Petroleum Trap

Monmohan Gogoi

Sivasagar, Assam 785682

Department of Applied Geology, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam

Email: monmohan017@gmail.com

The earliest concept of a trap was made by William Logan in 1844 when he noted the occurrence of oil
on anticlines. I.C. White took Logan's anticlinal trap concept and applied it to search for oil and gas in 1855. Since
then, models and applications of trap concepts have evolved as new trap types have been discovered.

A trap consists of a geometric arrangement of permeable (reservoir) and less-permeable (seal) rocks which, when
combined with the physical and chemical properties of subsurface fluids, can allow hydrocarbons to accumulate.
Three main trapping elements comprise every subsurface hydrocarbon accumulation:
▪ Trap reservoir—storage for accumulating hydrocarbons and can transmit hydrocarbons.
▪ Trap seal—an impediment or barrier that interferes with hydrocarbon migration from the reservoir.
▪ Trap fluids—physical and chemical contrasts—especially differences in miscibility, solubility, and density—
between the common reservoir fluids (primarily water, gas, and oil) that allow hydrocarbons to migrate, segregate,
and concentrate in the sealed reservoir.

Trap boundaries define the limits of the trap and usually consist of (1) boundaries between solids, such as the
contact between reservoir and seal, or (2) boundaries between fluids, such as oil–water or gas–water contacts.
Temperature can also control a trap boundary as displayed by gas hydrate traps.

A trap may or may not contain oil or gas. Accumulations, or pools, are traps that contain oil or gas.
Trap is a place where oil and gas are barred from further movement. The word trap was first applied to a
hydrocarbon accumulation by Orton ( 1889 ). A trap may contain oil, gas or both depending on the chemistry and
level of maturation of the source rock and on the pressure and temperature of the reservoir itself. It's one of five
essential requirements for a commercial accumulation for oil or gas which are :

o Organic-rich source : to generate oil and/or gas.

o Heat : source rock must have been heated sufficiently under high pressure with bacterial reaction
to yield its petroleum.
o Reservoir rock : to contain hydrocarbons, this reservoir must have.
o Cap rock : which is impermeable rock that prevent the upward escape of petroleum to earth's
surface.
o Arrangement : source, reservoir and seal must be arranged in such a way to trap petroleum.

Many terms are used to describe the various parameters of a trap. These terms are defined as follows and illustrated
with reference to an anticline trap, the simplest type of a trap.
 o The crest or culmination : the highest point of a trap.
o Spill point : the lowest point at which hydrocarbons may be contained in the trap.
o Closure of the trap : the vertical distance from the crest to the spill point; this lies on a horizontal
contour, the spill plane.
o The pay : the productive reservoir within a trap.
o Net pay : the vertical thickness of the productive reservoir.
o Gross pay : the vertical distance from a reservoir to the oil: water contact (OWC).
o The oil-water contact (OWC) : the deepest level of producible oil. Similarly the gas-oil contact
(GOC) or gas-water contact (GWC) : the lowest limit of producible gas.

Types of Petroleum Traps

Most classifications of traps are based on geometry of the trap but traps are generally classified into:

o Structural traps.
o Stratigraphic traps.
o Combination traps.
o Diapiric traps.
o Hydrodynamic traps.

Trapping mechanism

Trapping is the mechanism by which migration of oil and gas is stopped such that an accumulation of these liquids
occurs. The identification of traps is one of the most important tasks of the exploration geologist. For a trap to be
efficient and commercially viable, a large variety of factors have to be considered. These include:

• The presence of a positive porous permeable structure

• The imperviousness of the seal

• The absence of leaking faults

• The migration of sufficient quantities of HC

The most important factor in the previous list is the “positive porous permeable structure”, which in itself contains
several preconditions for a trap. What it really means is that a condition has to exist where a porous, permeable rock
is overlain and laterally surrounded by less porous and permeable rocks.

Structural Traps
The two major mechanisms in forming structural traps are arching through a variety of processes (folding,
differential compaction, draping, uplifting of salt or mud domes) and faulting, again in many different ways
(extensional, compressional/thrusting, wrench-faulting, rollover, faulting). It is very common for arching to be
associated with faulting. The next slide illustrates these structural trap types in more detail. In contrast to the ideal

traps illustrated in an earlier slide these are more realistic traps, but still schematically depicts.
The common co- occurrence of arching and faulting. The sealing capacity of the faults is very often crucial in
determining the trap quality.

BC = Basement complex

A = Away from Viewer

T = Towards Viewer

Those traps whose geometry was formed by tectonic processes after the deposition of beds involved. Basically
structural traps are caused by folding or faulting. Sometimes it's possible to find a trap where a single process took
place, but frequently the two processes can be involved with equal importance in the creation of trap. Structural
traps are divided into :

o Anticline traps.
o Fault traps.

Structural traps are formed by tectonic deformation, while stratigraphic traps are caused by depositional differences
between adjacent rock types. The sketches on the right depict ideal reservoir traps, but they’re not ordered according
to the above described subdivision.

By far the most common trap is the anticlinal trap. The arching (formation of a convex structure) required for it does
not need to be caused by tectonic folding, but can also be formed by differential compaction, sedimentary draping
over a pre-existing high or uplifted salt domes. Other important trap types are fault- and unconformity related. Pure
stratigraphic traps exist but are rare. They are commonly associated with structural features such as faults or doming,
which influence the depositional patterns (syn-sedimentary tectonics), often in a feed-back loop. Such traps are
called combination traps.
Faults are in many cases not just associated with structural traps, but they actually generate them, directly or
indirectly. Shown are typical examples from regions where they are the dominant trap type.

Figure:- Contour map of the Forties field, UK North Sea, a giant field that is one of the major producers in this
basin. The contour interval is 25m, and the depth in meters subsea. The dashed contour outlines the oil/water
contact. Black dots indicate wells.

Diapiric Traps
Where salt or mud have moved upward and domed the overlying strata. They can be considered as structural traps,
but since they are caused by local lithostatic movement not regional tectonic forces they should be differentiated.
They are classified into :

o Salt diapirs.
o Mud diapirs.

Hydrodynamic Traps
Occurs when downward movement of water prevent the upward movement of oil, thus trapping the oil without
normal structural or stratigraphic closure. Such traps are very rare.
Stratigraphic Traps
Traps have a geometry that is formed by changes in lithology. The lithological variations may be depositional
(channels, reefs, and bars) or post depositional (truncations and digenetic changes). levorsen (1934) defined a
stratigraphic trap as " one in which chief trapmaking reservoir rock, such as a facies change, variable local porosity
and permeability, or an up-structure termination of the reservoir rock".
Stratigraphic traps are divided into :

o Pitchout traps : oil and gas are trapped where a layer of reservoir rock ends in a wedge surrounded
by impermeable rocks.
o Unconformity traps : have been formed due to break in the depositional sequence of sediments.
o Isolated, lenticular bodies : commonly of sandstone, form closed traps. Some of them are
produced because they are filled with oil without free water. Most of them are small ex: channels
and bars.
o Massive traps : consists of reef traps and massive erosion traps.
Combination Traps
Many oil and gas fields around the world are not due to structure or stratigraphy or hydrodynamic flow, but a
combination of two or more of these forces. Such fields may be termed as combination traps. Most of these traps are
caused by a combination of structural and stratigraphic processes. Structural-hydrodynamic and stratigraphic-
hydrodynamic are very rare.

Figure:- The giant Sunset-Midway field in the San Joaquin Valley (California) shows a combination of pure
anticlinal traps, pinchouts, and unconformity traps both in the sub- and the supercrop of the Mio/Pliocene
unconformity.