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Energies
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Development of Unconventional Oil and Gas Fields: 2nd Edition
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Development of Unconventional Oil and Gas Fields: 2nd Edition

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "H: Geo-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 823

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Renbao Zhao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Interests: enhanced oil recovery; heavy oil fire flooding theory and method; unconventional in situ upgrading mechanism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Xuyang Guo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Interests: petroleum engineering; rock mechanics; coupled THMC behaviors in gas hydrate reservoirs
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Unconventional oil and gas resources have gained increasing significance in light of the growing volatility of oil and gas prices. Effective and economical development of unconventional resources, including heavy oil, shale oil and shale gas, oil shale, tar sand, and gas hydrates, is the key to sustained hydrocarbon exploitation. Recent applications of advanced techniques and technologies have largely facilitated the efficacy of unconventional oil and gas development.

This Special Issue will present the latest advances in this field. With this aim in mind, we are inviting investigators to submit relevant original research articles, case studies, and review articles.

Topics of particular interest include (but are not limited to):

  • Strategies for heavy oil and oil sand/tar sand development;
  • Recent advances in in-situ combustion and thermal recovery;
  • Effective exploitation of oil shale;
  • Hydrogen energy production and utilization;
  • Strategies for shale gas and shale oil reservoir development;
  • Strategies for tight gas and tight oil reservoir development;
  • Theories and techniques for the sustained exploitation of gas hydrates;
  • Hydraulic fracturing techniques in the development of unconventional resources;
  • Experimental and numerical modeling techniques related to unconventional resource development;
  • Machine learning techniques related to unconventional resources development.

Prof. Dr. Renbao Zhao
Dr. Xuyang Guo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • heavy oil
  • shale oil/gas
  • oil shale
  • tar sand
  • thermal recovery
  • in situ combustion
  • gas hydrates

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 5797 KiB  
Article
Basis of Identification, Type of Syngenetic Assemblage, and Pattern of Development of Coal and Oil Shale in the Tanshan Area of the Eastern Liupanshan Basin, China
by Caixia Mu, Rui Yang, Lianfu Hai, Qinghai Xu, Jun Yang and Chao Mei
Energies 2025, 18(10), 2560; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18102560 - 15 May 2025
Viewed by 124
Abstract
The Yan’an Formation in the Liupanshan Basin hosts substantial coal and oil shale resources. However, coal and oil shale often exhibit different types of associated or syngenetic combinations, which makes it difficult to recognize coal and oil shales, and research on the patterns [...] Read more.
The Yan’an Formation in the Liupanshan Basin hosts substantial coal and oil shale resources. However, coal and oil shale often exhibit different types of associated or syngenetic combinations, which makes it difficult to recognize coal and oil shales, and research on the patterns of development of coal and oil shales is lacking. In this study, field outcrop, core, logging, and analytical data are comprehensively utilized to describe the characteristics of coal and oil shale, classify their syngenetic combinations, and establish a developmental model. Analytical results from the Tanshan area reveal that coal exhibits a lower density and higher oil content than oil shale. Specifically, coal shows oil contents ranging from 7.22% to 13.10% and ash contents of 8.25–35.66%, whereas oil shale displays lower oil contents (3.88–6.98%) and significantly higher ash contents (42.28–80.79%). The oil and ash contents of both coal and oil shale in the Tanshan area show a negative correlation, though this correlation is significantly stronger in coal than in oil shale. In long-range gamma-ray and resistivity logs, coal exhibits substantially higher values compared to oil shale, whereas in density logs, oil shale shows greater values than coal. Acoustic time difference logging reveals marginally higher values for coal than for oil shale, though the difference is minimal. There are five combination types between coal and oil shale in this area. The oil shale formed in a warm, humid, highly reducing lacustrine environment within relatively deep-water bodies, while coal developed in swampy shallow-water environments; both derive organic matter from higher plants. Variations in depositional settings and environmental conditions resulted in five distinct combination types of coal and oil shale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Unconventional Oil and Gas Fields: 2nd Edition)
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19 pages, 4589 KiB  
Article
An Efficient Numerical Model for the Evaluation of the Productivity Considering Depletion-Induced Plastic Behaviors in Weakly Consolidated Reservoirs
by Feifei Luo, Lei Zhong, Zhizhong Wang, Zixuan Li, Bolong Zhu, Xiangyun Zhao, Xuyang Guo and Jiaying Lin
Energies 2025, 18(4), 892; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18040892 - 13 Feb 2025
Viewed by 357
Abstract
Efficient and accurate modeling of rock deformation and well production in weakly consolidated reservoirs requires reliable and accurate reservoir modeling techniques. During hydrocarbon production, the reservoir pressure is dropped, and rock compaction is induced. In such depletion-induced reservoir rock deformation, both elastic and [...] Read more.
Efficient and accurate modeling of rock deformation and well production in weakly consolidated reservoirs requires reliable and accurate reservoir modeling techniques. During hydrocarbon production, the reservoir pressure is dropped, and rock compaction is induced. In such depletion-induced reservoir rock deformation, both elastic and plastic deformation can be generated. The numerical investigation of depletion-induced plasticity in shale oil reservoirs and its impact on coupled reservoir modeling helps provide insights into the optimization of horizontal well productivity. This study introduces a coupled flow and geomechanical model that considers porous media flow, elastoplastic deformation, horizontal well production, and the coupling between the flow and geomechanical processes. Simulation results are then provided along with numerical modeling parameters. Effects of relevant parameters, including depletion magnitude, rock mechanical properties, and hydraulic fracture parameters, jointly affect rock deformation, rock skeleton damage, and horizontal well productivity. Depletion-induced plasticity, stress, pressure, and subsidence are all characterized by the solution strategy. In addition, the implementation of direct and iterative solvers and the usage of full coupling and sequential coupling strategies are investigated, and the associated solver performance is quantified. It helps evaluate the numerical efficiency in the highly nonlinear numerical system. This study provides an efficient coupled flow and elastoplastic model for the simulation of depletion in weakly consolidated reservoirs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Unconventional Oil and Gas Fields: 2nd Edition)
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