most cases low enough for the fluid pressure to build

up where petroleum is generated until fracture pres-

sure is reached. Should the source rock consist of
kerogen in a fine-grained clay-rich matrix, the flow
of oil out of the source rock is resisted both by very
high capillary pressures and the low permeability. In
such cases oil can not migrate out of source rocks
through the matrix. Very thin open fractures allowing
the expulsion of petroleum will develop when the fluid
pressure in the source rock has reached fracture pres-
sure. The fracture pressure is controlled by the hori-
zontal stress (σh) which is in most cases lower than the
overburden stress (σv).
The kerogen is normally not distributed homo-
geneously in the source rocks.

The primary migration is then controlled by the rate

of petroleum generation and this process therefore
seems fairly unproblematic. Either the source rocks
have sufficient permeability for the petroleum to
migrate out through the rock matrix or hydro-
fracturing creates sufficient permeability for the pri-
mary expulsion. If the source rock is very lean a
significant fraction of the petroleum could be retained
by the source rock, but in the case of richer source
rocks a relatively high percentage of the oil generated
will be expelled. The actual percentage of petroleum
expelled from source rocks is not well known, though.
The petroleum remaining in the source rock can not
usually be produced by drilling wells because of the
low permeabilities. However, it may contain large
amounts of gas which will flow.
In recent years there has been a major development
of shale gas production, particularly in the Devonian
and Carboniferous shales of North America such as
the Barnett Shale (Mississippian). Production is
enhanced by horizontal drilling and artificial fractur-
ing of the shales. The remaining oil is normally diffi-
cult to produce without mining the shale.
Oil shales are mostly source rocks that have not
been buried deeply enough to become mature and
expel petroleum. If they have been uplifted and
exposed, they can be mined and the kerogen heated
in ovens to about 500_C to generate the petroleum.
15.2 Secondary Migration of Petroleum
The flow of petroleum from source rock to reservoir
rocks is called secondary migration and must be
understood in terms of two-phase and in some cases
Solid kerogen,
transforming into
petroleum fluids
_v
_h
_h / _v = 0.6–0.8
Vertical stress
_v
Fig. 15.1 Schematic illustration of a source rock. The kerogen
often occurs as distinct laminae which are load-bearing prior to
maturation and petroleum generation. The change from solid
kerogen to fluid petroleum therefore creates an overpressure
which may cause fracturing, helping the primary migration of
petroleum out of the source rock
374 K. Bjørlykke
three-phase flow. The relative permeability for oil or
gas is then critical. At low oil or gas saturation the
hydrocarbons will only occur as small droplets in the
water, which will not flow because of the capillary
resistance and the fact that the buoyancy effect will be
very weak.
The migration of a separate hydrocarbon phase is
limited by the capillary forces resisting flow through
small pore throats; the relative permeability for hydro-
carbon is then very small so that little migration can
occur. If there is a pressure gradient in the fluid phase
the water will flow past the petroleum droplets, which
are held back by capillary forces. Asphalt-rich oil, on
the other hand, which may be formed from biodegra-
dation, sticks to the grain surfaces which are clearly
oil-wet and water will flow in the pores.
On a much larger scale, a sedimentary basin will
always have low average oil saturation. Regional fluid
pressure gradients in sedimentary basins will only
move water since at this scale it is the only continuous
phase.
Once the primary expulsion from the source rock
has been achieved, the oil and gas phases will flow
upwards driven by buoyancy, along pathways where
the petroleum is concentrated. In this way high oil
saturation can be attained locally, increasing the rela-
tive permeability. Secondary migration requires that a
continuous pathway with high petroleum saturation is
established; where flow is prevented by high capillary
entry pressure or low permeability, petroleum may be
trapped in both small- and large-scale dead ends
(micro-traps).
When oil or gas flows upwards and accumulates in
traps, it is normally not accompanied by water flow.
The trap is in a way a hydrodynamic “dead end”,
essentially because of the low permeability of the
cap rock, unless this has fractured. As an oil or gas
lag starts to accumulate near the top of the structure,
the permeability with respect to water flow is reduced
further. If permeability to water is nevertheless not
zero, while the migration of oil may be prevented by
capillary forces water may in some cases slowly seep
through the cap rock even if the permeability is very
low (Teige et al. 2005).
Reduction in overburden pressure due to uplift and
erosion may bring large volumes of gas out of solution
in the water or oil phase, to form separate gas
accumulations. This gas may then fill the structures
and displace the oil out of the traps so that oil migrates
up to the surface or into a shallower trap.
Migration of both oil and gas takes place mostly as
a separate phase and the driving force is the buoyancy
of the hydrocarbon phase in water. The density of the
petroleum (ρo) varies from 0.5 to 1.0 g/cm3. The water
phase may have densities (ρw) of 1.00–1.20 depending
on the salinity. The buoyancy force (F1) is therefore
F1 ¼ ðρw _ ρoÞH
where H is the height of the continuous petroleum
column. For a 100 m high and narrow oil column
with a density of 0.8 g/cm3, the pressure in the water
phase is 1 MPa and in the oil phase 0.8 MPa. The
pressure difference between the oil phase and the
water phase for each 100 m is thus 0.2 MPa.
It is this pressure difference which overcomes the
capillary forces resisting the migration of oil and gas.
The capillary forces depend on the surface properties
of the grains in relation to the fluids. In water-wet
sandstone, water is drawn in (imbibed) to replace oil
if the oil saturation is too high, and the excess pressure
in the petroleum phase helps to resist that. Most
sandstones are water-wet in contact with normal oil
and gas but the wetting angle may vary.
Assuming water-wet conditions the capillary resis-
tant force is
F2 ¼ ð2γ cos ϕÞ=R
where γ is the interfacial tension between petroleum
and water, φ is the wetting angle and R is the radius of
the pore throats between the pores which the petro-
leum has to pass.
In coarse-grained sandstones with relatively large
pores the resistance from the capillary forces is lowest
and migration will then follow such layers.
The interfacial tension between gas and water may
vary from 30 to 70 dynes/cm whereas for oil the range
is 5–35 dynes/cm (Schowalter 1979). The capillary
force (F2) resisting petroleum migration is therefore
higher for gas than oil, but the buoyancy force (F1) is
also higher because of the lower density of gas. The
capillary resistance to flow is as we have seen an
inverse function of the critical pore radius (R).
Migration depends on the size of the pore throats
along a