Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Improving The Total Organic Carbon Estimation Of The Eagle Ford Shale With Density Logs By Considering The Effect Of Pyrite, Shuxian Jiang, Mehdi Mokhtari, David M. Borrok, Jim Lee

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Pyrite is a common mineral with a higher density than most other minerals in the Eagle Ford Shale formation. Hence, if pyrite is not considered in the total organic carbon (TOC) estimation, based on density logs, it may lead to errors. In order to improve the accuracy of the TOC estimation, we propose an updated TOC estimation method that incorporates the concentration of pyrite and organic porosity. More than 15 m of Eagle Ford Shale samples were analyzed using Rock-Eval pyrolysis, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). TOC, elemental concentration, and mineralogical data were analyzed for a better understanding …