IPTC-18081-MS

Rock Characteristics of Oil-, Condensate- and Dry Gas-Producing Wells of

the Unconventional Devonian Duvernay Formation, Canada
Wust, Raphael A.J., Albert Cui, and Brent R. Nassichuk, Trican Geological Solutions Ltd. 621-37th Ave NE,
Calgary AB, T2E 2M1 Canada; R. Marc Bustin, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of
British Columbia, 2207 Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4, Canada

Copyright 2014, International Petroleum Technology Conference

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Abstract
The Devonian strata of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin has a wealth of potential hydrocarbon
source rocks including the unconventional Upper Devonian Duvernay Formation of the Woodbend Group,
a prolific oil-producing formation that has fed into the overlying strata. The Duvernay Formation has seen
investments of over $7 billion since 2010 for land rights, corporate acquisitions/divestures and drilling
activity. The Kaybob area is currently the center of exploration and production in the play with over 100
wells drilled or licensed. Notable operators include Athabasca, Encana, Talisman, Shell, Chevron, Conoco
Phillips, Husky and Celtic/Exxon. One of the pioneering wells at Kaybob South (Celtic et al. HZ
15-33-60-20W5) tested 2.1 mmcf/d of gas with 75 bbls/mmcf of 56 API condensate at a reservoir
pressure of 63 MPA (~19 KPa/m pressure gradient). Exploration companies are touting GIP reserves
ranging wildly from 45 to 200 bcf/section. Despite the positive initial production numbers, the Kaybob
area has a complex geological and stratigraphic framework that needs to be understood. Thermal maturity
of the organic matter in the Duvernay Formation ranges from immature in the eastern portion of the basin
to dry-gas window in the west. Hence, location of each well is key to optimizing the production potential.
Here we present new rock property data of wells along a transect from the oil-prone to the dry gas-prone
area in the Kaybob area and compare the properties with the existing hydrocarbon production information.
Rock composition, fabric, organic matter content and maturity as well as amount, distribution and size of
pores and pore networks are evaluated. The data is displayed in a stratigraphic context and current
production zones are highlighted. The discussion also integrates the thermal history and possible tectonic
overprints of the area to evaluate the potential of developing production through the various thermal
maturity zones and the possible hydrocarbon storage/flow of these rocks.

Introduction
Unconventional hydrocarbon resources have been a major resource target in North America over the last
decade due to the advent of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. In the province of Alberta,
Canada, the Devonian strata of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin has a wealth of potential

IPTC-18081-MS

Figure 1Stratigraphy for Devonian to Lower Mississippian strata in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (from Stasiuk and Fowler 2004).

hydrocarbon source rocks including the unconventional Upper Devonian Duvernay Formation of the
Woodbend Group, a prolific oil-producing formation that has fed into the overlying strata (Fig. 1).
The Duvernay Formation has seen investments of
over $7 billion since 2010 for land rights, corporate
acquisitions/divestures and drilling activity (DOB,
2014). The Duvernay Formation (Duvernay) is an
Upper Devonian (~360 Ma) source rock that was
deposited in less than 7 Ma during the Frasnian
(Switzer et al., 1994). The Duvernay is informally
divided by paleogeography into the east and west
basins (Fig. 2) bounded in the northeast by the
Grosmont carbonate shelf. The Woodbend Group Figure 2Western Canada Sedimentary Basin showing East and West
was deposited on the eastern side of Euramerica in Basin of the Duvernay (NEB, 2011 modified after Switzer et al., 1994).
tropical to subtropical latitudes. The shelf was occupied by carbonate reefs and shallow basins (100
m deep) with the Duvernay representing the basinal infill. The lithology of the Duvernay in the east basin
is dominated by organic-rich lime-mudstones to wackestones that are interbedded with organic-rich
shales. In the west basin, the Duvernay transitions from a carbonate rich unit (eastern side) to a shale rich
unit (western side). The relationship between active carbonate productivity and adjacent landmasses in
low latitude settings, together with dysoxic to anoxic bottom water conditions in locations on the shallow
shelf, has led to the complex stratigraphy, specifically within the Ireton and Duvernay formations. The
Duvernay is overlain by the Ireton Formation which is a calcareous, TOC-poor shale/mudstone unit with
several deposition cycles (clinoforms).
The Duvernay Formation may be divided into 2-5 subunits (see Andrichuk, 1961; Chow et al., 1995;
Hume et al. 2014) with the latest detailed study (Fig. 3) showing 3 consistent members across the basin
(Hume et al., 2014). In most cases, a lowermost black shale (Duvernay A unit) with varying carbonate
stringers is overlain by a more carbonate-rich mudstone (Duvernay B unit) with occasional reefal debris
(i.e. wackestone-packstone). The uppermost unit contains black shales (thinner than the lowermost unit)

IPTC-18081-MS

Figure 3Schematic stratigraphy of the Duvernay Formation as defined by Hume et al., 2014.

Figure 4 Bubble map showing oil (green), condensate (purple/pink) and dry gas (red/orange) production up to October 2014 in the Kaybob area.
Production information is overlain on a maturity map produced from archived cuttings material. Core and rock data for this study is collected from
the wells (yellow stars) along the cross section (red line) and is shown in detail in Figure 7. 101 wells with production data were used for determining
average IPs (3 months, 6 months, 12 months). Each square represents ~9.79.7 km. Blue shaded areas are reefal structures.

with interbedded mudstone with slightly higher clay contents but lower organic matter (Duvernay C unit).
The Duvernay C unit can be further subdivided into 5 sub-members (C1-C5) (Hume et al, 2014). Chow
et al. (1995) have defined a basal argillaceous mudstone followed by bioturbated lime/mudstones and
some siliceous organic-rich mudstone/limestones. The entire Duvernay Formation ranges in thickness
between ~15 to ~80-95 m (~90 m in Switzer et al. 1994). The Macquarie Report (2011) stated: We
believe the base and middle members will ultimately be the most prospective target of the Duvernay
Formation, given the skeletal reefal debris (ie, carbonate layers) contained within. However, initial
horizontal wells and production in the Kaybob area are targeting the upper Duvernay C member (C1-C3).

IPTC-18081-MS

Figure 5Mineralogical average composition of 48 samples of 100/10-33-056-22W5/00 (left) and 42 samples of 100/12-12-057-22W5/00 (right),
respectfully. Although the mineralogical composition varies between samples and downcore, variability is limited within the shale units.

Figure 6 Mineralogical composition ranges of three wells (dry gas 12-12 - left; dry gas 10-33 middle; and oil confidential well location right)
from the Kaybob area illustrating the spread of mineral composition within the Duvernay sections. Composition variability is very similar across all
maturity windows with the exception of the TOC which is higher in the oil-window compared to condensate and dry gas area.

Figure 7Total organic carbon (TOC) content of the wells along the NE (right) SW (left) cross-section. In the lower right, the cores are plotted
against the sea level datum showing the increasing depth of the Duvernay Formation towards the west.

Gas/Liquid Production from the Duvernay Formation

The Duvernay succession is known to have sourced the prolific Leduc and Swan Hills oil and gas fields
including some of the pinnacle pools. Wells are generally concentrated in the liquids-rich zone that trends
roughly along strike from northwest of the Kaybob area southward toward Rimbey as well as in the
Willesden Green area (see Fig. 2 with the Kaybob area shown by the red circle and the Willesden Green
area in the lower SW part of the West Shale Basin). The Kaybob area (Fig. 2) is currently the center of

IPTC-18081-MS

Figure 8 Thermal maturity (Tmax C) of the organic matter in the wells along the NE (right) SW (left) cross-section. In the lower right, the cores
are plotted against the sea level datum showing the increasing depth of the Duvernay Formation towards the west.

Table 1Overview of various characteristics of North American Shale Plays including the Duvernay. Modified table from Macquarie Research
(2011).

exploration and production in the play with over 100 wells drilled or licensed. Operators include
Athabasca, Encana, Talisman, Shell, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Husky and Celtic/Exxon. One of the
pioneering wells at Kaybob South (Celtic et al. HZ 15-33-60-20W5) tested 2.1 mmcf/d of gas with 75
bbls/mmcf of 56 API condensate at a reservoir pressure of 63 MPA (~19 KPa/m pressure gradient).
Exploration companies are touting GIP reserves ranging wildly from 45 to 200 bcf/section. In 2013,
Trilogy Energy Corp. tested a well for 53 hours at an average rate of 3.4 mmcf/d and ~400 bbls/mmcf of
condensate at a wellhead flowing pressure of 13-24 MPa). Well costs are ranging between $8-15 million
in the Duvernay and payouts in the liquid-producing sections are touted to be ~1 yr.
In 2010-2011, just before the large landsales that triggered the run for the Duvernay play, Trican
Geological Solutions produced three studies of maturity and TOC of the Duvernay based on cuttings
analysis collected at the Alberta Energy Regulator core storage facility. Figure 4 provides an overview of

hydrocarbon production from the Kaybob area

(bubble map) overlain on the maturity map. The
data was broken down into oil- condensate- and
gas-producing wells depending on the dominant
product. The table in Figure 4 shows the production
information for 3, 6, and 12 months IP. The bubble
map shows total production of each well in the area.
Despite the positive production news from some of
the player in the area, the Kaybob area has a complex geological and stratigraphic framework that
needs to be understood. Thermal maturity of the
organic matter in the area of interest within the
Duvernay Formation ranges from oil-window to
dry-gas window and will be illustrated and discussed in the sections below.

IPTC-18081-MS

Figure 9 Porosity-GRI permeability cross-plot for crushed and core

plugs of the Duvernay Formation (well 01-59-18W5).

Mineralogical composition and thermal maturity of the organic matter of

the Duvernay Formation
Across the Duvernay shale basin, the common minerals that make up the rocks are: quartz, calcite and
dolomite (incl. Fe-dolomite), feldspars, clay minerals (mostly illite, occasionally some mixed layers,
chlorite and occasionally kaolinite) and pyrite. Trace amounts of anhydrite, phosphates and Ti-oxides are
also present. The mineralogical compositions of the Duvernay shales and mudstones vary markedly
depending on proximity to reefal influx. The rocks can have high quartz (up to 70%) or carbonate (up to
100%, both calcite and dolomite/ankerite) contents. Clay mineral content is often less than 20 wt-% but
some wells or some individual samples have up to 50 wt-% clay minerals. The important aspect is that
the majority of the quartz is derived from a biogenic silica component (radiolarian-type?) but detrital
grains of quartz, feldspar and clays (including mica) are also observed and particularly common closer to
former land masses (Peace Rover Arch, etc.) where some sample can have high amounts of feldspars (up
to 35 wt-%). The clay minerals are dominated by illite/mica. Most samples contain small amounts of
pyrite (1-10 wt-%) but pyrite lenses and nodules are also observed.
Along the cross-section of this study area, the mineral matter composition is fairly similar. The average
mineral composition of two wells (100/10-33-056-22W5/00 and 100/12-12-057-22W5/00) is plotted in
Figure 5 and shows that approximately equal parts of quartz, carbonates and clay minerals dominate the
compositions. To provide an idea about the spread of the mineralogy, Figure 6 shows average and
min-max values of the main mineral phases across three cores 100/10-33-056-22W5/00, 100/12-12-05722W5/00, and a confidential well). The confidential well lies within the oil-window while the first two
wells are in the overmature window.
The total organic carbon (TOC) content of the Duvernay Formation can exceed 20 wt-% in areas of low
maturity but on average, the dark shales have TOC contents ranging between 4-11 wt-%. Figure 7 shows
the TOC data for selected wells across the cross-section. The figure shows that in general, the black shaly
Duvernay contains approximately similar amounts of TOC (~3-6 wt-%).
Along the cross section, the thermal maturity trend is difficult to determine based on Tmax (source rock
analyzer) data. (Fig. 8). Although wells 12-12 and 10-19 show that the Duvernay is overmature, well
10-33 shows oil-window maturity and 11-1 shows condensate to dry gas maturity. It is unclear why the
samples within 10-33 shows a lower organic maturity but it is hypothesized that thermal gradients
(isolated variable radiogenic heat production by the Precambrian basement) vary across the Kaybob area
and have influenced the thermal maturity of the wells.

IPTC-18081-MS

Figure 10 Pressure-pulse decay permeability and its stress-dependence.

TOC is a key indicator of hydrocarbon generation potential. For comparison, some key properties of
various shale plays across North America are provided in Table 1. Other properties have also been
suggested as critical for the assessment of oil-gas generation potential of various shale plays. Properties
of the Duvernay Shale show that most of the characteristics are similar to some of the already proven and
producing shale plays in the US (see Table 1).

Porosity and Permeability

The Duvernay Formation has a wide range of porosity due to its variable mineralogy and fabric. In this
section, porosity and permeability tests on core samples from an individual well (01-059-18W5) are
presented. Effective gas porosity was determined on both core plugs and crushed sample using helium
pycnometry and bulk volume measurements. Pressure decay data from the porosity measurement process
were further analyzed to derive the GRI permeability on core plugs and subsequently crushed samples
using the method as described by Cui et al. (2009). The porosity-permeability cross plot are shown in
Figure 9. It is interesting to point out that the GRI permeability has a strong positive correlation with the
effective porosity for both crushed samples and core plugs. For the set of crushed samples, porosity ranges
from as low as ~2% to about 6%, and the corresponding GRI permeability ranges from about 5 nd to 20
nd (Fig. 9). On the other hand, the effective porosity of core plugs is relatively much lower (1% - 3.5%)
compared to the crushed samples (2% - 6%), but the corresponding GRI permeability of the core plugs
is nearly 3 orders magnitude higher than that of the crushed samples (Fig. 9). Such marked changes in GRI
permeability with sample size for unconventional shale has been reported by other studies as well (e.g.,
Cui et al., 2009), which is likely attributed to the heterogeneities of the sample and the inherent limitation
of the GRI permeability technique.
Permeability of some core plugs from the same well (01-059-18W5) was also measured under different
confining stress using the pressure-pulse decay technique (Cui et al., 2009) to study the stress-dependence

IPTC-18081-MS

Figure 11Photomicrographs of thin sections (left) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM, right) of two shale samples from the Duvernay
formation in the oil-window showing heterogeneous stratigraphic compositions at the micrometer-scale (thin sections). The petrographic thin sections
show some recrystallized microfossils and occasionally silt-size quartz or feldspar grains can be observed. The majority of the quartz (cannot be
observed as it is part of the organic-rich opaque matrix. The SEM images show idiomorphic (diagenetic, including dolomite rhombs) crystals
embedded in a clay-quartz-carbonate matrix. The Duvernay shale samples have a variable mineralogical composition but are all very fine-grained
with abundant neomorphic minerals. The SEM images illustrate that the matrix is dominated by a mass of clays-carbonate-and quartz (amorphous
shapes) with little open porosity.

of the permeability of the Duvernay samples. Pressure-pulse decay permeability is measured along the
axis of the core samples using helium with an approximately constant gas or pore pressure of 1000 psia
(6.8 MPa). Because of the variable mineralogy, porosity, complex fabrics and fractures either induced or
naturally-occurring on a microscale, the bed-paralleling permeability along the axis of the horizontal core
plugs vary from 1 nd to 1000000 nd (Figure 10). Obviously, the highest permeability of 1 darcy is due
to the pre-existing fracture running through the core plugs. The lowest permeability sample (~ 1nd) is a
solid black shale. The other samples have permeabilities around 20-200 nd under an effective confining
stress of ~25 MPa. Regardless the magnitude of the permeability, all samples show a significant decrease
in permeability with increasing confining stress. A permeability reduction of over two-orders of magnitude can be expected for most samples with an increase in effective confining stress from 5 MPa to 40
MPa. The significant but variable stress-dependence of permeability of the Duvernay shales may also
reflect the effects of mechanical properties on in situ reservoir properties (Cui, 2014). Furthermore, such
strong stress dependence of permeability likely has marked influences to the well performance of the well

IPTC-18081-MS

as the Duvernay Formation is generally over-pressured and therefore, steeper decline in production may
be expected for some wells drilled in this formation.

Rock fabric
Another aspect of unconventional shales that is considered critical for the exploration and completion is
the rock fabric, i.e. the arrangement of the minerals within the rocks. Analysing the sample across the
transect (Figure 7), variability at meter to millimeter and micrometer-scales can be observed due to a high
degree of heterogeneity. The heterogeneities shows strong planar bedding affinities. Figure 11 shows
samples from the oil-window area where some bioclasts (tentaculites) are embedded in the organic-rich
mud matrix. In the samples with elevated carbonate contents, recrystallized calcite (and occasional
dolomite, Fe-dolomite) are common and embedded within the clays and the quartz-rich matrix (roughly
equal amounts of quartz, carbonates and clays). Although some detrital quartz is observed (Figure 11),
most of the quartz occurs in the form of amorphous material tightly interbedded with clays and carbonates
(clay-size). This quartz-clay-carbonate mass is dominant and other larger grains (incl. dolomite, pyrite,
etc) are embedded (see Fig. 11 SEM).

Discussion and Conclusions

The Upper Devonian Duvernay Formation of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin is an unconventional gas-liquid hydrocarbon-producing formation that has been extensively explored over the last 4
years. In this study, we have investigated wells along a cross section that encompasses wells with a range
of organic maturity covering oil-condensate-gas. Production across the Kaybob area varies markedly with
oil-wells have 6 months IPs of about 15 mbbl while gas-producing wells have on average a 6 months IP
of ~190 mmcf. Details of production zones, length of horizontal wells, stages and method of completions
have not been investigated. Although a general trend of oil-condensate-dry gas from NE to SW in the
Kaybob area is observed in the producing wells, production illustrates that geological controls are
complex and hydrocarbon production can vary within very short distances. Hence, location of each well
is key to optimizing the production potential. Thermal maturity of the organic matter (Tmax) does not
show a linear correlation with depth. In contrast, the mineralogical and rock fabric compositions appear
to be relatively similar (in terms of quartz, carbonates, and clay contents) with the exceptions of wells
close to former reefal structures. However, detailed analysis of the mineralogy downcore illustrates high
heterogeneity and variable composition with the main components being quartz, carbonates and clays.
This is also illustrated in the variability of the rock fabric. Although some similarities are observed across
the wells and downcore, fabric changes can be observed in the stratigraphic context and with proximity
to former reefal structures (i.e. elevated carbonate influx). The porosity-permeability data of one well
shows that core plug porosity is markedly smaller than crushed porosity. This may be the result of the
fine-grained fabric of these rocks that have experienced extensive recrystallization and diagenesis which
may have led to poor effective connectivity of the pores in the rocks. Hence, more pores are accessible
when the main rock fabric is destroyed, which implies porosity data usage needs careful understanding of
the analytical method applied when using porosity data for modeling purposes. The same is valid for the
use of permeability data of both crushed and core plug samples. The nano-darcy permeability of the
crushed samples suggests tight or very small pore sizes and hence long pressure equilibrium times
requirements to accurately characterize permeability and porosity of core plugs. This observation may
have major implication for gas-condensate-oil production from the perspective of matrix storage and flow
in these unconventional rocks. In summary, the study shows that current production data is promising but
the Kaybob area has a complex geological and stratigraphic framework that needs to be better understood
in order to have a more comprehensive understanding of production data and the ability to predict highly
prospective hydrocarbon producing areas.

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IPTC-18081-MS

Acknowledgment
The authors like to thank the management of Trican Geological Solutions Ltd to allow this work to be
conducted and presented. The laboratory data presented here relied on input and help from several team
members including R. Monzon, N. Minions, C. Twemlow, H. Offord, N. Willment, and K. Crane.

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