• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.359-373
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• 2013

Shale is considered as a source rock for conventional oil and gas exploration and development because shale is fine-grained detrital sedimentary rock which can preserve the organic matter better. Shale has a good sealing capacity for the petroleum trap due to its low permeability. Commercial recoveries of gas from shale in the North America based on the development of technologies of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing reveal that shale also function as a effective reservoir rock. Geochemical techniques to evaluate generation potential of the hydrocarbons from organic matter in the source rocks can be applied for the exploration of the shale gas resources. To evaluate shale gas resources, it is important to understand various geochemical processes and shale characteristics controlling generation, storage and estimation of shale gas reserves. In this paper, the generation mechanism of the oil and gas from organic matter is reviewed, and geochemical techniques which can be applied for the evaluation and characterization of shale gas are introduced.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.63-69
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• 2013

This paper discusses important environmental issues that must be considered during shale gas development. Shale gas has been attracting many attention as the next key energy resource with its large abundance through easily accessible production fields, and its lower carbon dioxide & sulfur dioxide emission profile upon combustion when compared to the conventional oil and natural gas resources. Successful development of a shale gas field requires the use of hydraulic fracturing to recover hydrocarbon through the very tight shale formation, which has been frequently associated with environmental contamination issue of water, soil, and atmosphere. Therefore, environmental issues and their solution to minimize environmental impact should be considered for successful development of shale play in a future.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.50-57
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• 2017

Shale gas reservoir are composed of very fine grained particles, and their pores are very small, at the scale of nanometers. In this study, a parametric study was implemented to investigate the effect of knudsen diffusion, relative permeability and permeability reduction in shale gas reservoir. Shale gas reservoir model in Horn-River was developed to confirm the productivity for different design parameters such as diffusion, relative permeability, connate water saturation, and permeability reduction.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.291-302
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• 2014

The Chinese government and its agencies were trying in order to solve the unstability of resource supply and demand. Ministry of Land and Resources of China(MLR) carried out a lot of national-level policy and planning for estimating the domestic mineral and energy resources potential and recoverable reserves, as the Chinese land and resources survey plan(1999~2010), the Chinese mineral resource survey and exploration plan(2008~2020), announcement for shale gas industry policies of China, the Chinese shale gas resources evaluation and selection project for its development priority areas(2012), and the plan for Chinese shale gas development(2011~2015). The two large sedimentary basins of Chinese shale gas reserves are Sichuan and Tarim basins with excellent potential, accounting for majority of the estimated national reserves. Recoverable gas-bearing shale of China was surveyed to be widespread. The volume of recoverable shale gas reservoirs in China has been estimated to be around 31 trillion cubic meters(1,115 trillion cubic feet). China is one of only three countries with the US and Canada to produce shale gas in commercial quantities. China is concentrating on technology development to enhance commercial production of shale gas, and on survey and exploration activities to increase its recoverable reserves. The trends related to shale gas development and R&D activities in China to respond to changes in international oil market should be actively monitored based on analysis of Chinese policies and technology.

• Transactions of the KSME C: Technology and Education
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.75-81
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• 2013

Shale gas has the potential to significantly change the way of the world's energy use. However, there are increasing concerns on environmental problems, particularly with respect to water use and wastewater treatment. This paper highlights issues related to shale gas water management and technologies currently used to address them. It also presents perspectives of emerging technologies for the treatment of shale gas wastewater, including forward osmosis (FO) and membrane distillation (MD).

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.193-204
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• 2014

Shale gas has caused a change in the dynamics of gas market since development of horizontal drilling technic and hydraulic fracturing technic caused its commercial production. The commercial amount of shale gas is 187.5 trillions $m^3$ so human can use it for 59 years and the amount will increase in the future. Several nations such as USA, Canada, China and Russia have more and more interested in shale gas as a futuristic major energy source. In accordance with this trend in the world, the amount of studying theses for development of shale gas have increased so their theses became important increasingly. The number of searched theses (1986 ~ The first half of 2013) is 3,468 and has increased recently. Among 89 nations studying shale gas, USA has 637 theses as No.1 in the world. 1,813 global studying institutes have studied shale gas; in the analysis result of several studying institutes, US geological survey institute was ranked as No.1 for the quality level of shale gas study and intensity of global cooperation.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.419-426
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• 2020

Understanding the pore structure including pore shape and connectivity in unconventional reservoirs is essential to increase the recovery rate of unconventional energy resources such as shale gas and oil. In this study, we found analysis condition to probe the nanoscale pore structure in shale reservoirs using Focused Ion Beam (FIB) and Ion Milling System (IMS). A-068 core samples from Liard Basin are used to probe the pore structure in shale reservoirs. The pore structure is analyzed with different pretreatment methods and analysis condition because each sample has different characteristics. The results show that surface milling by FIB is effective to obtain pore images of several micrometers local area while milling a large-area by IMS is efficient to observe various pore structure in a short time. Especially, it was confirmed that the pore structure of rocks with high content of carbonate minerals and high strength can be observed with milling by IMS. In this study, the analysis condition and process for observing the pore structure in the shale reservoirs is established. Further studies are needed to perform for probing the effect of pore size and shape on the enhancement of shale gas recovery.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.21-28
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• 2018

In recent years, payability of shale gas production has worsened due to oil and gas price declines resulting from sharply increasing shale gas production. Reliable economic evaluation in shale gas development has become important. In this study, Monte Carlo simulation of probabilistic analysis technique was applied to analyze the economic feasibility considering the uncertainty involved in shale gas development. For this, the range of major variables is set and a random number is generated to derive the probability distribution of Net Present Value(NPV) and Internal Rate of Return(IRR). Consequently, we estimated the probability that the feasibility of the project is evaluated to be positive when developing shale gas in the study area. In addition, sensitivity analysis of major parameters affecting economic efficiency in shale gas development was carried out, and the effect of major variables in economic evaluation for commercial production was identified. In the future, this study could be used to make decision for shale gas production by presenting the range of variation of economic index and probability value.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.54-65
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• 2015

China holding the world largest shale resources, has been trying to develop their domestic shale gas fields mainly with its NOCs. Chinese shale industry looks likely to have high potential to grow in the future, considering the eager support of Chinese government and the rapid development of relevant technologies by NOCs. However, there are opposite opinions as well that Chinese shale gas could not play a positive short-term results because of the complexity of structural geology, inadequacy of water resources and related infrastructure. Recently, Korean companies began to be interseted in Chinese shale gas industry, because of the special relationships with Korean industries in terms of geographic proximity and better opportunities due to the early phase of shale gas business in China. In this study, it was tried to help those companies looking out of future Chinese shale gas industry that surveying current status and problems of Chinese shale gas industry and relevant industries and investigating some trials and policies driven by China government. As a result, the various and long-term problems in Chinese shale development were reviewed and the active supports and polices of Chinese government, NOC's trials for establishments of their independent technologies and the cooperation with foreign companies or M&As were also investigated.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.209-218
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• 2021

Studies of pore structure in shale gas reservoirs are essential to increase recovery rates, which is in the spotlight concerning unconventional resources. In this study, the distribution of pores in shale gas reservoir sample were observed using Scanning Electron Microscope Particle Analysis (SELPA), which is appropriate to analyze the distribution of particle or shape for sample in large area. A sample from the A-068 borehole drilled in the Liard Basin was analyzed; calcite is the main mineral. The pore size ranges from tens of nanometers to hundreds of micrometers and the contribution of each pore size to overall sample porosity was determined using SELPA. The distribution of pores was determined by observing the surface in the same area at magnifications of ×1000, ×3000 and ×5000. Pores less than 100 nm were observed at high magnifications and confirm that small-scale pore distribution can be analyzed and identified rapidly using SELPA. The method introduced in this study will be useful to understand pore structures in unconventional reservoirs.