications. Full article
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16 pages, 4486 KiB  
Article
Low-Frequency Corrosion Fatigue Test Study of Sucker Rods under High-Salinity Well Fluids in Deep CBM Wells
by Fenna Zhang, Chuankai Jing, Jia Li, Bin Wang, Mingwei Ma, Tiantian Yi and Hao Hu
Processes 2024, 12(1), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12010060 - 27 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1107
Abstract
Corrosion fatigue test is the most direct and effective method to study the corrosion fatigue characteristics of sucker rod. At present, the commonly used test method is the high frequency fatigue test, but the working state of sucker rod is typical low-frequency and [...] Read more.
Corrosion fatigue test is the most direct and effective method to study the corrosion fatigue characteristics of sucker rod. At present, the commonly used test method is the high frequency fatigue test, but the working state of sucker rod is typical low-frequency and high-cycle corrosion fatigue, and the test with high frequency will reduce the impact of corrosion. Alloy steel 4330 is widely used in coalbed gas well high strength sucker rod, but the research on its low frequency corrosion fatigue life is relatively few. Therefore, in this paper, the corrosion fatigue test method of axial low-frequency and high-cycle was adopted to study the corrosion fatigue characteristics of 4330 steel sucker rod through the corrosion fatigue test under different typical corrosion media, temperature, and stress levels. The results show that the fatigue life of 4330 sucker rod drops sharply when the Cl concentration in high salinity well fluid exceeds the threshold value of 155 mg/L. When this threshold is exceeded, the downward trend slows down. It can be seen that the significant factor affecting the corrosion fatigue life of 4330 material is not the concentration of Cl, but the existence of Cl. The presence of HCO3 promotes a further decrease in the corrosion fatigue life of the 4330 sucker rod by Cl. The corrosion fatigue life of 4330 sucker rod decreases with the increase of temperature. When the well fluid temperature is less than 50 °C, the impact is relatively significant. When the well fluid temperature is more than 70 °C, the decline trend of corrosion fatigue life slows down. Based on the fitted S-N curve (stress-fatigue life curve), it is calculated that the fatigue limit of 4330 sucker rod at the stress ratio of 0.6 is 196 MPa in the solution of 10,000 mg/L Cl at room temperature. These could provide valuable theoretical and technical guidance for design and selection of high-strength sucker rod in high-salinity corrosion well fluid environment. Full article
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15 pages, 2812 KiB  
Article
The Liquid Phase Oxidation of Light Hydrocarbons for Thermo-Gas-Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery Method
by Sergey A. Sitnov, Albert F. Shageev, Firdavs A. Aliev, Emil R. Bajgildin, Rustam R. Davletshin, Dmitry A. Feoktistov, Andrey V. Dmitriev and Alexey V. Vakhin
Processes 2022, 10(11), 2355; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10112355 - 11 Nov 2022
Viewed by 2458
Abstract
Heavy oil and natural bitumen resources in carbonate formations are huge and considered as the promising alternative energy resource to the conventional crude oils. However, the production of such resources is challenging due to the low permeability, high viscosity and significant content of [...] Read more.
Heavy oil and natural bitumen resources in carbonate formations are huge and considered as the promising alternative energy resource to the conventional crude oils. However, the production of such resources is challenging due to the low permeability, high viscosity and significant content of resins and asphaltenes in the composition of heavy oil and natural bitumen. The combination of thermal, chemical and gas enhanced oil recoveries can be a promising method to unlock and upgrade heavy oil and natural bitumen in carbonate reservoirs. In this paper, we propose a novel in-situ liquid-phase oxidation of light hydrocarbons for a revolutionary thermo-gas-chemical enhanced oil recovery method, which can be applied in carbonate heavy oil reservoir formations. It is assumed that the oxidation process is carried out in a downhole well reactor, the products of which are a high temperature mixture of organic carboxylic acids and organic solvents. Here, we present the results of laboratory investigations of liquid-phase oxidation of n-hexane as a model compound imitating associated petroleum gases in the presence of Fe, Cr and Ni catalysts, which were introduced in the form of oil-soluble catalyst precursors. It was revealed that the oxidation process yields hydro peroxides, organic carboxylic acids (acetic, propionic and valeric acids), alcohols and ethers. The products of the oxidation process were justified by the results of FT-IR and GC-MS analysis methods. According to the results, Cr-based catalyst leads to the increase of CH3-groups in the products. The oxidation process in the presence of nickel-based catalyst is compared with a control sample. The naphthalene was detected in the oxidation products of all experiments, the formation of which is explained by polymerization of benzene rings. In its turn, benzene is obtained due to dehydrocyclization of n-hexane on the surface of nanoparticles. However, iron-based catalyst showed the best catalytic performance in low-temperature oxidation of n-hexane in autocatalysis mode as the yield of acetic acid prevailed 52%. The given approach provides prolonged thermal and acid treatment of carbonate formations, where the evolved CO2 gas will further assist in increasing the mobility of crude oil. Moreover, the produced alcohols, ethers and other hydrocarbons play the role of solvents, which dissolves polar and non-polar components of crude oil. Full article
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