04 Geology

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 Objective
• To provide background information that
will assist you to understand reservoir
engineering, drilling engineering and
field development

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 Outcome

Upon successful completion of this

section you should be able to:
• Discuss the basic elements of the rock cycle,
geologic time, and biostratigraphy
• Identify major rock types
• Identify structural and stratigraphic traps

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 and you should be able to:
• Define and describe the important
reservoir properties, porosity and
permeability

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 Determining the time, place
and conditions of deposition
• Sedimentary rocks
– Contain fossilised remains of plankton,
animals and plants
• Metamorphic rocks
– Contain minerals which have radioactive
half-life decay times

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Index Fossils

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 Oil and Gas Deposition
Periods
• Tertiary: 2­65 million years ago
• Cretaceous: 65­136 million years ago
• Jurassic: 136­190 million years ago
• Triassic: 190­225 million years ago

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Rock cycle

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 Classification of rocks
It is important to know the types of rocks
so that we know where to find oil and
gas, there are three types:
– Igneous rocks
– Metamorphic rocks
– Sedimentary rocks

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 Rock types
• Igneous - from the earth's mantle -
cooled molten rock e.g. Granite

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 Rock types
• Metamorphic -
rocks that have
undergone heat
and deformation
since their original
formation e.g.
Slate

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 Rock types
• Sedimentary - rock fragments that have
combined to create new rocks e.g.
Limestone, sandstone and shale

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 Rock types
• Since Igneous and Metamorphic rocks
have undergone temperature transitions
above 250oC we do not expect to find oil
and gas contained within them.

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 Structural features
• We need to have an accumulation of oil and
gas in one place in order to recover it in
commercial quantities
• Oil and Gas rise due to their positive
buoyancy in rock and water to the highest
part of a structural feature
• We can explore for structural features and
locate their highest point with some accuracy

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 Structural features
• Faults
• Folds

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 Structural features
• Faults
– Normal
– Reverse
– Horst and grabens
– Salt Domes

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 Normal faults
• Result from the
earth's crust
pulling apart

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 Reverse fault
• Result from
compression forces
from opposing sides

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 Horst and grabens faults
• The rocks layers that
slide down are
“grabens” and those
remaining are called
“horsts”

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 Structural features
• Folds
– Syncline
– Anticline

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 Syncline fold
• Formed by compression forces folding
down

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 Anticline fold
• Formed by compression forces or the
intrusion of lava that folds the overlying
beds

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Gas, oil and water is layered from
top to bottom inside reservoir rock
due to increasing fluid density.

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 Salt Domes
• Heat and pressure
cause salt to mobilise
and find the weakest
point to escape
upwards until
reaching a cap rock
creating a dome or
pillow shape

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Salt Dome Creation

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 Reservoir properties
• Trap
• Seal
• Porosity
• Permeability

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 Traps
• We need to find the places in the Earth’s
crust where oil and gas has not been able
to rise to the surface and escape
• We call these places “traps” and now we
will look at several types of trap

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 Structural Trap
Folds and faults
• Oil (black) is trapped by the upper and
adjacent sealing rock of zero permeability

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 Stratigraphic Trap
• Reduction of
permeability due
to the surrounding
rock types
• eg. river channel
sand

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 Seal
Shale
• The most abundant trap is
made of impermeable
mudstone of clay and quartz
Evaporites
• The least abundant trap is
made of impermeable salt
(halite), anhydrite, and
gypsum caused by
evaporation of shallow
lagoons

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 Porosity
• The % of pore
spaces to rock
volume
• Usually from 5% to
30%
• A small amount of
pore space is water
which cannot be
displaced
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 Permeability
• Capacity for transmitting fluids ie. a measure
of how well the pore spaces are connected
• Measured in Darcys (MilliDarcy)
• “Equivalent to the passage of one cubic
centimetre of fluid (having a viscosity of one
centipoise) per second through a sample one
square centimetre in cross-sectional area
under a pressure of one atmosphere per
centimetre of thickness”
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 Review
In this section, we have discussed:
• The basic elements of the rock cycle,
geologic time, and biostratigraphy
• Major rock types
• Important reservoir properties: trap,
seal, porosity and permeability

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Pop Quiz
Time!
 Pop Quiz Questions
Q 4.1 What are the 3 types of rocks?
Q 4.2 Inside a reservoir, which fluids
(water, oil or gas) lie on top of one
another and why?
Q 4.3 What is porosity?
Q 4.4 What is permeability?

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 Pop Quiz Answers
Q 4.1 What are the 3 types of rocks?
Classification of rocks
It is important to know the types of rocks
so that we know where to find oil and
gas, there are three types:
– Igneous rocks
– Metamorphic rocks
– Sedimentary rocks

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 Pop Quiz Answers
Q 4.2 Inside a reservoir, which fluids
(water, oil or gas) lie on top of one
another and why?
Gas, oil and water is layered from
top to bottom inside reservoir rock
due to increasing fluid density.

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 Pop Quiz Answers
Q 4.3 What is porosity?

Porosity
• The % of pore
spaces to rock
volume
• Usually from 5% to
30%
• A small amount of
pore space is water
which cannot be
displaced 39 of 34
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 Pop Quiz Answers
Q 4.4 What is permeability?
Permeability
• Capacity for transmitting fluids ie. a measure
of how well the pore spaces are connected
• Measured in Darcys (MilliDarcy)
• “Equivalent to the passage of one cubic
centimetre of fluid (having a viscosity of one
centipoise) per second through a sample one
square centimetre in cross-sectional area
under a pressure of one atmosphere per
centimetre of thickness”
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