GSTT Lunch & Learn: Unconventional Resources

Topic: “Unconventional Resources – Shale Gas and Shale (Tight) Oil: what the Frac is it all about?” Presenter: Dr. Chris Cornelius (Petroleum Geoscience Unit, Faculty of Engineering, UWI) When: Thursday 23rd January, 2014 Where: Valpark Chinese Restaurant Time: 11:30am-1:00pm Interested persons can RSVP at [email protected] or 679-6064 by Monday 20th January, 2014. Limited spaces are available. Lunch will be served. Abstract & Bio Unconventional Resources – Shale Gas and Shale (Tight) Oil: what the Frac is it all about? Chris Cornelius PhD Petroleum Geoscience Unit, Faculty of Engineering. The University of the West Indies. Shale gas and shale (tight) oil are the most talked about topics in today’s international energy arena, even though these petroleum systems currently account for less than 5% of global energy output; so why all the fuss ? In short, a paradigm shift in what we as geologist consider exploitable reservoirs has been gathering steam for the past decade, and today the E & P industry stands on the cusp of establishing a global reserve base of monumental proportions; far exceeding the wildest estimates of even the most optimist 20th century explorer. The “micro and nanno-D” source rocks of yester year are now the targets of the HZ drill bit and multi-stage frac crews, with the increasing realization that with enough HHP one may indeed be able to get the proverbial “blood from a stone”!! North America is currently awash in natural (“shale”) gas, while the success of many of the new emerging condensate rich tight oil plays, suggest liquids production will have a similar exponential growth over the next 10 years, and with it a corresponding price reduction in the WTI bench-mark. However, is it an over hyped bubble, and could it burst via a ‘green’ backlash? Outlining the shale revolution and play fundamentals while reviewing new drilling and completion technologies and reservoir concepts, coupled with an understanding of international frontiers and what it takes to get in the game, the significance of these unconventional resources will be discussed in the context of the potential long term ramifications for Trinidad and Tobago. Biography Chris Cornelius is the Programme Coordinator for the Petroleum Geoscience Unit at The University of the West Indies. He started his early career running Coiled Tubing and Nitrogen Units in the North Sea, moving onto to Calgary and then Houston learning the art of being a frac engineer. Working on many early, TGS, CBM and shallow biogenic shale gas plays throughout North America, in 1998 he joined a then fledging pure play unconventional operator, Evergreen Resources, drilling and completing over 2000 CBM wells in the Raton Basin, Colorado, prior to the company’s acquisition in 2005. Travelling the world looking for new opportunities, in 2006 he landed squarely back in the UK, founding Cuadrilla Resources; a pan-European shale gas exploration company. Drilling the UK’s first shale gas well, the Presse Hall #1 in the Bowland Shale near Blackpool in 2010, and discovering an insitu shale gas accumulation (GIIP > 300 TCF), which has a potential to be a game charger of the UK energy sector. In 2011 he founded TOROS Resources, a tight oil exploration company which is currently deploying sate of the art hydraulic fracturing equipment to Eurasia.