Hydrocarbon Occurrence and Flow Mechanisms in Shale and Unconventional Reservoirs
A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Systems".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 188
Special Issue Editors
Interests: flow mechanisms; unconventional reservoir; simulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Hydrocarbon Occurrence and Flow Mechanisms in Shale and Unconventional Reservoirs present scientific challenges due to the complex pore structures, reservoir heterogeneity, and confinement conditions that characterize the systems. Unlike conventional systems, where fluid phases and migration pathways are relatively well characterized, unconventional reservoirs present a fundamentally different pore structure environment. Hydrocarbons are stored within complex, multiscale pore networks, including organic nanopores, intergranular spaces, microfractures, and mineral interfaces, where strong confinement effects, surface forces, and heterogeneous wettability conditions alter fluid properties and flow mechanisms. These features lead to deviations from classical flow theories and complicate predictions of reservoir performance.
This Special Issue aims to collect original research articles and review papers that advance a more comprehensive understanding of hydrocarbon occurrence and flow mechanisms in shale and other unconventional reservoirs. Studies examining the physical and chemical factors that govern hydrocarbon storage, distribution, and mobility within complex pore systems are particularly encouraged. We are also interested in research papers that introduce or apply innovative approaches to characterize fluid states and flow behavior at multiple scales, including pore-scale analyses and experiments, or models that link small-scale observations to larger-scale reservoir performance.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Hydrocarbon occurrence states and phase behavior in shale and unconventional reservoirs;
- Pore structure characteristics and their controls on hydrocarbon occurrence and flow mechanism;
- Experimental and simulation of hydrocarbons migration in shale and unconventional reservoirs;
- Greenhouse gas emission mitigation by harnessing shale and unconventional reservoirs.
Prof. Dr. Kai Zhang
Dr. Hao Peng
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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. Processes 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 2400 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
- hydrocarbon occurrence
- flow mechanisms
- unconventional reservoirs
- shale
- nanopore
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