ESN 409/609: Geology of Petroleum

Ravi Sharma
ravisharmafes@iitr.ac.in
Phone: +91 1332 284867
 Overview of Petroleum Play

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hydrocarbon
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 Overview of Petroleum Play
• Model of combining multiple factors to
produce petroleum accumulation at specific
stratigraphic level

• Source
• Reservoir Trap
• Seal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hydrocarbon
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 Overview of Petroleum Play
• Source: A rock capable of generating and
expelling petroleum fluids
• Rich in organic matter derived form
photosynthesizing marine and lacustrine
algae and land plants containing lipids.
• Lipids are broad group of naturally
occurring molecules made of glycerols (X)
and fatty acids (Y) subunits.
• They are made up of carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen where the ratio of H:O is more that
2:1.
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 Overview of Petroleum Play
…continue
• 3 Fatty acid tails and 1 glyceride head
• Their primary function is to store energy in
concentrated form therefore will be
preserved in ‘anoxic’ conditions.
• Lakes, deltas, marine basins are main
depositional settings
• Non-polar in nature and insoluble in water
(soluble in solvents)

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 Overview of Petroleum Play
…continue

Single lipid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid, 26.07.2016
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…continue

McCarthy et al. 2011, courtesy www.slb.com, 27.07.2016

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 Overview of Petroleum Play
Kerogen Types Kerogen Maturation

McCarthy et al. 2011, courtesy www.slb.com, 27.07.2016

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 Overview of Petroleum Play

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid, 26.07.2016 McCarthy et al. 2011, courtesy www.slb.com, 27.07.2016

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 Overview of Petroleum Play
COAL RANK: There are four major types (or “ranks”)
of coal. Rank refers to steps in a slow, natural process
called “coalification,” during which buried plant matter
changes into an ever denser, drier, more carbon rich,
and harder material. The four ranks are:

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 Overview of Petroleum Play
COAL RANK:
•Anthracite: The highest rank of coal. It is a hard, brittle, and
black lustrous coal, often referred to as hard coal, containing a
high percentage of fixed carbon and a low percentage of
volatile matter.
•Bituminous: Bituminous coal is a middle rank coal between
subbituminous and anthracite. Bituminous usually has a high
heating (Btu) value and is the most common type of coal used
in electricity generation in the United States. Bituminous coal
appears shiny and smooth when you first see it, but look closer
and you may see it has layers.
•Subbituminous: Subbituminous coal is black in color and dull
(not shiny), and has a higher heating value than lignite.
•Lignite: Lignite coal, aka brown coal, is the lowest grade coal
with the least concentration of carbon.
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 Overview of Petroleum Play
COAL RANK:
Peat: It is not actually coal, but rather the precursor to coal.
Peat is a soft organic material consisting of partly decayed plant
and, in some cases, deposited mineral matter. When peat is
placed under high pressure and heat, it becomes coal.

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 Overview of Petroleum Play

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 Overview of Petroleum Play

1 2 3

4 5
6

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 Overview of Petroleum Play
…after maturation
• Two orders of petroleum migration
• Primary Migration: Petroleum expulsion
occurs due to build up of overpressure in
the source rock
• Secondary Migration: expelled petroleum
moves towards sites of accumulation
driven by buoyancy
• Migration stops when the capillary
pressure of the small pore systems exceed
the upward-directed buoyancy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid, 26.07.2016
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 Overview of Petroleum Play

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 Basics _Rock Typing

Capillary Pressure (Pc) and Residual Saturation(Swir)

Cairn’s Handbook of Petrophysics, 2010

 Basics _Rock Typing

Imbibition curves and

petrographic heterogeneity
(Masalmeh and Jing, 2008)
 Basics _Rock Typing

PERMEABILITY OF PERMEABILITY OF
MEDIUM CONTAINING MEDIUM CONTAINING
OIL AND WATER GAS AND WATER

(classroom material 2014 by Dr. Israil, IITR)

 Overview of Petroleum Play
• Reservoir: a rock capable of holding (porosity) and
flowing (permeability) the fluid through it.

• Seal: impermeable sediments or rock material that

prevents migration of hydrocarbons
- Shales are the commonest seals
- Evaporites are the most desirable seals

• geometric juxtaposition of impermeable ‘seal’ strata

over permeable ‘reservoir’ strata is known as trap

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 Essentials of Petroleum System - Trap
• Highest point is Crest or Culmination
• Lowest point is Spill points
• Vertical Distance is Closure
• The productive within the trap is Pay
• Top of the reservoir to OWC is Gross Pay
• Total vertical column that can be produced is Net Pay

Anticlinal Trap
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 Essentials of Petroleum System - Trap
Fluid Distribution in Trap:
- Density-driven buoyancy and vertical fluid
segregation: water, oil, gas in ascending order;
- OWC: "oil-water contact"
- Cap Gas
- Formation Waters
1. Bottom water - water directly beneath oil,
below OWC
2. Edge Water - formation water in subjacent
strata
- Tar Mat - dense, asphaltic accumulations at the
OWC
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 Essentials of Petroleum System - Trap
• Types of Hydrocarbon Traps
- Structural
- Diapiric
- Stratigraphic
- Hydrodynamic
- Combination
- Astrobleme

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 Overview of Petroleum Play
• Structural
- Formed by tectonic processes- post
deposition. Folding and Faulting are common
mechanisms
Folding Faulting
- Compressional (Anticline, Syncline) - Dip Slip Faults (Normal and Reverse)
- Compactional (Throw, Gravity) - Growth Faults (Syndepositional)
- Roll Over and Drag Folds - Strike-slip or Wrench(Transtensional)
- Salt Domes

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 Essential Rock & Fluid Parameters
Formation Fluid
• Depth*^♯ • Type^ ♯
• Thickness*^♯ • Saturation^♯
• Net Reservoir^ ♯ • Distribution*^
• Permeability^♯ • PVT Properties^♯
• Facies^ ♯ • Pressures^♯
• Formation dip*^ ♯ • Contacts*^♯

*Seismic, ^Well-Logging, ♯ Laboratory Studies

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