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Authors Hanieh Jafary Dargahi(Curtin University)| Reza Rezaee(Curtin University)| Bobby Pejcic

(Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO))DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/URTEC2013-210

Document ID SPE-168908-MS

Publisher Society of Petroleum Engineers

Source Unconventional Resources Technology Conference, 12-14 Augu st, Denver, Colorado, USA

Publication Date 2013

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Clay Mineralogy of Shale Gas Reservoirs through Integrating

Infrared Spectroscopy and X-Ray Diffraction

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Summary

The composition and structure of clay minerals play a major role in controlling the physical and chemical properties of shale. Understanding

the relationship between clay mineralogy and the physical parameters of shale such as the wettability, fracability, and permeability is crucial

in characterizing and developing a shale reservoir. Typically, the higher the amount of clay minerals present the lower will be the material

brittleness/fracability, whereas a lower clay abundance is usually associated with improved reservoir permeability. Determining the clay

composition in shales is a significant challenge considering the chemical complexity and heterogeneous nature of the shale. In this paper,

we report on the preliminary characterization of Permo-Triassic shale reservoir samples from the Perth Basin using Fourier transform infrared

spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The suitability and performance of FTIR and XRD for determining clay mineralogy was

evaluated. Both FTIR and XRD revealed that kaolinite was the dominant clay species in most of the samples from the Permo-Triassic shale

reservoir. It was shown that XRD is able to identify and quantify many different minerals in the shale samples, while FTIR helped provide

complimentary information on some minerals along with information concerning the amorphous organic matter.

Introduction

The extraction and production of gas from shale has become an attractive energy source in Australia over the last decade. There are a

number of factors that determine if a particular shale will develop into a gas resource. The followin g three factors have been suggested to

be important with respect to a shale gas becoming a significant resource play: a) organic matter content, type and thermal maturity b) pore

size distribution and porosity-permeability relationships and c) brittleness and its association with mineralogy and rock fabric (Josh et al.

2012). Despite improved conditions for exploration and development, there has been very little activity in targeting shale reservoirs in the

Perth Basin (i.e. Kockatea and Carynginia formations). This formation is currently being explored as a potential shale gas resource (Figure

1).

A numbe r of pap ers have bee n pub lished which show tha t the fluid flow and oil recove ry are det ermined by rock prop erties (Bustin and

Bustin, 2012). The physical (i.e., permeability, fracability, wettability) and chemical properties of shale rocks depend strongly on the type

and amount of clay minerals present. Clay particles can be distributed in a shale according to three general locations such as pore-lining

clays (mixed layer clays), pore-bridging clays (illite), and discrete particles (kaolinite). According to Morris and Shepperd (1982) the clayparticle size is an important factor influencing the permeability of shales. Others have shown that the water content and the swelling ability

depends significantly on the type of clay minerals present (Bennion and Thomas, 1992). It has been found that a low amount of clay

minerals results in a high fracability within shales (Sondergeld et al., 2010).

http://www.spe.org/publications/notspe_cpyrt.phphttp://dx.doi.org/10.1190/URTEC2013-210https://www.onepetro.org/search?q=affiliation%3A%28%22Commonwealth+Scientific+and+Industrial+Research+Organisation+%28CSIRO%29%22%29https://www.onepetro.org/search?q=dc_publisher%3A%28%22Society+of+Petroleum+Engineers%22%29http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/URTEC2013-210https://www.onepetro.org/search?q=affiliation%3A%28%22Commonwealth+Scientific+and+Industrial+Research+Organisation+%28CSIRO%29%22%29https://www.onepetro.org/search?q=dc_creator%3A%28%22Pejcic%2C+Bobby%22%29https://www.onepetro.org/search?q=affiliation%3A%28%22Curtin+University%22%29https://www.onepetro.org/search?q=dc_creator%3A%28%22Rezaee%2C+Reza%22%29https://www.onepetro.org/search?q=affiliation%3A%28%22Curtin+University%22%29https://www.onepetro.org/search?q=dc_creator%3A%28%22Dargahi%2C+Hanieh+Jafary%22%29http://www.spe.org/publications/notspe_cpyrt.php

7/25/2019 Clay Mineralogy of Shale Gas Reservoirs Through Integrating Infrared Spectroscopy and X-Ray Diffraction - OnePe

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1/18/2016 Clay Mineralogy of Shale Gas Reservoirs through Integrating Infrared Spectroscopy and X-Ray Diffraction - OnePetro

https://www.onepetro.org/conference-paper/SPE-168908-MS 2/2

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