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Jean-Pierre Deflandre
In this lesson we will focus on the underground migration of hydrocarbon fluids, these fluids
being not so dense as water that they will aim to move upward.
Therefore, looking at migration pathways will allow us to understand and inventory the wide
spectrum of natural hydrocarbon resources.
Our main objective will be to understand the origin of the different typologies of
hydrocarbon which indeed reflect the different underground fluid flow stories.
Another objective will be to introduce very basic notions of fluid flows in porous media.
Geological scenario
For our travel in the underground, we will use this particular schematic geological section to
comment on examples of hydrocarbon migration scenarios and to illustrate where the
different typologies of hydrocarbon resources can be found.
At first we can consider four main domains: the atmosphere, the sea, the continental
basement and finally the sedimentary rock domain where hydrocarbons are generated and
displace.
If real, such a section would be a testimony of a quite complex and long geological story
during which large scale tectonics and erosion processes strongly reshape the Earth: tilting
formations, faulting them while eroding others and creating new ones in a permanent way
during hundreds of millions of years.
Faults, depending on their sealing, play an important role in fluid migration, isolating or
connecting the different compartments noted here: A, B, C and D.
Indeed in each location it is a particular story geologists will aim to understand when
addressing oil and gas production.
Let us look in detail at these sedimentary formations composed, in our specific case, of:
two source rocks, mainly shales, coal and different types of clays and sandstones. These
different kinds of rocks represent more or less porous and permeable materials where
hydrocarbon fluids can or cannot displace through or accumulate into.
The permeability reflects the ability of a material to allow fluids to displace through it. It
represents the way pores and/ or open fracture networks are connected.
Permeability is reported in Darcies or more generally in millidarcies.
The more the compaction of the rock the less the porosity and permeability of it.
Above, two porous and permeable sandstone layers in yellow and orange respectively
covered by an impermeable clay formation have been more or less eroded over time from
one compartment to the other.
Such sandstones are excellent carrier systems for fluid migration, and on the contrary clay is
an efficient barrier such as the source rocks themselves.
The red line corresponds to the geological erosion limit of these oldest sediments. It is called
unconformity and delimits two main geological stages.
On the right part of the figure, these sediments remain buried but they have been uplifted
during tectonics phases.
Back to our geological section now. The recent sedimentary layers correspond to another
type of clay in light green and to two very different permeable and porous sandstones.
Oil or gas will penetrate the tight sandstones and will be trapped due to the very low
permeability effects.
Hydrocarbon resources present in tight formations can be disseminated in wide sedimentary
areas. They represent huge resources and can be produced in a similar way as source rocks.
Hydrocarbons will also easily penetrate the high porosity – high permeability sandstones
located above, starting their long-term upward migration.
At this stage, there are two main scenarios when considering migration.
-Nothing blocks the migration of hydrocarbon fluids allowing them to reach the surface.
W1V6 – Origin of hydrocarbon resources2 – p. 10
When nothing blocks the migration of hydrocarbon fluids as in compartment A, they reach
the surface as oil and gas seeps.
At shallow depths oil can be biodegraded creating tar sands and bitumen or extra heavy oil
deposits such as in Canada and Venezuela.
In another geological context, such as in compartment D, gas penetrates the shallow porous
sediments, and in presence of water, changes into solid hydrates due to specific high
pressure and low temperature conditions.
Huge amounts of gas are trapped under hydrates in large areas worldwide within artic
domains and deep offshore.