Unconventional energy resources: 2015 review. Shale gas and liquids

As the source rocks from which petroleum is generated, organic-rich shales have always been considered an important component of petroleum systems. Over the last few years, it has been realized that in some mudrocks, sufficient hydrocarbons remain in place to allow for commercial development, although advanced drilling and completion technology is typically required to access hydrocarbons from these reservoirs. Tight oil reservoirs (also referred to as continuous oil accumulations) contain hydrocarbons migrated from source rocks that are geologically/stratigraphically interbedded with or occur immediately overlying/underlying them. Migration is minimal in charging these tight oil accumulations (Gaswirth and Marra 2014). Companies around the world are now successfully exploiting organic-rich shales and tight rocks for contained hydrocarbons, and the search for these types of unconventional petroleum reservoirs is growing. Unconventional reservoirs range in geologic age from Ordovician to Tertiary (Silverman et al. 2005; EIA 2013a).