Understanding Geophysical Responses of Shale Gas Plays

Unconventional resources such as shale gas are becoming increasingly important exploration and production targets. However, the geophysical characterization of these unconventional reservoirs remains challenging because of limited understanding of reservoir properties such as total organic carbon (TOC). As a significantly important component of the rock, organic matter has unique features (e.g., being soft, resistive, and with non-zero shear modulus) that influence effective elastic properties differently than effective electrical properties, thus providing the basis for an integrated geophysical analysis of shale gas.