On 25th of October in the Pervomaysk region of Kharkiv oblast Shell and «Ukrgazvydobuvannia» started to search for unconventional hydrocarbons
October 8, 2012 Scientific-Technical Center «Psycheа» held the International expert and analytical roundtable «Basin Center Gas: prospects and risks of production in Ukraine» (video here). Independent Ukrainian and American experts, representatives of the Coordination Centre for the implementation of economic reforms under the President of Ukraine, of the Council of National Security and Defence of Ukraine, of academic and industrial science discussed the economic, technological, and environmental issues of exploration and production of unconventional energy resources, as well as international best practices for an effective regulatory environment. The participants supported the initiatives of international investors, which are starting the search for Basin Center Gas in our country, but stated that the companies should be prepared for «specific» work in Ukraine and they should involve the expert community into solving the emerging problems.
Man will never take a step in a direction which he considers unpromising.
(Marie Joseph Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French theologian and philosopher)
Basin Center Gas (BCG, tight (sandstone) gas) – a gas mixture which is present in reservoirs with low porosity and low permeability containing siltstones and ritmites. Unlike conventional gas resources, the Basin Center Gas is not associated with traditional traps, it is located in the whole central immersed part (depressions and hollows) of oil and gas basin, occupying large areas. Within the large accumulations of this gas there are also conventional gas deposits. Therefore the Basin Center Gas deposits are larger than the total conventional ones.
From a technological point of view, BCG is considered one of the priorities among unconventional types. While evaluating and preparing gas-bearing tight reservoirs to drilling, assessing the prospective resources and industrial reserves traditional methods and techniques of hydrocarbons production are used. Therefore the issue of the development of the BCG is not so much a geological but technological and economic.
Studies of BCG for the first time started in North America (mainly in the U.S.) in 1970th due to a decrease in the production of conventional energy sources. Resources of the BCG in the United States are, according to various estimates, 12…142 trillion cubic meters. The volumes of gas production of this type in the U.S. are up to 30 billion cubic meters a year. The development is carried out with the use of intensifying techniques (hydraulic fracturing) in the areas of high productivity (sweet spots) in the Rocky Mountains (San Juan, Gray Green River, Western Canada) and the North American plate (Anadarko, Appalachian, Permian, Val Verde). Usually 28…40% of gas can be extracted. With the development of technologies the extraction gas factor can be increased up to 60%…
