© NERC All rights reserved An introduction to Unconventionals (in the UK) NERC Innovation Programme Workshop Robert Gatliff Director Energy & Marine Geoscience British Geological Survey

© NERC All rights reserved UK Electricity - choices?  Shale gas and imported gas + gas power stations  ~Twice the emissions of CCS coal and renewables  But less risk  Good security of supply  But we have to find and develop UK shale gas  CCS-coal + renewables + nuclear  Expensive  Risky  Little investor interest  Worries over long term fate of CO 2 in CCS  Intermittency in wind

© NERC All rights reserved Economic benefit CCS may generate £3 to 6.5 billion a year by the late 2020s Shale gas could create 5,600 jobs in the UK and an ‘Aberdeen Effect’, in the northwest of England. CBM reaching $5.3bn in Global UCG market will reach $570m in 2012, Grid scale storage might make renewables more profitable.

© NERC All rights reserved The story so far Publications started on UK shale gas in 2010 Many licences held on UK onshore Several wells drilled with promising results Licence awarded in Northern Ireland specifically for shale gas One (recent) frac at Preesall Royal Society Report BGS reports for DECC Increasing research in UK universities NERC Oil & Gas Centre for Doctoral Training ReFine - environmental impacts (Durham)

© NERC All rights reserved BGS baseline CH 4 surveys New mobile seismic array (BGS, Bristol, Edinburgh) Scottish Report on shale gas (Strathclyde, Glasgow, Edinburgh etc) New onshore licensing Round in UK Current offshore licensing round in UK EU calls; responsive mode grant applications; SPAG NERC calls for Innovation Awards (circa £100,000) 21 st Century Roadmap – DECC, NERC, Oil & Gas UK Larger NERC Innovation calls in oil & gas (£5M) Frontier environmentsEOR / mature areas EnvironmentUnconventional Hydrocarbons Translation & coordination of research

© NERC All rights reserved This workshop: Can we find the sweet- spots economically and with minimal environmental impact? Can we work together to translate our research into impact? Basin scale geology Subsurface imaging Geomechanics Monitoring capabilities

© NERC All rights reserved Outcrop studies, 64 key wells, 15,000 miles of seismic data Basin scale geology

© NERC All rights reserved Detailed sequence stratigraphy & sedimentology Structure & fault patterns Distribution of stress/strain Lateral and vertical heterogeneity- many scales, influences drainage volumes, hydrocarbons generated Complexity: Stratigraphic – correlation techniques Depositional & diagenetic variation Basin evolution and maturity Bowland Shale- thickness Subsurface

© NERC All rights reserved Small scale analysis Facies controls and distribution Better understanding of spatial variation in organic matter and mineralogy Lab analyses of borehole and outcrop: XRD etc New correlation techniques (e g chemical stratigraphies, isotope analysis, link to global climate change in Carboniferous Predictive models of facies, feed into 3D model Petrography and diagenesis Gas content & maturity Kerogen type v release of absorbed gas

© NERC All rights reserved Vertical Transverse Isotropy (VTI) VTI anisotropy due to clay particle alignment Subsurface Imaging: Fractures and rock properties Reprocessed seismic New multi-component seismic Rock mechanics from seismic data Other geophysics techniques

© NERC All rights reserved HTI Anisotropy due to vertical fractures Horizontal Transverse Isotropy (HTI) Anisotropy in shales

© NERC All rights reserved Land 3D data – Wide azimuth and/or multicomponent seismic data Fractures; rock properties; TOC content Full-field results – km Fracture orientation Fracture density

© NERC All rights reserved Geomechanics & Hydromechanics Understanding of multiphase flow and hydromechanical properties New methods to describe the multiphase flow characteristics of gas shales Fracture formation and the temporal evolution of transmissivity Mechanisms controlling fracture propagation and fracture distribution Impact of pressurisation rates, different propants etc on fracture networks Self-sealing behaviour and its impact on fracture flow Gas flow behaviour of ‘intact’ rock Hydromechamical properties of ‘intact’ and fractured rock Role of stress on the properties of intact and fractured material Conceptual models of gas flow Boland sample prior to isotropic testing Triaxial test system designed for shale testing Flow pathways along a fracture surface High pressure permeameter for testing of large diameter cores

© NERC All rights reserved Environmental Aspects Laboratory fracturing and rock mechanics Fluid flow though mudstones Distribution of aquifers Methane in groundwater Public acceptance Injected water-rock reactions Seismology; new seismometers for rapid deployment Subsidence at extraction sites

© NERC All rights reserved Environment & Monitoring Capabilities SeismicityFugitive methaneWater use Aquifer contamination Waste water treatment, reuse and disposal Public acceptanceSubsidence with extraction Seismic array Groundwater methane survey

© NERC All rights reserved Energy Security and Innovation Observing System for the Subsurface (ESIOS) Stress New boreholes Heat flow Seismicity Pressurised cores

© NERC All rights reserved What is ESIOS? At its heart ESIOS will be a group of test and real- time monitoring facilities that will allow frontier experimentation on and observation of subsurface processes: Enabling and de-risking a range of new low carbon technologies; Monitoring and designing systems to mitigate the environmental impact of operations; Providing real-time observations of the subsurface online to encourage the public to engage and to set a standard for industry to follow suit, opening up their own operations to full scrutiny.

© NERC All rights reserved

The Future A collaborative research programme covering resource and environment Develop a drilling campaign Advanced seismic techniques Reprocess 3D seismic (depending on availability) An integrated monitoring programme Can we develop a program that integrates different research strands and research groups into a UK shale gas research programme?