Exploration and Development of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources

Fossil fuels continue to be fundamental to the global economies. Within this landscape, unconventional oil and gas resources are expected to play a larger and more strategic role in helping major economies meet their future energy needs. However, the efficient exploration and development of unconventional reservoirs present unique challenges that necessitate robust support from an integrated series of advanced geological and engineering studies. This multidisciplinary effort spans the entire project lifecycle, encompassing sophisticated exploration for identifying "sweet spots", comprehensive reservoir evaluation to quantify key properties, precision horizontal drilling to maximize reservoir contact, complex completion techniques to create permeable pathways, and optimized production management to ensure long-term recovery. The aim of this Special Issue is to introduce the latest scientific and technical progress in unconventional oil and gas geology and engineering. It will place emphasis on several critical frontiers, including advanced methods for reservoir characterization and evaluation, the analysis of key geological factors controlling enrichment, the development of predictive enrichment models to guide exploration, integrated approaches for accurately assessing ultra-low permeability, and fundamental mechanism analysis of fracture propagation and hydrocarbon flow.