ES-409/475

Petroleum Geology
Summary - I

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Kerogen

Phytoplankton
Zooplankton
Alagae

Ocean layers

Net organic carbon production - ocean

Van Krevelen
diagram

Source rock
Organically reach, black-coloured shales
deposited in a quiet marine, lacustrian (i.e.,
lake) and deltaic, oxygen depleted
environment are considered to be best
source rocks

Source rock
Black shale
Microscopic plant and animal (organic)
materials are deposited with clastic (silt
and/or clay) sediments
Amount of petroleum generation is a
function of sediment thickness and organic
material, burial, and time

Source rock composition

Rock
Minerals (silt/clay) 99%

Organic material 1%

Organic material
Kerogen 90%
Bitumens 10%

Kerogen and bitumen

Kerogen is that part of organic matter in a rock
that is insoluble in organic solvents
Insolubility is due to large molecular size and heat
is required to break it down
Kerogen generates hydrocarbon oil and gas
Bitumen is that part of organic matter in a rock
that is soluble in organic solvents
Shales with >10% kerogen are called oil shales
and can be commercially important

Chemical properties of hydrocarbons

Hydrocarbons consist of carbon and

hydrogen (obviously!)
Two major types: saturated and unsaturated

 Saturated hydrocarbons: only single bonds

linking any two adjacent carbon atoms

Saturated
H

Ethane

O
C
H

propanal

H
acetaldehyde

Unsaturated hydrocarbons: contain at least

one pair of adjacent carbon atoms linked by a
multiple bond

Unsaturated
H

H
C

H
Ethylene

Acetylene

Classification of hydrocarbons
Classified according to:
Ratio of carbon and hydrogen atoms
Molecular structure
Molecular weight

Classification of hydrocarbons

The five types of organic compounds most

common in naturally occurring petroleum are:
Paraffin (or alkane) series
Isoparaffin (or branched-chain paraffin) series
Naphthene (or cycloparaffin) series
Aromatic (or benezene) series
NSO compounds

Paraffin series
These are compounds in which each carbon atom
is completely saturated
Include straight chains (alkanes); example
ethane
Branched chains (isoparaffins or isoalkanes);
example isobutane
Sometimes called methane series
Chemically inactive (methane is most stable!)
Generally most abundant hydrocarbons in both
gaseous and liquid petroleums.

Nomenclature of paraffins
General formula (CnH2n+2)

Methane
Ethane
Propane
Butane
Pentane
Hexane
Heptane
Octane
etc.

CH4
C2H6
C3H8
C4H10
C5H12
C6H14
C7H16
C8H18
CnH2n+2

Paraffins

Important gases are methane, ethane, propane

and butane
Paraffins with carbon number 5 to 15 mainly
occur as liquids
Higher paraffins are waxy and almost solid at
room temperature but become less viscous at
higher temperature

Naphthene (cycloparaffin)
Saturated compounds which have cyclic
arrangement (closed ring) of carbon atoms with
only single valences connecting carbon atoms
General formula: (CnH2n)
Cyclopentane (C5H10), cyclohexane (C6H12) are
important examples and found in all types of
petroleum
7-31% naphthenes in petroleum

Aromatic (or benzene) series

A group of unsaturated hydrocarbons with cyclic
structures
They have strong or aromatic odor
General formula: CnH2n-6
Example: benzene (C6H6), a colourless, volatile
liquid is the parent and most common member of
the series found in petroleum
Aromatic compounds make up about 10-39% of
crude oil
All non-aromatic organic compounds are called
aliphatic

NSO compounds
N S O stand for nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen,
respectively
Nearly all crude oils contain small proportion of
these atoms
N probably occurs in crude oil in dissolved gasses
S occurs as free S, H2S or organic sulfur compounds
O occurs as free O, phenols (C6H5OH), fatty acids
and their derivatives, and naphthenic acids

Olefins (alkenes)

Hydrocarbons with the same composition as

alkanes, but contain one or more double bonds
(unsaturated)
Hydrocarbons of these types normally do not
occur in crude oil

Solid, liquid or gas

Hydrocarbons may be gaseous, liquid, or solid at normal
temperature and pressure

Gas: hydrocarbons with up to 4 carbon atoms

Solid: hydrocarbons with 20 or more carbon atoms
Liquid: hydrocarbons with carbon atoms in between 4-20

The heavier a crude oil (i.e. the more carbon atoms its
molecules contain) the closer it is to being a solid and
this may be especially noticeable as its temperature
cools.

Light oils will remain liquid even at very low

temperatures

Asphalt

Brown to black
Solid or highly viscous
Consists of hydrocarbon with high molecular
weights
Rich in aromatic and naphthenes
Enriched in nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen

API gravity
Crude oil is a mixture of many hydrocarbons that
are liquid at surface temperatures and pressures
Consequently, the density of crude oil varies
significantly
API Gravity: Density of of crude oil as defined by
American Petroleum Institute
API = (141.5/)-131.5
= density of the petroleum at 60 F (15 c)

A light oil with = 0.8 gm/cm3 has API 45

A heavy oil with = 1.0 gm/cm3 has API = 10

 Heavy oils: API < 20 ( > 0.93)

commercially less valuable and more
difficult to extract
Normal oils: API = 20 to 40 ( = 0.83 to
0.93)
Light oils: API > 40 ( < 0.83)

Classification of crude oil

Crudes are roughly classified into three groups, according to
the nature of the hydrocarbons they contain.
Paraffin-Base Crude Oils: contains large amount of higher
molecular weight paraffins, which are solid at room
temperature
Asphaltic-Base Crude Oils: If naphthenes predominate, the
petroleum is classified as asphaltic or asphaltic-base oil
Mixed-Base Crude Oils: The "gray area" between the two
types above; both paraffins and naphthenes are present, as
well as aromatic hydrocarbons; most crudes fit this category

 Low-shrinkage oil: Oil which after production and

separation at ordinary temperature and
temperature contains high percentage of fluid
(>80%) and little gas
High-shrinkage oil: Oil which after production
and separation at ordinary temperature and
temperature contains smaller percentage of fluid
(< 70%) and large amount of gas
Condensate: Gas which turns into liquid with
pressure reduction. Condensates have low
dennsities (about 40 - 60 API)

 Dry gas
natural gas that is always in the gaseous state in
the reservoir
produces little condensable hydrocarbons when
brought to the surface
contains very small proportions (less than 0.1
gallon condensables per 1,000 cubic feet) of
hydrocarbons heavier than ethane, butane or
propane

 Wet gas
gaseous or both liquid and gaseous in the
reservoir
contains an appreciable proportion of
compounds heavier than ethane (e.g., propane
or butane) that are condensable when brought
to the surface
contains more than 0.3 gallon of condensables
per 1,000 cubic feet of gas
condensables are recovered, the propane being
marketed as liquefied petroleum gas and the
heavier hydrocarbons being made into gasoline

 Unsaturated crude: oil which contains less gas than

is potentially soluble at reservoir temperature
Saturated crude: oil contains as much gas as can
be dissolved at reservoir temperature and
pressure

Distribution of discovered oil/gas fields

Geologic age
Neogene
Palaeogene
Cretaceous
Jurassic
Permo-Triassic
Carnoniferous
Devonian
Carboniferous-Silurian

% oil/gas fields
18
21
27
21
6
5
1
1