PETROLEUM EXPLORATION

(EGE 4222)
Noorzamzarina binti Sulaiman
Application of biomarker
to Petroleum Exploration
Biomarkers have a variety of applications in
petroleum exploration.
• When samples of oil and candidate source rocks are available, biomarkers
can be used to make oil source rock correlations, or
• When samples of candidate source rocks are not available, the biomarker
distribution in an oil can be used to infer characteristics of the source rock
that generated the oil without examining the source rock itself.
• Specifically, biomarkers in an oil can reveal
✓ the relative amount of oil-prone vs. gas-prone organic matter in the
source kerogen,
✓ the age of the source rock,
✓ the environment of deposition as marine, lacustrine, fluvio-deltaic or
hypersaline,
✓ the lithology of the source rock (carbonate vs. shale), the thermal
maturity of the source rock during generation (e.g., Peters and
Moldowan, 1993). Such data may be key inputs to effective basin
modeling of a prospect or block.
1. oil-rock correlation
2. oil-oil correlation
• unusual biomarkers (positive or negative correlation
(presence or absence)
• matching distributions (isomeric patterns of common
biomarkers)
3. Oil accumulations can be grouped into sets of
similar types and each type assigned to source
rock
4. after oil rock and oil-oil correlations have been
established we can identify preferred migration
pathways –provide information on possible
communication between different fault blocks or
different horizons.
 Application of isotope
geochemistry to Petroleum
Exploration
USING CARBON ISOTOPE RATIOS

KEROGEN GAS
Mixture of different materials CH4
(molecules) CH3-CH3
CH3-CH2-CH3
-75‰ Etc.
e.g.

Structures can indicate organisms No structural information

and processes Isotopes very important

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 USING CARBON ISOTOPE RATIOS

• Accurate measurement of isotope ratio can provide information about the

conditions and reaction that produced those changes
• Gas isotope ratios provide information on
• Source rock
• Thermal maturity

• Extent of depletion of heavier isotopes (i.e. fractionation) in organic matter can

provide clues about the source organisms….
• Isotopic composition of the primary carbon source
• Isotopic effect of the assimilation pathway
• Isotopic effect of metabolic and biosynthetic process
• Cellular C budgets involved in competing reaction pathways

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