KG Basin
KG Basin
KG Basin
P 327
Krishna-Godavari Continental Rift Basin: Shale Gas and Oil Play Systems
P K Padhy*, Shishir Kumar Das and Arun Kumar
Summary
Shale gas constitutes an important unconventional source of natural gas stored in organic rich, matured fine grained
sedimentary rock. The organic rich source rock on deep burial with geological time, results in conversion of organic matter
into oil and natural gas. A major part of the hydrocarbons is migrated and trapped in ideal locales constituting commercial
accumulations. The appreciable quantities are retained in-situ and constitute the unconventional shale gas/oil plays. In case
of shale oil/gas, shale acts as both source, reservoir as well as cap rocks. Based on the type of organic matter and maturation
level (either oil or gas window), the unconventional hydrocarbons could be shale oil or shale gas or a combination of both.
The gas in shale are held as free gas within natural fractures, pore spaces and some are stored as adsorbed gas on the organic
matters. The shale is characterized by low matrix permeability, and it requires hydraulic fracturing for shale gas production.
A number of Indian sedimentary basins possess large volumes of source rock sediments, with wide spectrum of geological age
ranging age from Proterozoic to Tertiary. The Krishna Godavari basin has evolved over the Eastern Ghat tectonic grain in
consequence of Indo-Antarctica plate separation during late Jurassic-early Cretaceous period. The pericratonic Krishna
Godavari basin, towards northeastern part, overlies orthogonally the southern extension of northwest-southeast trending
intracratonic Pranhita- Godavari Gondwana graben and thus manifesting poly-basinal evolution with wide spectrum of
tectono-sedimentary assemblages starting from Permian to Recent. Depositional environment, sedimentological and
geochemical aspects of the envisaged Permian (Kommugudem Shale), the early Cretaceous (HG-HR Raghavapuram Shale)
and Paleogene (Palakollu Shale, Vadaparru Shale and Bhimanapalli Limestone) Shale Gas/Oil Plays have been discussed.
The scope of the offshore shale oil/gas can be worth reviewing after ascertaining the potential in the onland prospective areas.
Keywords: Krishna-Godavari Basin, Permian, Early Cretaceous and Paleogene Shale Gas/ Oil plays
Introduction
Shale is a fine-grained, fissile, detrital sedimentary rock
formed by consolidation of clay (4 micron size) and siltsized particles of other minerals, especially quartz and
calcite into thin, relatively impermeable layers. The quality
of shale reservoirs depends on their thickness and extent,
organic content, thermal maturity, fluid saturation,
permeability etc. Various clay types and volumes influence
the quality of the shale reservoir from the petrophysical
and geomechanical perspective (Atkins et. al., 2011).
Shale stores large amounts of organic materials compared
to other rock types and are deposited under marine, fluvial
and lacustrine environments.
The organic components of the shale are algae-plants and
marine organisms. During burial, these organic matters
(the kerogen) cracks to form hydrocarbons.
Fig.1. Geological map of Krishna-Godavari Basin
Basin
Area
(sq
miles)
Prospective
Area
(sq miles)
Cambay
KrishnaGodavari
Cauvery
Damodar
20,000
7,800
940
4,340
Risked
Recoverable
Reserves
(TCF)
20
27
9,100
1,410
1,005
1,080
9
7
Early
Cretaceous
Shale
Gas
Play
(HG-HR
Raghavapuram Shale):
The HG-HR sequence, which unconformably overlies the
early rift fill sequence (Gollapalli Sandstone), marks the
marine transgression during early Cretaceous (AptianAlbian). The lithofacies above HG-HR is characterized by
high gamma-low resistivity shale of late Cretaceous age.
Conclusions
Shale gas play could be one of the important resources for
fossil fuel energy of India. Indian sedimentary basins have
thick organic rich source sequences deposited over wide
geological age. Based on geology and detailed subsurface
geochemical data, prevalence of three Shale Gas Play
Systems of Permian, early Cretaceous and Paleogene age
have been envisaged in Krishna-Godavari basin. The
Permian sediments with high thermal maturity could yield
gas where as the early Cretaceoous and Paleogene appear
to be more of shale gas/oil. Permian shale gas play appears
to be prospective around Kommugudem-West Mandapeta
Mandapeta area. The prospective areas for early
Cretaceous shale gas/oil play is around South
Mahadevpatnam-Kavitam-Penugonda, Kaikalur-LingalaGajulapadu.
The Paleogene shale oil/gas play including Bhimanapalli
Limestone (thermogenic as well as biogenic gas) appears
promising in island and shallow off-shore area.
Acknowledgements
Authors are grateful to Director (Expl) for his
encouragement and according permission to publish the
paper. Authors appreciate Shri D Loknath and Shri GTM
Brahmaji Rao, KG Basin for providing the TOC and
Vitrinite distribution maps. The support rendered from
time to time by colleagues Shri Y Ramesh Chandra, Shri
A K Rai, Shri S K Jha, Dr S R Rao, Shri Deepak Advani,
Shri Vinay Kumar of COD-Shale Gas has been greatly
acknowledged.
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