This petroleum engineering book series includes works on all aspects of petroleum science and engineering, but with special focus on emerging trends and technologies that pertain to the paradigm shift in the petroleum engineering field.

The goal of this book is to address a range of topics that affect the recovery of hydrocarbons from extremely low-permeability unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. While there are various definitions of unconventional reservoirs, in this book we consider oil- and gas-bearing formations with permeabilities so low that economically meaningful production can only be realized through horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing. These reservoirs have permeabilities measured in nanodarcies, not millidarcies – in other words, a million times lower than conventional reservoirs. Despite their ultra-low permeability, there is no question about the scale and impact of production from unconventional oil and reservoirs in the US and Canada over the past decade. <...>

Multi-criteria decision-making methods are widely used to solve various problems in the industry, as well as to support the planning and designing industrial processes. Mining is a very complex and responsible activity, so when making a major decision, it is necessary to take into account several parameters and perform their detailed analysis. Due to the importance of proper decision making, multi-criteria optimization methods have a very wide application in mining. One of the most complex and important things in mining is the choice of mining method for underground exploitation, where the application of multi-criteria decision-making methods can help a lot in making the right decision. This paper will present the choice of the method of mining excavation by the TOPSIS method, according to which it was obtained that the Sublevel Caving is optimal for a given case.<...>

Ore is an economic concept. It is defined as a concentration of minerals that can be exploited and turned into a saleable product to generate a financially acceptable profit under existing economic conditions. The definition of ore calls for afterthoughts. Ore does not properly exist until it has been labeled as such. To name a mineral prospect an ore body requires more information than needed to establish metal grades. Sufficient knowledge of the mineral deposit, mining technology, processing methods, and costs is needed for undertaking a feasibility study and proving the prospect worthy of being developed into a mine.