New tool aims to quickly evaluate gas fields

A trade organisation has launched a joint industry project to increase speed and cut costs of determining which gas fields are worth drilling. The Industry Technology Facilitator’s (ITF) PETGAS III project sees […]

A trade organisation has launched a joint industry project to increase speed and cut costs of determining which gas fields are worth drilling.

The Industry Technology Facilitator’s (ITF) PETGAS III project sees the creation of a database which allows the chemical formula of oil and gas samples to be scanned quickly and accurately. This will then form the basis of the decision as to whether they are worth mining or not.

The database will be used during exploration, appraisal and production.

Professor Quentin Fisher, Researcher at the University of Leeds, said: “When oil producers are developing low permeability objectives, the petrophysical properties largely determine whether gas fields are economically viable. Current methods used in the industry are both expensive and time consuming.

“The PETGAS research, which is now in its third stage, has been transformative in creating a workflow, database and data mining software that allows operators to reduce the cost and time to estimate to petrophysical properties of tight gas sandstone prospects.”

The three-year project has had £321,000 contributed by its partners.

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