ALBERT

Description: The Barnett Shale (Mississippian) in the Delaware Basin has the potential to be a prolific gas producer. The shale is organic rich and thermally mature over large parts of the basin. Depths to the Barnett range from 7000 ft (2133 m) along the western edge of the basin to more than 18,000 ft (5486 m) along the basin axis. The Barnett Shale began generating petroleum about 250 Ma and reached its maximum temperature about 260 Ma. Present-day thermal maturity is indicative of maximum burial and temperature. Wells in northern Reeves County are in the gas window based on measured vitrinite reflectance values and kerogen transformation ratios. The shale can be divided into an upper clastic unit and a lower limy unit by changes in resistivity. The lower unit can be subdivided into five subunits by distinctive well-log markers. Preliminary analyses suggest that intervals in the lower Barnett marked by high resistivity and high neutron porosity readings on well logs have high gas contents. Areas in which to focus the future exploration in the lower Barnett can be delineated by mapping a net resistivity greater than 50 ohm m. The Barnett Shale contains significant gas resources in the Delaware Basin. Realizing the potential of these resources depends on the current efforts to optimize drilling and completion techniques for this shale-gas play. Travis Kinley obtained his B.S. degree in geology from the University of Wyoming in 2004, and his M.S. degree in geology from Texas Christian University in 2006. He is currently an associate geologist at XTO Energy and has been working in the Permian Basin since he first worked as an intern at XTO while pursuing his M.S. degree. Lance Cook is currently the manager of geology/Rocky Mountains for XTO Energy. He received his B.S. degree in geology from Texas Christian University and his M.S. degree in geology from the University of New Mexico. He has been involved in unconventional resource play developments and exploration plays across North America during his career with Shell Oil, Union Pacific Resources, the State of Wyoming, and XTO Energy. John Breyer is a professor of geology at Texas Christian University. He received his B.A. degree in geology from the University of Cincinnati in 1970 and his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Nebraska in 1974. John is a broadly trained sedimentary geologist with particular interests in sandstone petrology, petroleum geology, and the history of science. Currently, his students are actively engaged in research on the Barnett Shale in the Fort Worth Basin and other shale-gas systems. Dan Jarvie is president of Worldwide Geochemistry and is an analytical and interpretive organic geochemist. He has worked conventional petroleum systems around the world and has extensive experience on unconventional shale-gas, shale-oil, and oil-shale systems. He earned his B.S. degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1976 and was mentored in geochemistry by Wallace Dow and Don Baker of Rice University. He is now affiliated with the Energy Institute at Texas Christian University. Art Busbey is an associate professor of geology at Texas Christian University. He has B.S. and M.S. degrees in geology from University of Texas-Austin and a Ph.D. in paleontology/anatomy from the University of Chicago. He was an associate editor of the AAPG journal, GeoByte , in the early 1990s. He teaches courses in historical geology, paleontology, digital cartography, and geological statistics.