Types of source rocks in Upper Assam Oil field

Monmohan Gogoi

Sivasagar, Assam 785682

Department of Applied Geology, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam

Email: monmohan017@gmail.com

Abstract: Study of source rock gives the origin of the hydrocarbon as well as the climatic condition of the
depositional basin. In the Upper Assam Shelf, there are mainly two types of source rock Sylhet Kopili and
Barail Tipam. The detailed study of these two types of source rock can give us enough clues to the
tectono provenance data and other geological aspects. The spatial and temporal distribution of these rocks
is related to the regional geology of this region. Therefore, in a reverse motion the source rock analysis
can help us to interpret various geological aspects of this area.

1. Introduction

Source rock is an integral part of a petroleum system. Without the source rock, there is no petroleum
system. In Upper Assam Oilfield, exploration has been continuously going on for more than a
century. Its origin and source is an interesting part of study.

The upper Assam geologically known as the Upper Assam Shelf is the forland part of the Assam
Arakan basin. It is dipping towards the Southeast. It consists of South to southeasternly moving thrust
sheets of younger (Miocene to Plio-Pleistocene) sedimentary rocks in the Assam Himalayan foothills.
It is defined by Mikir hills towards its west and Mishmi hills towards its northeast. It constitutes about
7000 m thick pile of sediments, which has a major role in the geology of Assam.

1. Importance of source rock

Petroleum system consists of two major subsystems. The first is the generative system while
the second on is the migration entrapment system. Most problems deal with the generative
system, as without generation there is no migration no entrapment. Therefore, in any
potential hydrocarbon exploration the first and most important step is to assess the viability
of the potential source rock.

Source rock is a fine grained sedimentary rock that has capacity of generation and expulsion
of commercial hydrocarbons. For example shale. Its basic characteristics include fine grained
sedimentary nature with high TOC and impermeable character. The source rock is a rock rich in
organic matter which, if heated sufficiently, will generate oil or gas. Typical source rocks, usually
shales or limestones, contain about 1% organic matter and at least 0.5% total organic carbon (TOC),
although a rich source rock might have as much as 10% organic matter. Rocks of marine origin tend
to be oil-prone, whereas terrestrial source rocks (such as coal) tend to be gas-prone. Preservation of
organic matter without degradation is critical to creating a good source rock, and necessary for a
complete petroleum system. Under the right conditions, source rocks may also be reservoir rocks, as
in the case of shale gas reservoirs.

2. Characteristics of an ideal source rock

A. Quantity of organic matter
B. Quality capable of yielding moveable hydrocarbons
C. Thermal maturity

The first two components are products of the depositional setting. The third is a function of the
structural and tectonic history of the province.

An ideal source rock must contain enough organic matter. According to Demaison and
Moore, an ideal source rock must contain 2% + lipid rich organic rich matter and would
generally be deposited within an anoxic basin in a marine or lacustrine setting. They are
therefore fine grained sediments often laminated in nature. Total organic content increases
with the decrease in the size of the constituent particles. This is related to the calm
depositional conditions required for the organic matter to settle down.

High organic productivity is the basic criteria for higher input of organic matter. It is
dependent on the nutrient availability. Marine transgression is associated with the increase in
the primary productivity of phytoplankton. Thus, the marine transgression is highly
favourable to the formation of source rocks.

3. Determining source rock potential

The quantity of organic matter is commonly assessed by a measure of the total organic carbon (TOC)
contained in a rock. Quality is measured by determining the types of kerogen contained in the organic
matter. Thermal maturity is most often estimated by using vitrinite reflectance measurements and data
from pyrolysis analyses.

Quantity of source rock is determined by total organic carbon (TOC) present in the source rock.
Quality of source rock is analysed with the help of proportions of individual kerogens and prevalence
of long-chain hydrocarbons

4. Source rocks in Upper Assam Oilfield

The important source rock sequence includes the Kopili Formation, which is argillaceous in
nature and the Barail Group. It also includes the Sylhet limestone formation, which has very
poor source potential, and about 0.61% 0.62% average TOC range.

Different authors recognize different petroleum systems within the Upper Assam Shelf
(Chandra and others 1995; Naidu and Panda 1997; Kent and others 2002). However, for
proper qualitative and quantitative analysis they were combined to a composite petroleum
system. It is termed as Sylhet Kopili/Barail Tipam TPS (803401). That leads to the better
definition of Source rock Reservoir rock relationship ( Mathur and others 2001). Multiple
stacked source and reservoir rock sequences and extensive fault systems allowing mixing of
Hydrocarbons from multiple sources also make it difficult to distinguish individual systems
(Chandra and others 1995). With the availability of more geochemical data, it became easier
to identify distinct individual petroleum systems. These distinct individual petroleum systems
include Bhuban Bokabil system Sylhet Kopili system Barail Tipam system. Consequently,
they can be correlated to some of the gas prone petroleum systems of Bengal basin (Wandrey
and others 2000).

5. Analysis of the source rock of Upper Assam

The Sylhet Kopili petroleum system is composed of the rocks of Jaintia Group Sylhet and
Kopili Formations which are of Eocene Oligocene age. On the contrary the Barail Tipam
petroleum system consists of the Barail Group which is of Oligocene age and the Surma and
Tipam Groups of rocks which is essentially of Oligocene and Oligocene Miocene age. They
are composed of carbonates shallow marine shales and sandstones, siltstones, sandstones,
shales and deltaic and lagoonal facies coals.

Most rocks do not have high Total Organic Content (TOC) value. Instead, they have low to
moderate TOC value. However, the Barail Coal Shale (BCS) is an exception. It has the
average TOC value ranging from 2.5% to 4.5%. It marks an excellent source potential. In the
same manner Kopili Shales has the average TOC value ranging from 1% to 3% thus making
it an excellent source rock. Nevertheless, the average TOC value for Sylhet Limestone and
basal Limestone is about 0.60%. Therefore, they bear a poor source potential.

The Jaintia Group has the oldest source rock in this area. It consists of interbedded shales of
the Langpar and Lakadong members of the Sylhet Limestone formation (Mathur and others
2001). The entire Sylhet Limestone Formation is a shallow marine limestone sequence,
which is interbedded with thin sandstones and shales. These interbedded thin sandstones and
shales are deposited in marine to lagoonal environment. The average thickness of this
formation is about 400 m. However, sometimes it exceeds this value at places.

The Kopili Formation consists of fossiliferous shales and sandstone. They appear in an
alternating sequence. The fossiliferous shale is fluvial in nature while the sandstone is
marine. The sandstone is very fine grained in character. The thickness often exceeds 500m. It
contains several potential source rock intervals. Source rock thickness for Kopili Formation
is a product of the average TOC values and thickness of the source rock (Naidu and Panda
1997). They contain type II and type III kerogens. The TOC value ranges from 0.5% to 1.5%.
However, the TOC value in the Kopili Formation Shales is higher up to 3%.

The Barail Group is an important source rock of the Upper Assam oilfields. It consists of
alternating shale and sand beds. The frequent alternation of shale and sand beds indicates the
frequent fluctuation of the sea level at the depositional basin. Shale beds were deposited
during transgression and sand beds during regression. Therefore, the presence of sandy shale
and shaly sands are common. This indicates an overbank and crevasse splay deposits. It was
formed when a river breaks its natural or artificial levees and deposited the sediments in its
floodplain. The TOC value for Barail Group ranges from 2.5% to 4.5%. At the same time,
the geochemical analysis of the exposed sediments of the Schuppen Belt gives a TOC range
of 0.64% to 1.20% for the Barail Shales. The Barail Group Shales has distinguishable
presence of amorphous and extractable organic matter. This indicates a good quality of liquid
hydrocarbon generation potential. The organic matter is mainly humic and sapropelic. The
Thermal Alteration Index (TAI) value for them ranges from 2.6 to 2.75 whereas the VRo lies
between 0.57% to 0.67%. this indicates that the sediments are thermally mature and lie
within the oil window zone. If the area is thrusted, then they will bear greater depth. This
means they would be in a higher state of thermal maturity. Therefore, in the thrusted and
faulted areas the Kopili and the Barail Sequence will be prone to generate oil.

Again from the tectono provenance study of the Barail Sandstone shows mature nature of
sediments. Less abundance of feldspars (avg 1.2%) suggests long distance of transportation
or reworking of the sediments (Bharali and others 2019)

In the Schuppen Belt, the Disang Shales also bear excellent source rock potential. It has a
TOC value around 4% and Vitrinite reflectance value (VRo) ranging from 0.69% to 1.94%.

The Tipam Sandstone formation was deposited in Miocene times. It is a thick pile of
sandstone deposited entirely in the Assam Arakan Basin. It is fluvial in character. It acts as a
good reservoir rock for hydrocarbon accumulation.

6. Conclusion

The main source rock unites of this area include the Sylhet Kopili and the Barail Tipam
sequence. The average TOC of shales of Sylhet formation is about 0.60% with poor source
potential. At the same time, Barail Shales and Kopili Shales are excellent source rock with
TOC value 2.5% to 4.5% and 1% to 3% respectively.

Organic matter richness of shales increases towards the Naga Thrust. The type of organic
matter is type II and type III.

7. Reference

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Naidu, B.D., and Panda, B.K., 1997, Regional source rock mapping in upper Assam Shelf, in
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