Caracterización de minerales arcillosos en la formación Los Molles: su rol en el comportamiento de un reservorio shale gas

BAB, INGRID; RAINOLDI, ANA LAURA; MADSEN, LENIS; CÓCOLA, MARÍA AGUSTINA

Mendoza

Congreso; 11° Congreso de Exploración y Desarrollo de Hidrocarburos; 2022

Due to their low permeability, unconventional hydrocarbon shale gas reservoirs require theimplementation of production techniques such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Inthis context, many parameters are analyzed including geomechanical properties, composition and elastic parameters. This paper describes the characterization of clay minerals of the Los Molles Formation in a portion of the Chacay Melehue section, Neuquén Basin, Argentina, through the combination of conventional methods, such as X-ray diffractometry (XRD), with new technologies of infrared reflectance spectroscopy (IRS) with portable equipment. The results indicate that Los Molles black shales are characterized by very low clay content, common silica and subordinated carbonate and gypsum cements. However, the presence of volcaniclastic layers interbedded with black shales, play a key role in the development of clay minerals resulting in porosity, permeability and frackability variations, which must be considered for reservoir characterization and production strategies development. Both methodologies used show consistent results, making possible to establish their effectiveness in clays characterization. Particularly, the possibility of applying IRS analysis with portable equipment allows the use of a relatively inexpensive and nondestructive method with minimal sample preparation, which can collect the results in real time.