Events

Speaker:  Dr. Younane Abousleiman, Chair and Professor, Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering and Director, Integrated PoroMechnics Institute at the University of Oklahoma

Title of Seminar: “The granular and polymer composite nature of kerogen-rich shale”

Abstract: This presentation sheds new light on the composite nature of kerogen-rich source rock shale from a geomechanics interest to applications.  All source shales have organic matter, such as kerogen and bitumen, varying from a small percentage to more than 20 percent in composition per weight.  We will discuss the complex composite nature of organic-rich shale and its tensile strength characteristics that are highly relevant and problematic to our field application in hydraulic fracturing.  An obvious question is: “Why, for the past decade or so in rock mechanics testing, did we not pick up on the tensile attributes of this kerogen-rich-shale or any other source rock formation?”  The answer is simply that these tensile characteristics of composite rocks/polymers are easily masked when employing International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) standard test methods such as the Brazilian test and/or other approved ASTM standards for measuring rock tensile strength.  Downscaling our testing procedures and methods for the composite source rock, the Woodford shale, has shown nano- and micro-mechanics behavior and characteristics never before observed.  These results will be discussed and illustrated in in-situ real-time videos.

Biography:  Professor Younane Abousleiman is the director of the integrated PoroMechanics Institute (iPMI) at the University of Oklahoma, and the Larry W.  Brummett/ONEOK Chair Professor in Poromechanics in the Mewbourne School of Petroleum & Geological Engineering, the ConocoPhillips School of Geology & Geophysics, and the School of Civil Engineering & Environmental Science.  He graduated from the American University of Beirut as a civil engineer, continued his graduate work at Columbia University, New York, and completed his Ph.D. degree at the University of Delaware, Newark.

 Dr. Abousleiman has served as principal investigator for two industry-sponsored consortia:  the Geomechanics Gas Shale Consortium and the Rock Mechanics Consortium since 2001, with research foci on upstream oil & gas industry problems lately related to shale mechanics. 

He has authored or coauthored more than 300 technical papers.  He is the recipient of the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2003, Jules Braunstein Memorial Award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) 2012 and Loyd Carlson Award from the AAPG Energy Minerals Division (2012), among others.