Download or read book Development of Geophysical Methods to Characterize Methane Hydrate Reservoirs on a Laboratory Scale written by and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gas hydrates are crystalline solids composed of water and gas molecules. They are stable at elevated pressure and low temperatures. Therefore, natural gas hydrate deposits occur at continental margins, permafrost areas, deep lakes, and deep inland seas. During hydrate formation, the water molecules rearrange to form cavities which host gas molecules. Due to the high pressure during hydrate formation, significant amounts of gas can be stored in hydrate structures. The water-gas ratio hereby can reach up to 1:172 at 0°C and atmospheric pressure. Natural gas hydrates predominantly contain methane. Because methane constitutes both a fuel and a greenhouse gas, gas hydrates are a potential energy resource as well as a potential source for greenhouse gas. This study investigates the physical properties of methane hydrate bearing sediments on a laboratory scale. To do so, an electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) array was developed and mounted in a large reservoir simulator (LARS). For the first time, the ERT array was applied to hydrate saturated sediment samples under controlled temperature, pressure, and hydrate saturation conditions on a laboratory scale. Typically, the pore space of (marine) sediments is filled with electrically well conductive brine. Because hydrates constitute an electrical isolator, significant contrasts regarding the electrical properties of the pore space emerge during hydrate formation and dissociation. Frequent measurements during hydrate formation experiments permit the recordings of the spatial resistivity distribution inside LARS. Those data sets are used as input for a new data processing routine which transfers the spatial resistivity distribution into the spatial distribution of hydrate saturation. Thus, the changes of local hydrate saturation can be monitored with respect to space and time. This study shows that the developed tomography yielded good data quality and resolved even small amounts of hydrate saturation inside the sediment sample. The conversion algorithm transforming the spatial resistivity distribution into local hydrate saturation values yielded the best results using the Archie-var-phi relation. This approach considers the increasing hydrate phase as part of the sediment frame, metaphorically reducing the sample's porosity. In addition, the tomographical measurements showed that fast lab based hydrate formation processes cause small crystallites to form which tend to recrystallize. Furthermore, hydrate dissociation experiments via depressurization were conducted in order to mimic the 2007/2008 Mallik field trial. It was observed that some patterns in gas and water flow could be reproduced, even though some setup related limitations arose. In two additional long-term experiments the feasibility and performance of CO2-CH4 hydrate exchange reactions were studied in LARS. The tomographical system was used to monitor the spatial hydrate distribution during the hydrate formation stage. During the subsequent CO2 injection, the tomographical array allowed to follow the CO2 migration front inside the sediment sample and helped to identify the CO2 breakthrough.

Download or read book Development of Geophysical Methods to Characterize Methane Hydrate Reservoirs on a Laboratory Scale written by Mike Priegnitz and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gas hydrates are crystalline solids composed of water and gas molecules. They are stable at elevated pressure and low temperatures. Therefore, natural gas hydrate deposits occur at continental margins, permafrost areas, deep lakes, and deep inland seas. During hydrate formation, the water molecules rearrange to form cavities which host gas molecules. Due to the high pressure during hydrate formation, significant amounts of gas can be stored in hydrate structures. The water-gas ratio hereby can reach up to 1:172 at 0°C and atmospheric pressure. Natural gas hydrates predominantly contain methane. Because methane constitutes both a fuel and a greenhouse gas, gas hydrates are a potential energy resource as well as a potential source for greenhouse gas. This study investigates the physical properties of methane hydrate bearing sediments on a laboratory scale. To do so, an electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) array was developed and mounted in a large reservoir simulator (LARS). For the first time, the ERT array was applied to hydrate saturated sediment samples under controlled temperature, pressure, and hydrate saturation conditions on a laboratory scale. Typically, the pore space of (marine) sediments is filled with electrically well conductive brine. Because hydrates constitute an electrical isolator, significant contrasts regarding the electrical properties of the pore space emerge during hydrate formation and dissociation. Frequent measurements during hydrate formation experiments permit the recordings of the spatial resistivity distribution inside LARS. Those data sets are used as input for a new data processing routine which transfers the spatial resistivity distribution into the spatial distribution of hydrate saturation. Thus, the changes of local hydrate saturation can be monitored with respect to space and time. This study shows that the developed tomography yielded good data quality and resolved even small amounts of hydrate saturation inside the sediment sample. The conversion algorithm transforming the spatial resistivity distribution into local hydrate saturation values yielded the best results using the Archie-var-phi relation. This approach considers the increasing hydrate phase as part of the sediment frame, metaphorically reducing the sample's porosity. In addition, the tomographical measurements showed that fast lab based hydrate formation processes cause small crystallites to form which tend to recrystallize. Furthermore, hydrate dissociation experiments via depressurization were conducted in order to mimic the 2007/2008 Mallik field trial. It was observed that some patterns in gas and water flow could be reproduced, even though some setup related limitations arose. In two additional long-term experiments the feasibility and performance of CO2-CH4 hydrate exchange reactions were studied in LARS. The tomographical system was used to monitor the spatial hydrate distribution during the hydrate formation stage. During the subsequent CO2 injection, the tomographical array allowed to follow the CO2 migration front inside the sediment sample and helped to identify the CO2 breakthrough.

Download or read book Geophysical Characterization of Gas Hydrates written by Michael Riedel and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The occurrence of gas hydrates in large quantities worldwide, and their immense energy potential have prompted concerted efforts into their exploration and understanding over the last many years. During this time, geophysical characterization of natural gas hydrate occurrences by seismic and other methods have gained prominence, and such studies have been reported from time to time. However, no compilation of such studies was ever attempted. This SEG publication, Geophysical Characterization of Gas Hydrates (Geophysical Developments No. 14), is the first book on the topic that focuses on documenting various types of geophysical studies that are carried out for the detection and mapping of gas hydrates.

Download or read book Detection and Production of Methane Hydrate written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This project seeks to understand regional differences in gas hydrate systems from the perspective of as an energy resource, geohazard, and long-term climate influence. Specifically, the effort will: (1) collect data and conceptual models that targets causes of gas hydrate variance, (2) construct numerical models that explain and predict regional-scale gas hydrate differences in 2-dimensions with minimal 'free parameters', (3) simulate hydrocarbon production from various gas hydrate systems to establish promising resource characteristics, (4) perturb different gas hydrate systems to assess potential impacts of hot fluids on seafloor stability and well stability, and (5) develop geophysical approaches that enable remote quantification of gas hydrate heterogeneities so that they can be characterized with minimal costly drilling. Our integrated program takes advantage of the fact that we have a close working team comprised of experts in distinct disciplines. The expected outcomes of this project are improved exploration and production technology for production of natural gas from methane hydrates and improved safety through understanding of seafloor and well bore stability in the presence of hydrates. The scope of this project was to more fully characterize, understand, and appreciate fundamental differences in the amount and distribution of gas hydrate and how this would affect the production potential of a hydrate accumulation in the marine environment. The effort combines existing information from locations in the ocean that are dominated by low permeability sediments with small amounts of high permeability sediments, one permafrost location where extensive hydrates exist in reservoir quality rocks and other locations deemed by mutual agreement of DOE and Rice to be appropriate. The initial ocean locations were Blake Ridge, Hydrate Ridge, Peru Margin and GOM. The permafrost location was Mallik. Although the ultimate goal of the project was to understand processes that control production potential of hydrates in marine settings, Mallik was included because of the extensive data collected in a producible hydrate accumulation. To date, such a location had not been studied in the oceanic environment. The project worked closely with ongoing projects (e.g. GOM JIP and offshore India) that are actively investigating potentially economic hydrate accumulations in marine settings. The overall approach was fivefold: (1) collect key data concerning hydrocarbon fluxes which is currently missing at all locations to be included in the study, (2) use this and existing data to build numerical models that can explain gas hydrate variance at all four locations, (3) simulate how natural gas could be produced from each location with different production strategies, (4) collect new sediment property data at these locations that are required for constraining fluxes, production simulations and assessing sediment stability, and (5) develop a method for remotely quantifying heterogeneities in gas hydrate and free gas distributions. While we generally restricted our efforts to the locations where key parameters can be measured or constrained, our ultimate aim was to make our efforts universally applicable to any hydrate accumulation.

Download or read book Natural gas hydrate Deposits written by and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Los Alamos hydrate project has concentrated on: evaluating techniques to produce gas from hydrate deposits to determine critical reservoir and production variables; predicting physical properties of hydrate-containing sediments both for their effects on production models and to allow us to develop geophysical exploration and reservoir characterization techniques; and measuring properties of synthetic hydrate cores in the laboratory. Exploration techniques can help assess the size of potential hydrate deposits and determine which production techniques are appropriate for particular deposits. So little is known about the physical properties of hydrate deposits that it is difficult to develop geophysical techniques to locate or characterize them; but, because of the strong similarity between hydrates and ice, empirical relationships between ice composition and seismic velocity, electrical resistivity, density, and heat capacity that have been established for frozen rocks may be used to estimate the physical properties of hydrate deposits. Resistivities of laboratory permafrost samples are shown to follow a variation of Archie's equation. Both the resistivities and seismic velocities are functions of the unfrozen water content (Sw); however, resistivities are more sensitive to changes in Sw, varying by as much as three orders of magnitude, which may allow the use of electrical resistivity measurements to estimte the amount of hydrate in place. We estimated Sw, assuming that the dissolved salt in the pore water is concentrated as a brine phase as the hydrates form, and the brine content as a function of depth, assuming several temperature gradients and pore water salinities. Hydrate-bearing zones are characterized by high seismic velocities and electrical resistivities compared to unfrozen sediments or permafrost zones.

Download or read book Sediment hosted Gas Hydrates written by D. Long and published by Geological Society of London. This book was released on 2009 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is much interest in gas hydrates in relation to their potential role as an important driver for climate change and as a major new energy source; however, many questions remain, not least the size of the global hydrate budget. Much of the current uncertainty centres on how hydrates are physically stored in sediments at a range of scales. This volume details advances in our understanding of sediment-hosted hydrates, and contains papers covering a range of studies of real and artificial sediments containing both methane hydrates and CO2 hydrates. The papers include an examination of the techniques used to locate, sample and characterize hydrates from natural, methane-rich systems, so as to understand them better. Other contributions consider the nature and stability of synthetic hydrates formed in the laboratory, which in turn improve our ability to make accurate predictive models.

Download or read book Energy Research Abstracts written by and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 1468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Fossil Energy Update written by and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 794 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Geophysical Characterization of Gas Hydrates written by Michael Riedel and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The occurrence of gas hydrates in large quantities worldwide, and their immense energy potential have prompted concerted efforts into their exploration and understanding over the last many years. During this time, geophysical characterization of natural gas hydrate occurrences by seismic and other methods have gained prominence, and such studies have been reported from time to time. However, no compilation of such studies was ever attempted. This SEG publication, Geophysical Characterization of Gas Hydrates (Geophysical Developments No. 14), is the first book on the topic that focuses on documenting various types of geophysical studies that are carried out for the detection and mapping of gas hydrates.

Download or read book The Rock Physics Handbook written by Gary Mavko and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-30 with total page 525 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A significantly expanded new edition of this practical guide to rock physics and geophysical interpretation for reservoir geophysicists and engineers.

Download or read book International Methane Hydrate Research and Development Workshop 6th Held in Bergen Norway on May 13 15 2008 written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 87 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This document reviews the 6th International Methane Hydrate Research and Development Workshop. Researchers from the Norway, Japan and United States have held a series of these workshops in Honolulu Hawaii, Washington, DC, Vina del Mar Chile, Victoria British Columbia, and Edinburgh, Scotland over the last eight years. The primary goals of the workshops are to develop collaborations in field and laboratory research in methane hydrate research that provides sharing of analytical technology, approaches to sampling protocol, and cost sharing of ship time. Twenty-two different nations have participated in previous workshops, resulting in a variety of international collaborations; including methane hydrate exploration off the mid Chilean Margin, the New Zealand Hikurangi Margin, Cascadia Margin and the Gulf of Mexico. The 6th International Methane Hydrate Research and Development Workshop was focused to enhance international collaboration on development of the methane hydrate research program in the Arctic Ocean. This workshop included participation of representative from 12 countries. Key goals of this workshop include: 1) expanding an international, interdisciplinary scientific network, 2) ship and equipment time and experimental design sharing, 3) coastal ocean data integration, 4) sharing laboratory and field technology information, and 5) discussion on preliminary hydrate dissociation strategies. This workshop focused on topics in the Arctic Ocean, including hydrate exploration and climate change. The session topics during this workshop included: 1) Characteristics of hydrate in marine sediments and commercial value of hydrate; 2) Laboratory and pilot scale experiments; 3) Characterization and quantification of arctic hydrates; 4) Exploitation strategies and technical challenges; 5) Theoretical modeling; and 6) Methane hydrate fluxes from the ocean and potential climate implications. A summary of the individual topics were discussed with a focus on Arctic hydrates.

Download or read book In Situ Sampling and Characterization of Naturally Occurring Marine Methane Hydrate Using the D V JOIDES Resolution written by Frank R. Rack and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cooperative Agreement DE-FC26-01NT41329 between Joint Oceanographic Institutions and DOE-NETL was divided into two phases based on successive proposals and negotiated statements of work pertaining to activities to sample and characterize methane hydrates on ODP Leg 204 (Phase 1) and on IODP Expedition 311 (Phase 2). The Phase 1 Final Report was submitted to DOE-NETL in April 2004. This report is the Phase 2 Final Report to DOE-NETL. The primary objectives of Phase 2 were to sample and characterize methane hydrates using the systems and capabilities of the D/V JOIDES Resolution during IODP Expedition 311, to enable scientists the opportunity to establish the mass and distribution of naturally occurring gas and gas hydrate at all relevant spatial and temporal scales, and to contribute to the DOE methane hydrate research and development effort. The goal of the work was to provide expanded measurement capabilities on the JOIDES Resolution for a dedicated hydrate cruise to the Cascadia continental margin off Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada (IODP Expedition 311) so that hydrate deposits in this region would be well characterized and technology development continued for hydrate research. IODP Expedition 311 shipboard activities on the JOIDES Resolution began on August 28 and were concluded on October 28, 2005. The statement of work for this project included three primary tasks: (1) research management oversight, provided by JOI; (2) mobilization, deployment and demobilization of pressure coring and core logging systems, through a subcontract with Geotek Ltd.; and, (3) mobilization, deployment and demobilization of a refrigerated container van that will be used for degassing of the Pressure Core Sampler and density logging of these pressure cores, through a subcontract with the Texas A & M Research Foundation (TAMRF). Additional small tasks that arose during the course of the research were included under these three primary tasks in consultation with the DOE-NETL Program Manager. All tasks outlined in the original statement of work were accomplished except for the deployment and use of the X-ray CT system under Subtask 2-2. This reduction in scope provided resources that were applied to other activities to support the overall project. Post-expedition analysis of results and report writing will continue beyond this reporting period, however, all field deployments associated with this project have been successfully concluded as of this writing.

Download or read book Gas Hydrate Reservoirs and Associated Methane Migration Mechanisms on Continental Margins written by Li Wei (Ph. D. in earth sciences) and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural gas hydrate has been studied for its natural gas storage capacity, its significant role in global carbon cycles and its possible link to continental margin submarine landslides. However, the role of gas hydrate systems in broad global processes is still not well understood due to the large uncertainties in the estimate of global distribution and concentration of gas hydrate. For a given marine geosystems, the location and volume of gas hydrate accumulations heavily rely on the methane migration mechanisms, which are important links between the gas source and gas hydrate reservoir in natural gas hydrate systems. Numerical models are a great tool to explore methane migration mechanisms for natural gas hydrate accumulations by providing a framework that combines the geophysical, geochemical, geobiological, and geological measurements. The goal of this dissertation is to apply methane transport-reaction models to better understand the mechanisms and key factors that control gas hydrate accumulations in different marine settings. In Chapter 2, I focus on gas hydrate formation in thin, isolated, coarse- grained layers and in surrounding fine-grained hydrate-free zones. I use the available geophysical logging data measured in Walker Ridge 313 (WR 313) Hole H and Hole G in the northern Gulf of Mexico, combined with advection- diffusion-reaction model to explore the hydrate formation mechanisms in the 3 m-thick Red Sand and the 4 m-thick Purple Sand. The advection-diffusion- reaction model involves aqueous methane diffusion, methane transport with water advection, and methane generation. I confirm that a short-range methane diffusion mechanism is able to explain the hydrate accumulations in thin layers and the hydrate-free zones in the surrounding muds. I show the key parameters that control the total amount of methane and hydrate formation within coarse- grained layers as well as the thickness of hydrate-free zones in the surrounding fine-grained muds. This work is published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, titled Factors Controlling Short-Range Methane Migration of Gas Hydrate Accumulations in Thin Coarse-Grained Layers. In Chapter 3, I describe in detail the time-dependent calculation of dissolved methane concentration and gas hydrate content in the advection- diffusion-reaction model. The partial differential equations for the mass balance of sedimentary organic carbon, methane, and hydrate are solved in terms of material derivatives. The material derivatives for each component are then solved applying a semi-Lagrangian finite difference method combined with a fractional step method, which is an effective mathematical method for solving advection problems. In addition, I show the key assumptions made in the development of the methane hydrate formation model in this work. In Chapter 4, I focus on high saturations (79-93% in pore volume) of hydrate formation in thick, coarse-grained sediments at Green Canyon 955 (GC 955) in the northern Gulf of Mexico. I use 1D and 2D numerical models and compare the predicted gas hydrate formation in coarse-grained layers with different mechanisms. I show that short-range methane diffusion and upward water advection are not enough to form high saturations of hydrate in the GC 955 reservoir, but the free gas flow is required to form high saturations of hydrate at GC 955. This work has been accepted to the special volume of American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Bulletin, titled Methane Migration Mechanisms for The GC 955 Gas Hydrate Reservoir, Northern Gulf of Mexico. In Chapter 5, I focus on the gas hydrate system on the Hikurangi Margin, offshore New Zealand, where the reservoir is cm-thick, coarse-grained silts bounded with fine-grained muds that contain no hydrate. I show the estimation of the base of gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) applying temperature measurements from coring and logging and the hydrate phase boundaries calculated from Sloan and Koh (2008) and Tishchenko et al., 2005. The estimated depth to the base of GHSZ are compared to that applied in Pecher et al. (2018), Screaton et al. (2019), and Sultan (2019). In addition, I apply previously developed 1D microbial methanogenesis advection-diffusion- reaction model to test methane migration mechanisms to form hydrate reservoir at Hikurangi Margin. In Chapter 6, I summarize the effects of different methane transport mechanisms that are short-range diffusion, upward water advection, and free gas flow on gas hydrate accumulations in heterogeneous marine sediments. I conclude that hydrate distribution and volume in marine settings depends heavily on the methane migration mechanisms, but it is also controlled by the amount of methane supply and sediment heterogeneity.

Download or read book Natural Gas Hydrate written by M.D. Max and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 665 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1. THE BEGINNINGS OF HYDRATE RESEARCH Until very recently, our understanding of hydrate in the natural environment and its impact on seafloor stability, its importance as a sequester of methane, and its potential as an important mechanism in the Earth's climate change system, was masked by our lack of appreciation of the vastness of the hydrate resource. Only a few publications on naturally occurring hydrate existed prior to 1975. The first published reference to oceanic gas hydrate (Bryan and Markl, 1966) and the first publication in the scientific literature (Stoll, et a1., 1971) show how recently it has been since the topic of naturally occurring hydrate has been raised. Recently, however, the number of hydrate publications has increased substantially, reflecting increased research into hydrate topics and the initiation of funding to support the researchers. Awareness of the existence of naturally occurring gas hydrate now has spread beyond the few scientific enthusiasts who pursued knowledge about the elusive hydrate because of simple interest and lurking suspicions that hydrate would prove to be an important topic. The first national conference on gas hydrate in the U.S. was held as recently as April, 1991 at the U.S. National Center of the U.s. Geological Survey in Reston Virginia (Max et al., 1991). The meeting was co-hosted by the U.s. Geological Survey, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the U.S.

Download or read book Applied Techniques to Integrated Oil and Gas Reservoir Characterization written by Enwenode Onajite and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2021-04-09 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past several years, there has been a growing integration of data – geophysical, geological, petrophysical, engineering-related, and production-related – in predicting and determining reservoir properties. As such, geoscientists now must learn the technology, processes, and challenges involved within their specific functions in order to optimize planning for oil field development. Applied Techniques to Integrated Oil and Gas Reservoir Characterization presents challenging questions encountered by geoscientists in their day-to-day work in the exploration and development of oil and gas fields and provides potential solutions from experts. From basin analysis of conventional and unconventional reservoirs, to seismic attributes analysis, NMR for reservoir characterization, amplitude versus offset (AVO), well-to-seismic tie, seismic inversion studies, rock physics, pore pressure prediction, and 4D for reservoir monitoring, the text examines challenges in the industry as well as the techniques used to overcome those challenges. This book includes valuable contributions from global industry experts: Brian Schulte (Schiefer Reservoir Consulting), Dr. Neil W. Craigie (Saudi Aramco), Matthijs van der Molen (Shell International E&P), Dr. Fred W. Schroeder (ExxonMobil, retired), Dr. Tharwat Hassane (Schlumberger & BP, retired), and others. Presents a thorough understanding of the requirements of various disciplines in characterizing a wide spectrum of reservoirs Includes real-life problems and challenging questions encountered by geoscientists in their day-to-day work, along with answers from experts working in the field Provides an integrated approach among different disciplines (geology, geophysics, petrophysics, and petroleum engineering) Offers advice from industry experts to geoscience students, including career guides and interview tips

Download or read book Pore Scale Phenomena Frontiers In Energy And Environment written by John M Poate and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2015-04-09 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The field of pore scale phenomena is now emerging as one of the frontiers of science and many engineering disciplines. Transport phenomena in the subsurface of the earth play key roles in the energy and environmental domains. For example, the shale gas and oil boom is revolutionizing the world's energy portfolio. Pore scale phenomena from the nanoscale to mesoscale dominate the extraction of these resources. Similarly in the environmental domain, pore storage and pore-scale physics affect the availability of water resources and protecting its quality. Water flow and vapor transport in the pores near the land surface is critical to understanding soil water evaporation in the context of local and global hydrologic cycles affecting climate and climate change.Pore scale phenomena similarly play critical roles in the domain of materials science and biology. For example, many energy devices and membrane technologies are controlled by the physical and chemical properties of the pores. Identifying and analyzing the properties of these pores has emerged as a frontier of characterization science.This book provides, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of the fascinating interrelationship between engineering and science. The authors and contributors are recognized experts from the faculty of the Colorado School of Mines, Northwestern and Stanford. This book will appeal to earth and environmental scientists, materials scientists, physicists and chemists.

Download or read book Development of Unconventional Reservoirs written by Reza Rezaee and published by MDPI. This book was released on 2020-04-16 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The need for energy is increasing and but the production from conventional reservoirs is declining quickly. This requires an economically and technically feasible source of energy for the coming years. Among some alternative future energy solutions, the most reasonable source is from unconventional reservoirs. As the name “unconventional” implies, different and challenging approaches are required to characterize and develop these resources. This Special Issue covers some of the technical challenges for developing unconventional energy sources from shale gas/oil, tight gas sand, and coalbed methane.