Water and CO2 Permeability of a Shale Sample Core from Svalbard

Flow in tight shales is thought to be largely confined to fractures and similar features. Therefore, how open such features are under in-situ conditions has a major impact on shale permeability. We performed 43 permeability measurements on one shale core sample, both when it was intact and after it had fractured, using either water or supercritical CO2 as the permeate. Our measurements show decreasing permeability with increasing confining pressure, due to both instantaneous and time-dependent, permanent compaction. Furthermore, our measurements show that under confinement, compaction may also eliminate the effect of a simple splitting fracture on shale permeability.