1.

Introduction
What is petroleum geochemistry ?
What can petroleum geochemistry do ?
How have we ignored petroleum
geochemistry ?
Introduction
Petroleum Geochemistry
Geochemistry is the application of chemistry to the
study of rocks and fluids.
(Selley, 1985 : Elements of petroleum geology)
Petroleum is a material occurring naturally in the
earth which is predominantly composed of mixtures
of chemical compounds of carbon and hydrogen
(hydrocarbon) and including various forms from
solid bitumen, through the normal liquids to gases.
(Tver and Berry, 1980 : The petroleum dictionary)
Petroleum Geochemistry
The application of chemical principles
to the study of the origin, migration,
accumulation, and alteration of
petroleum and the use of this
knowledge in the exploration and
production of oil and gas.
(Hunt, 1996 : Petroleum geochemistry and geology)
Petroleum Geochemistry : Categories
Today, petroleum geochemistry is normally divided into
different categories as :
surface geochemical exploration
source rock geochemistry
reservoir geochemistry
detection and characterization of hydrocarbon shows
oil and gas geochemistry
oil-oil correlation
oil-source rock correlation
evaluation of leakage through caprock
analysis of drilling mud
What can petroleum geochemistry do ?
evaluate physical and chemical properties of oil and/or gas in basin
determine how many oil and/or gas families are present in basin
expect source/s of oil and/or gas in basin
evaluate presence, quality, and maturity of source rocks in basin
determine volumetric of oil and/or gas generated, migrated, and
accumulated in basin,
evaluate migration pathways of oil and/or gas in basin
predict fluid type (oil/gas/water) containing in prospect ahead of
drilling
predict in-reservoir alteration (e.g. biodegradation) and its trend
understand intra-field/-reservoir petroleum variations
etc.
Clayton and Fleet (1991)
Clayton and Fleet (1991)
Clayton and Fleet (1991)
How have we ignored petroleum
geochemistry ?
What people know (in lesser detail) : reservoir, trap, seal,
kitchen, migration.
Too much evaluation on reservoir and trap. Too less
evaluation on hydrocarbon charging (evaluation on
kitchen and migration are too over-simplified).
One with strong interest, knowledge, and experience on
geochemistry is scarce.
Paradox of Petroleum Geochemistry
People explore petroleum using petroleum
system. Identification of petroleum system is
through petroleum geochemistry. However,
petroleum geochemistry has been overlooked.
The Essences of
Petroleum Geochemistry
To make it sounds, inputs from petroleum geochemistry
should be integrated with petroleum geology (broad basin
analysis).
Petroleum geochemistry is more exact (not much interpretive)
than other petroleum geosciences, but it heavily depends on
laboratory analyses.
Geology-Geophysics-Geochemistry is a trinity of petroleum
geosciences. If one of them were ignored, risk for exploration
failure increases.
Trilogy of Exploration Success
Needs integration of geology,
geophysics, and geochemistry
Selley(1985)
Selley (1985)
Good References on Petroleum Geochemistry
Petroleum Formation and Occurrence : a New Approach to Oil and Gas
Exploration
(Bernard Tissot and Dietrich Welte, 1984 Springer-Verlag)
Geochemistry in Petroleum Exploration
(Douglas Waples, 1985 IHRDC)
AAPG Memoir 60 : The Petroleum System from Source to Trap
(eds : Leslie Magoon and Wallace Dow, 1994 AAPG)
Petroleum Geochemistry and Geology (2
nd
ed.)
(John Hunt, 1996 WH Freeman and Co.)
The Biomarker Guide : Biomarkers and Isotopes in Petroleum Exploration
and Earth History (2
nd
ed.)
(Ken Peters, Walters, Michael Moldowan, 2005 Cambridge University)