Advances in GeoEnergy Engineering: Innovations in Sustainable Energy Resources and Unconventional Reservoirs

Dear Colleagues,

The global energy transition demands innovative approaches to sustainable and unconventional energy resources. GeoEnergy engineering plays a pivotal role in unlocking new energy sources—such as natural hydrogen, geothermal systems, and subsurface energy storage—while optimizing extraction from unconventional reservoirs like shale gas, tight oil, and methane hydrates. These advancements are critical for meeting future energy needs while minimizing environmental impact.

This Special Issue seeks to showcase cutting-edge research on emerging GeoEnergy technologies, geological systems, and engineering solutions. We welcome original papers, critical reviews, rapid communications, technical notes, and discussions that are not limited to the following themes: 

1. Novel Energy Sources in Geoscience:
   - Natural hydrogen: Geology, generation mechanisms, exploration methods, and sustainable extraction.
   - Geothermal energy advancements: Enhanced geothermal systems (EGSs), low-enthalpy resources, and hybrid energy solutions.
   - Methane hydrates: Exploration techniques, production challenges, and environmental considerations. 

2. Unconventional Reservoir Engineering:
   - Shale gas, tight oil, and coalbed methane: Innovations in hydraulic fracturing, reservoir characterization, and recovery optimization.
   - Carbonate and fractured reservoirs: New approaches to modeling and production enhancement.
   - Petrophysical and well log interpretation challenges of unconventional reservoirs.
   - Geomechanical and drilling aspects of unconventional reservoirs.

3. Exploration and Monitoring Technologies:
   - Advanced geophysical/geochemical methods for resource detection (e.g., AI-driven seismic interpretation, microbial prospecting).
   - Remote sensing and machine learning applications in reservoir assessment.
   - Leakage detection and long-term monitoring of subsurface energy systems. 

4. Sustainable Extraction and Environmental Impact:
   - Low-carbon extraction technologies and circular economy approaches.
   - Lifecycle analysis and environmental risk assessment of GeoEnergy projects.
   - Integration of renewable energy with subsurface storage (e.g., hydrogen, compressed air). 

We encourage submissions from multidisciplinary fields—geology, petroleum engineering, and environmental science—to foster collaborative solutions for the future of GeoEnergy.

We look forward to your contributions toward advancing knowledge and innovation in this transformative field.

Prof. Dr. Reza Rezaee
Guest Editor

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. Eng is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 1400 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.