Paul Martin Basinski
Geologists in Houston, TX

2011028, Nov 17, 2011

May 3, 2011

13/099894

Luis R. Baez - Houston TX, US
Douglas N. Valleau - Conroe TX, US
Paul M. Basinski - Houston TX, US
Gerald Eric Michael - Katy TX, US

CONOCOPHILLIPS COMPANY - Houston TX

G06F 19/00

702 13

Methods and systems are provided for rapidly estimating the hydrocarbon production potential of a subsurface hydrocarbon shale prospect or prospects. In short, the methods disclosed herein provide rapid mechanisms to determine sorbed gas storage of a shale reservoir with minimal delay and resource expenditure to aid operators in determining which prospects to exploit.In certain embodiments, an empirical implemented method for rapidly assessing hydrocarbon content of a shale reservoir comprises extracting one or more shale samples, performing a rock eval pyrolysis on the shale samples to determine certain geochemical properties of the shale, using the geochemical properties to determine a thermal maturity of the shale, determining a Langmuir volume of the shale, generating a adsorption isotherm of the shale, and determining a gas storage capacity of the shale. Advantages of the methods include a more efficient and rapid determination of shale gas storage with a minimal expenditure of resources.