ABSTRACT
Conventional oil and natural gas is broadly defined as “Crude oil and natural gas that is produced by a well drilled into a geologic formation in which the reservoir and fluid characteristics permit the oil and natural gas to readily flow to the wellbore.” This chapter compares the compositional characteristics of oils originating from the shale plays with some benchmark or conventional oils. It reviews the fluid properties under confinement, namely the two-phase densities, viscosities, and the typical reservoir engineering properties such as solution gas-to-oil ratio and the oil formation volume factor in conjunction with the dissolved gas. The chapter highlights the prominence of the unconventional oil and gas resources, and points out the relevant statistics on the resource base. Unconventional gas resources typically include: coal bed methane; tight sands gas; shale gas; and methane hydrates. Unconventional oil resources typically include: heavy oil; shale oil; bitumen; and tar sands.
