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Resource Play Expertise - PDF Print Version

The unique blend of expertise at Canadian Discovery Ltd. (CDL) is well suited for the current blooming of resource plays. These opportunities are characterized by the following: large in-place hydrocarbon volumes, predictability of reservoir distribution, high clastic or carbonate content, overpressuring, low stress regime and continuous hydrocarbon accumulations representing low water risk. Successful exploration for resource plays requires a thorough understanding of the following components:

Van Krevelen Plot – Data from Second White Specks Project



Stress Mapping – Integrated Use of Pressure Data (SACA 2005–RPCL, BJ)

• Source rock composition: The accumulation of large in-place hydrocarbon resources requires source rocks rich in organic carbon of specific kerogen types.
• Source rock maturity: These source rocks must have been subjected to the optimal temperature and burial history to generate hydrocarbons.
• Hydrodynamics and migration: A hydrodynamic setting which encourages reservoir overpressuring and limits migration from the source rocks. This reduces water risk and leads to the development of continuous hydrocarbon deposits.
• Reservoir characterization: An understanding of the nature of the hydrocarbon storage within a resource play is critical to assessing the volumes of hydrocarbons-in-place and the probable rates and recovery factors.
• Stress analysis: The migration of exploration activity into resource plays has brought the need to understand the stress setting into focus. CDL has developed an industry leading capability to interpret this data and relate the findings to real-life exploration results.

The multi-client Stress Analysis of Central Alberta study (2005, RPCL/BJ) provided a ground-breaking theoretical and practical interpretation of stress regimes in the Mesozoic and Tertiary of central Alberta. These breakthroughs, when combined with the other key attributes of resource play exploration, outlines areas of higher prospectivity. CDL has built upon this foundation through the creation of the Well Completions & Frac Database which provides the data to map stress regimes throughout western Canada and the framework to continue this worldwide.