Geol.

345
Petroleum System Elements
Professor L. González

I. Source Rock Reservoir Rock, Trap & Seal

Exploration Workflow

From: Dolson, J., 2016 , Understanding Oil and Gas Shows and Seals in the Search for Hydrocarbons. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland. 497p.
 Elements of the Petroleum System
Essential Elements
• Source Rock – an organic rich sedimentary rock
• Reservoir – a porous rock that can store the hydrocarbons
• Trap and Seal – a structure or impermeable barrier that prevents
hydrocarbons from escaping

Review v. 23, p. 32-43.

Geochemistry for Source Rock Evaluation: Oilfield
From: McCarthy et al., 2011, Basic Petroleum
Essential Processes
• Generation/Maturation
• Migration
• Accumulation
• Preservation

Mofied from Zhao et al., 2019, The petroleum system: a new classification shceme based on reservoir qualities: Petroleum Science v.16, p.229-251
 Source Rocks
• Generally, but not always, a
fine-grained sedimentary rock.
• Sediment rich in organic
matter.

Pebble Shale, North Slope Alaska: Smith, T., 2012, GEOExPro, v.9 (2).

Fractured Marine Organic Rich Shales, Yangtze area, China.

Ju et al., 2014, J. Rock Mech. & Geotech. Eng., v. 6, p. 196-207.
Daupne Formation, Sverdrup Basin, North Seam Norway.
Olsen et al., 2017, Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 84, p. 102-134.
 Source Rock

Marine sedimentary organic matter can be derived from:

1. Marine productivity (mostly algal/phytoplankton)
Stimulated by nutrients delivered by upwelling or dissolved in river waters
2. From terrestrial sources organic matter (riverine or wind blown),

https://www.sintef.no/globalassets/upload/petroleumsforskning/software/of_mod/of-mod1.jpg
 Source Rocks
• Generally, but not
always, a fine-
grained sedimentary
rock.
• Sediment rich in
organic matter.
• Buried rapidly so
organic matter is not
oxidized in early
stages

U Waterloo, Department of Earth Sciences, Wat on Earth, News, May 2000:

https://uwaterloo.ca/wat-on-earth/news/formation-oil-and-other-elements-required-produce-petroleum
 Source Rocks
• Generally, but not
always, a fine-
grained
sedimentary rock.
• Sediment rich in
organic matter.
• Buried rapidly so
organic matter is
not oxidized in early
stages

Hülse, et al., 2018, OMEN-SED 1.0: a novel, numerically efficient organic matter sediment diagenesis module for coupling to Earth system models:
Geosci. Model Dev. V. 11, p. 2649-2689.
Source Rocks

Middelsburg and Meysman, 2007, Burial at Sea: Science v. 316 p. 1294-1295

 Source Rocks
• Heated so organic
matter is
transformed into
kerogen
• Kerogen converted
to bitumen and
“petroleum”
• Further heating
produces first wet
gas and then dry
gas

From: McCarthy et al., 2011, Basic Petroleum Geochemistry for Source Rock Evaluation: Oilfield Review v. 23, p. 32-43.
Burial history,

Aminzadeh and Dasgupta, 2013, Chapter 2 - Fundamentals of Petroleum Geology, Developments in Petroleum Science, Vol. 60., p
15-36.
Burial history, geothermal gradient, and maturation

Wemazenu et al.m 2015, AAPG Search and Discovery Article #10709,

Burial history, geothermal gradient, and maturation

Tuwaiq Mt. Fm.

Base

Pollastro et al., 2013, USGS Bulletin 2202-H

 Source Rock Organic Matter
In general organic matter can be categorized into
• Marine (planktons & algae)
• Terrestrial (mostly plants)
• Lacustrine (mostly algae and some aquatic plants)
• Recycled from one or multiple sources
Kerogen type is in great part controlled by Source OM

From: McCarthy et al., 2011, Basic Petroleum Geochemistry for Source Rock Evaluation: Oilfield Review v. 23, p. 32-43.
Source Rock Organic Matter

Wang et al., 2018, Scientific Reports, v. 8, no 6568

Organic matter Kerogen Petroleum
Conversion of kerogen is a kinetic process that can lead to
multiple type of expulsions

CnH2(n+1)
CnH2n CnH2(n-1)

Modified from Usman, M., “Organic Geochemistry Presentation” 182/2019.

Source Rock Organic Matter

Wang et al., 2018, Scientific Reports, v. 8, no 6568

Source Rock Analysis – Rock Eval

From: McCarthy et al., 2011, Basic Petroleum Geochemistry for Source Rock Evaluation: Oilfield Review v. 23, p. 32-43.
Source Rock Analysis – Rock Eval

From: McCarthy et al., 2011, Basic Petroleum Geochemistry for Source Rock Evaluation: Oilfield Review v. 23, p. 32-43.