Effect of adsorption capacity on deep shale gas production prediction in Southern Sichuan Basin

Authors

  • Abdullahi Kabir Hassan State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation & college of Energy, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
  • Yuyuan Lou college of Energy, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
  • Hao Xu State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
  • Haiyan Zhu State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation & college of Energy, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
  • Fengshou Zhang Department of Geotechnical Engineering, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
  • Lei Wang State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation & college of Energy, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62813/see.2024.01.06

Keywords:

deep shale gas reservoir, Langmuir isothermal adsorption model, isothermal adsorption experiment, sorption capacity, shale gas production performance, Numerical simulation

Abstract

Shale gas exploration and development at depths exceeding 3,500m is attracting increasing attention, such as the Wufeng-Longmaxi (WL) Formation in Southern Sichuan Basin in China. Understanding the adsorption behavior of methane and accurately quantifying adsorbed and free gas is essential for evaluating recoverable reserves and optimizing gas production from deep shale gas formations. Isothermal adsorption experiments were conducted on six WL shale samples at pressures up to 50 MPa to evaluate the sorption capacity. The primary production of deep shale gas from a horizontal well with realistic fractures was modeled by incorporating formation temperature, pressure, measured sorption capacity, rock compressibility, and other relevant factors. The effects of varying initial reservoir pressure as well as six measured sorption capacities on deep shale gas production over a 10-year period were examined. The excess methane adsorption in deep shale rock samples shows a typical Langmuir-type behavior, peaking around 10 MPa and plateauing near 50 MPa as available adsorption sites approach saturation by methane molecules. Langmuir isothermal adsorption model fits the measured methane adsorption data very well with R² > 0.99 and Langmuir volumes from 2.1 to 3.6 m3/t. Simulation results indicate that a higher shale gas recovery factor is expected for shale gas reservoir with higher initial pressure since production can be sustained at higher levels longer with faster pressure and production rate decline. Higher shale gas sorption capacities extend gas production and recovery by slowing reservoir pressure decline and maintaining stable daily gas production rates over time. This study is helpful for understanding the production performance of deep shale gas reservoirs.

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Additional Files

Published

2024-12-31 — Updated on 2025-01-01

How to Cite

Hassan, A. K., Lou, Y., Xu, H., Zhu, H., Zhang, F., & Wang, L. (2025). Effect of adsorption capacity on deep shale gas production prediction in Southern Sichuan Basin. Subsurface Exploration and Exploitation, 1, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.62813/see.2024.01.06

Issue

Vol. 1 (2024): SEE

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2024 Abdullahi Kabir Hassan, Yuyuan Lou, Hao Xu, Haiyan Zhu, Fengshou Zhang, Lei Wang

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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