Events

Dr. Farzam Javapour, Researcher at the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) will give a talk entitled "Reserve Estimation and Fluid Flow in Shale Gas System" as part of the Claude R. Hocott Graduate Seminar Series.

Abstract:

Shale gas strata, important energy supplies in North America, are projected to become important as well in Europe, Latin America, and Asia in the near future. Gas and oil production from these fine grained reservoirs is technically challenging, however production is much higher than predictions based on conventional models (Darcy’s equation). Because of this abnormal behavior, these types of gas reservoirs are categorized as “unconventional”, and recently became the focal interest of oil companies and researchers. An understanding of these natural, fine-grained, porous systems is necessary in making capital investments, as well as in making field-development decisions by governments and major oil companies. This talk presents a wide spectrum of subjects related to shale gas and the major differences between “conventional” and “unconventional” reservoirs. Detailed discussion of gas and liquid flow in tiny pores (nanometer scale) will be presented. Novel research methods and challenges for reserve estimation and permeability predictions will also be presented.

Bio:

Farzam Javadpour holds B.Sc. with distinction in petroleum engineering, and M.Sc. & Ph.D. degrees in chemical and petroleum engineering from the University of Calgary (Canada). Farzam has worked as reservoir engineer in industry and is currently working as a re­searcher at the Bureau of Economic Geology (University of Texas at Austin), where he is leading research works on novel techniques of reserve and permeability estimations and fluid flow modeling for the shale gas systems. He is also studying fundamentals of nanoparticles transport in porous media for EOR and reservoir engineering applications. Farzam teaches advanced level courses on topics of “shale gas characterization and production” and “CO₂ injection in geological systems” at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Calgary (Canada). Farzam has published >20 peer-reviewed journal publications on topics related to shale gas, CO₂ injection, and transport in porous media. He is the recipient of the best paper published in Journal of Canadian Pe­troleum Technology (JCPT) in 2008. His work on the development of apparent permeability formulation for the shale gas systems appeared as “distinguished author” publication in JCPT (2009) which received many scientific citations in recent years. Farzam serves as Associate Editor for the SPE-JCPT and is the recipient of the “SPE Outstanding Service Award” for his role of Associate Editor of this journal in 2010.