Gas Storage and Transport in Devonian Shales

Abstract

Summary: Natural gas storage in Devonian shales occurs in part because of the adsorption of methane onto internal pore surfaces. Methane is released during production and is a significant fraction of the total gas produced. Thus, porosity, as a measure of gas storage capacity, must be supplemented with a term that will account for the condensed-phase methane. There are additional implications for gas transport in shale. These factors must be considered, for example, in the application of numerical simulators to production from shale wells.