Replacement Inflatable Packers & Elements PTY LTD

Ph: +61 08 9475 0700 Fax: +61 08 9475 0770 packers@ripe-packers.com www.ripe-packers.com

0 Unconventional Gas (CBM, Tight Gas, Shale Gas)

Unconventional gas is fast becoming a large source of natural gas due to recent advances in well stimulation and completion technology which have given the previously over looked resource a more cost effective outlook. Conventional gas deposits once drilled can be extracted quite easily however unconventional gas extraction is a much more calculated process. Tight gas and shale gas are forms of unconventional gas that are buried deep underground in highly impermeable rock formations. Coal bed methane (CBM) or coal seam gas (CSG), another form of unconventional gas once considered a major problem of underground coal mining is now recognised as a valuable resource.
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Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) is the method where unconventional gas can be extracted. High pressure hydrofracturing packers are lowered into the well and inflated as either a single packer system or in a straddle system where 2 packers are used. Between the packers (isolated zone) the water will be pumped. A mostly water and proppant mixture with some chemical additives to aid in the process are pumped down a well at high pressure in order to open up existing natural fissures or create new ones. The sand acts as a prop to hold open the fractures thus giving the gas an easy pathway to the well. If successful water pressure will increase and then drop rapidly, this is a sign that the rock is accepting water. Coal bed methane (CBM) is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds. The methane is stored within the coal through a process called adsorption. Once a hole has been drilled the pressure within the coal seam begins to decrease either due to natural production or by pumping of the water from the coal bed this is known as dewatering. Gas and the produced water are pumped to the surface where the gas is injected into pipelines. Typically when the volume of water pumped decreases the gas production level increases, it could take years before the well is operating at full capacity.

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Shale gas wells have been operating for more than 100 years, these shale wells have very low permeability and natural fractures do not allow enough gas flow to support commercial use. In recent years these wells have become more profitable with hydraulic fracturing opening new fissures in the rocks and have a larger surface area in contact with the formation due to horizontal drilling. Tight gas is found in areas of very low porosities more commonly sandstone but also in carbonate rock. These wells must be stimulated before the well will produce. Tight gas sandstones act only as a reservoir where shale and coal bed methane act not only as their own source rocks but as their own reservoir too.
Replacement Inflatable Packers and Elements Pty Ltd 29 Wheeler St Belmont 6104, Perth Western Australia Tel: (+61 (08) 9475 0700 Fax: +61 (08) 9475 0770 packers@ripe-packers.com

www.ripe-packers.com

Supplier and manufacturers of well screen PVC rubber k-packers, well packer tri-seals, equipment and services.