In the past 10 years, oil and gas production from unconventional reservoirs has revolutionized the energy market. As production increases, unconventional reservoirs are expected to be vital to the future of energy supply.

How does SGS's work with unconventional reservoirs benefit the global energy market?

It's all about efficiency

When drilling began, the oil and gas industry focused on drilling in easily accessible conventional fields because this was the most efficient way to extract hydrocarbons.

But now, with improved technologies, unconventional fields are becoming a more commercially viable alternative. In the US and Canada, these fields have proved extremely valuable. Industry there has invested huge amounts of research and development into unlocking unconventional resources.

Innovative technologies for finding viable layers and fields are being developed. These consist not only of analytical laboratory or interpretation methods, but also of technologies and workflows that allow commerciality to be assessed prior to investment.

SGS and unconventional reservoirs

SGS is already supporting exploration, analysis and production of unconventional reservoirs.

In particular, SGS provides geosciences, engineering consultation, subsurface evaluation and reserve assessment studies for the oil and gas industry, utility companies and investment companies all over the world.

SGS initiates, coordinates and takes part in the development of technologies to assess unconventional sites, drawing on our expertise in oil and gas services. We have discovered that our existing technologies can, with some simple modifications, benefit our customers in this rapidly developing field. SGS is at the forefront of developing new services and technologies that are making a once inefficient energy source practical, effective and productive.

Delivering Advantage

Competition is fierce in the unconventional sector. With SGS's niche competencies and expertise in innovative technologies, we aim to develop faster, cheaper and better performing solutions.

For example, we have developed technologies for performing mineralogical and geomechanical analysis on drill cuttings. These drill cuttings are small rock pieces (about 0.1 - 1.0 mm) collected regularly during drilling. Unlike other rock samples, drill cuttings are available for the entire well trajectory, including shale intervals, and can reveal unconventional reservoir rocks that would otherwise be missed.

Nanoindentation technology, used to determine the geomechanical properties of microscopic sized rock fragments, has the potential to be used routinely for determining the properties of shales. This would allow reliable prediction and modeling of the behavior of shales while fraccing.

SGS is proud to be leading the development in new energy technologies, offering these services to oil and gas companies since mid-2014.

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