Tight-oil reservoirs are being considered for exploitation in Russia, Europe, India, South America, Australia, and China. 

Once the cores and fluid samples arrive at the lab, total reservoir characteristics will be determined. Detailed geochemical analyses will follow to determine the organic content of the tight-oil reservoir. Determination of the amounts and types of organic material — whose responses to heat indicate their depths of burial and geologic time of deposition — are essential to determining the amounts of crude oil that can ultimately be recovered from the shale rock formations. 

Geologists from the Reservoir Management segment then describe the tight-oil core to recommend the most effective programs for reservoir exploitation. Geologic data are determined, and depositional environment, facies, rock type, mineralogy, pore structures, and clay types are interpreted for each cored well in the study. Petrographic analyses by scanning electron microscopy (Figures 11 and 12) and rock type characterization are employed to support these geological interpretations. 

Many tight-oil reservoirs, like the Bakken, are naturally fractured (Figures 13, 14, and 15) by stresses within the rock formation and geologic basin. For these reservoirs, there will be a comprehensive description and evaluation of the natural fracture networks for each core to aid in future well placement, horizontal drilling plans, and design of stimulation programs. 

The petrophysical properties, fluid properties, and organic geochemistry data will be combined and used to develop a model by which wireline logs can be calibrated. Those calibration data sets will be used to calculate reservoir parameters for wells from which core samples are not available. The calibrated petrophysical model (Figure 16) will also be used to correct errors inherent to stand-alone wireline log data. 

Cores from the tight-oil reservoirs will be subjected to geomechanical stresses to determine how the reservoir will react to hydraulic stresses when the reservoir is fracture-stimulated. Data sets from the entire tight-oil study will be used to optimize the design of fracture stimulations; determine fracture lengths; optimize slickwater carrier fluids, proppant types, and their concentrations; and determine producing permeabilities. 

Core’s tight-oil reservoir joint-industry projects have been the Company’s largest and most successful multi-client studies. Many international clients are also expressing interest in the projects because tight-oil reservoirs are being considered for exploitation in Russia, Europe, India, South America, Australia, and China. These projects have strong potential for international expansion and many more partici- pants in 2014. 

## OPPORTUNITIES BORNE OF UNIQUE CAPABILITIES 

Unconventional tight-oil reservoirs are increasingly important to Core Lab as the world’s growing economies are challenged to produce more cost-efficient energy. Core Laboratories, with its cutting-edge technologies, is a leader in optimizing hydrocarbon production from unconventional reservoirs. 

The future for Core Laboratories in 2014 is bright, especially in tight-oil reservoirs worldwide. 

