GEOLOGY

HYDROCARBONS

 WHERE ARE THEY FOUND?

 HOW ARE THEY FOUND?
 WHY ARE THEY THERE?
 HOW CAN WE RECOVER THEM?
 CAN WE GET THEM ALL?
 WHAT CAN WE DO TO IMPROVE
RECOVERY?
RESERVOIR ROCKS

 Three Types of Rocks Make up the

Earth’s Crust:

 Igneous

 Metamorphic

 Sedimentary
RESERVOIR ROCKS

 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS MAKE UP THE MAJORITY OF THE

EARTH’S CRUST.

 MOST PRODUCING RESERVOIR ROCKS ARE

SEDIMENTARY IN ORIGIN.

 Sedimentary Rocks Are Composed Of:

 Fragments Eroded From Older Rocks.
 Minerals Produced by Chemical or Biological Processes.
RESERVOIR ROCK
PROPERTIES

 POROSITY

 PERMEABILITY

 SORTING
POROSITY

 The Volume Fraction of the Formation

Not Occupied by Solids.

 Absolute Porosity

 Effictive Porosity
PERMEABILITY

 The Ability of a Formation to Transmit

Fluid (Thru the Inter-Connecting Pore
Spaces.)
 Types of Permeability
 Vertical Fracture Permeability -

Limestones, Chalks, and Some Shales

 Matrix Permeability - Sand or

Sandstone
SORTING

 CONTROLS POROSITY & PERMEABILITY

 Large Pore Spaces Yield Good
Porosity And High Permeability.

 Poor sorting yeilds smaller pore

spaces and lower permeability.
WELL - SORTED
SANDSTONE

GOOD POROSITY AND PERMEABILITY

POOR SORTING

MUCH LOWER POROSITY AND PERMEABILITY

Rocks
Three Types

 Igneous

 Sedimentary

 Metamorphic
Igneous Rocks

Original source is molten

rock out of the mantle of the

earth called magma.

Metamorphic Rocks

Formed by alteration of existing rock

by heat and pressure.

Anthracite (coal), marble (slate), schist,

quartzite, etc.
Sedimentary Rocks

Formed by the accumulation of

sediments.

Shale, sandstone, limestone, etc.

Rocks formed from substances that are
very soluble in seawater. These are
deposited only as a result of evaporation.

Gypsum CaSO4 • 2H2O

Anhydrite CaSO4
Salt NaCl
PETROLEUM
Transformation of Organic
Material into Petroleum

Transformation Requires Energy

Proposed Mechanisms
 Heat and pressure
 Bacterial action
 Radioactive bombardment (heat)
 Catalytic reactions
Organic Theory

Generally believed that petroleum originates

by a series of complex processes from plant
and animal life, because:

 Petroleum is optically active -

most oils have the power of
rotating the plane of polarized light,
only organic matter does this
Organic Theory

 Petroleum contains nitrogenous

compounds which are found in nature
(either plant or animal)

 Contains chlorophyl porphyrins -

derivatives obtained from chlorophyl of
plants or blood cells of animals
Organic Theory

 Some petroleum contains hydrogen

sulfide gas which results from bacterial
decomposition of plants and animals
Transformation of
Organic Material

All available evidence suggests that organic materials

have been transformed into petroleum by:

 Deposition of organic materials in fine

sands and silts in fairly shallow marine
water

 Rapid burial prevents destruction by

bottom dwellers
Transformation of
Organic Material

 Normal decomposition with burial and

beginning of anerobic bacterial activity

 Conversion of material toward

hydrocarbon material. Mixture becomes so
foul by accumulation of H2S gas it kills off
all bacteria

 Migration and accumulation of oil as

sediments are compacted
Petroleum

A naturally occurring complex mixture of

hydrocarbons which may be either a gas,
liquid, or solid, depending on:
 Its own unique composition
 The pressure and/or temperature
at which it is confined

Gas - methane
Liquid - crude oil
Solid - asphalt or paraffin
Migration of Petroleum

TRANSVERSE
Migration from source beds into carrier
beds

LONGITUDINAL
Migration through carrier beds into a
suitable trap
Migration of Petroleum
Longitudinal

Compaction weight of rock squeezing fluid out

Capillarity due to surface tension

Differential Specific Gravity oil lighter than water

Hydrostatic Pressure pressure exerted by water

Gas Pressure moving gas

ISOSTASY

Any equilebrium condition resulting from

isotropic equilization of pressure.

Principle of Isostasy
Mountains

Plateau Interior
Basin Ocean Basin

Specific gravity of all blocks about 2.7

Specific gravity of substratum about 3.3

Geology

Rock deformations caused by diastropic

forces acting on parallel layers of rock are
called structures. Certain type structures form
traps where petroleum may be found, such as:

Anticlines Normal
Synclines Reverse
Overturns Transverse
Geology
WARPS
Rocks which have been warped from gently sloping structures.
Beds are gently tilted. Uniformly tilted beds are “homoclines”.
This name indicates the strata of this structure are inclined in
the same direction. Broad down-warped structurres are called
“geosynclines”. Geosynclines are generally large.
Geology
FOLDS
Where beds of rocks have been subjected to extreme
horizontal forces. They bend into folds with alternating
crests and troughs. The principle types of folded structures
are “anticlines”, “synclines”, “domes” and “basins”.
Synclines are the troughs and anticlines are the crests.
Geology

JOINTS
Joints are fractures or cracks running across beds of rocks
along which there has been no displacement. Joints are
developed in rocks as a result of tension, compression,
shear or torsion. Tensional joints are formed on the crests of
anticlines and domes as a result of stretching the rock layers.

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. . . . ....... ...
..
.. . .
.......... . . . .
. .
. . .... ..
................... ... .. . .. ... .. . .. . . .. ... ....................
.
. . .... . . ... . . . . . . . ... . . .... . .
Geology
FAULTS
Faults are fractures along which displacement has occurred.
Faults occur in all type rocks, but they are most easily
detected in sedimentary rocks, where the offsetting of definite
beds is easily recognized. The amount of displacement may
be a fraction of an inch or tens of thousands of feet.
Domes

A roughly symmetrical upfold in which

the beds dip away from the crest in all
directions.

Most domes are elongated oval domes.

Accumulation Traps

Oil and gas accumulate in pools because

their upward or lateral migration is
stopped by a trap or closure
Accumulation Traps

 Reservoirs caused by domes, anticlines,

faults, etc.
 Reservoirs caused by varying porosity of
rocks. Reservoirs in shales caused by
lensing of sandstone or by varying porosity
 Reservoirs closed by a combination of:
 folding and varying porosity

 faulting and varying porosity

Combination Trap

GAS

OIL

WATER
Anticline Trap

. . . . .GAS .
.
. . . . . . ... . .. . .
. . . . . . . . . . .. .OIL
OIL . . . . . .. .
WATER . . .
. .WATER .
.. ... .
.
Salt Dome Trap

OIL

. .
.. . . ..
. . . . . .
OIL . .
. .. OIL
.. SALT
.
..PLUG .
. . ..
...
OIL .
. .. . .
.. . .. . ... . ....
OIL

. . . . . .. . . . .
SUMMARY

 Factors Necessary for Oil and Gas

Production in Commercial Quantities.
 A porous and permeable formation.
 A trap.
 Minimal or no formation damage.
 Proper production techniques.