Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Petroleum Systems
Petroleum Geology
Objectives are to be able to:
• Discuss basic elements of Petroleum Systems
• Describe plate tectonics and sedimentary basins
• Recognize names of major sedimentary rock types
• Describe importance of sedimentary environments
to petroleum industry
• Describe the origin of petroleum
• Identify hydrocarbon trap types
• Define and describe the important geologic
controls on reservoir properties, porosity and
permeability
Outline
• Petroleum Systems approach
• Geologic Principles and geologic time
• Rock and minerals, rock cycle, reservoir
properties
• Hydrocarbon origin, migration and
accumulation
• Sedimentary environments and facies;
stratigraphic traps
• Plate tectonics, basin development, structural
geology
• Structural traps
Petroleum System - A Definition
•A Petroleum System is a dynamic hydrocarbon
system that functions in a restricted geologic
space and time scale.
These Include:
Mature source rock
Hydrocarbon expulsion
Hydrocarbon migration
Hydrocarbon accumulation
Hydrocarbon retention
(modified from Demaison and Huizinga, 1994)
Cross Section Of A Petroleum System
(Foreland Basin Example)
Geographic Extent of Petroleum System
Extent of Play
Extent of Prospect/Field
O
O O
Stratigraphic
Extent of
Petroleum
Overburden Rock
System Essential
Sedimentary
Seal Rock
Basin Fill
Elements
of Reservoir Rock
Petroleum
Pod of Active System Source Rock
Source Rock
Underburden Rock
Petroleum Reservoir (O)
Basement Rock
Fold-and-Thrust Belt Top Oil Window
(arrows indicate relative fault motion)
Top Gas Window
K
J
I
H
G
Angular Unconformity
C
E
F
D Igneous
B
Dike
A
Types of Unconformities
• Disconformity
– An unconformity in which the beds above and below
are parallel
• Angular Unconformity
– An unconformity in which the older bed intersect the
younger beds at an angle
• Nonconformity
– An unconformity in which younger sedimentary
rocks overlie older metamorphic or intrusive
igneous rocks
Correlation
• Establishes the age equivalence of rock
layers in different areas
• Methods:
– Similar lithology
– Similar stratigraphic section
– Index fossils
– Fossil assemblages
– Radioactive age dating
Geologic Time Chart
Eon Era Period Epoch
Quaternary
period
Quaternary Recent
0 0 0 Pleistocene
Billions of years ago
Cenozoic Era
1
Mesozoic
100 Cretaceous 20 Miocene
(Precambrian)
Tertiary
period
Cryptozoic
2 150 Jurassic 30 Oligocene
200 Triassic 40
Eocene
3
250 Permian 50
4 300 Pennsylvanian
60 Paleocene
Mississippian
4.6 350
Paleozoic
Devonian
400
Silurian
450 Ordovician
500
550 Cambrian
600
Rocks
Classification of Rocks
IGNEOUS SEDIMENTARY METAMORPHIC
Rock-forming Source of
material
Recrystallization due to
Crystallization Sedimentation, burial
heat, pressure, or
(Solidification of melt) and lithification
chemically active fluids
The Rock Cycle
Magma
n
a
Weathering,
Transportation
Sedimentary and Deposition
Rock Sediment
i
Sedimentary Rock Types
• Relative abundance
Sandstone
and conglomerate
~11%
Limestone and
dolomite
~13%
Siltstone, mud
and shale
~75%
Minerals - Definition
Naturally Occurring
Solid
Generally Formed by
Inorganic Processes
Ordered Internal
Arrangement of Atoms
(Crystal Structure)
Chemical Composition
and Physical Properties
Fixed or Vary Within
Quartz Crystals A Definite Range
Average Detrital Mineral
Composition of Shale and Sandstone
Mineral Composition Shale (%) Sandstone (%)
Clay Minerals 60 5
Quartz 30 65
Feldspar 4 10-15
Carbonate 3 <1
Silicates
Non-Ferromagnesian Ferromagnesian
(Common in Sedimentary Rocks) (not common in sedimentary rocks)
Quartz Olivine
Muscovite (mica) Pyroxene
Feldspars Augite
Potassium feldspar (K-spar) Amphibole
Orthoclase Hornblende
Microcline, etc. Biotite (mica)
Plagioclase
Albite (Na-rich - common) through Red = Sedimentary Rock-
Anorthite (Ca-rich - not common) Forming Minerals
The Four Major Components
• Framework
– Sand (and Silt) Size Detrital Grains
• Matrix
– Clay Size Detrital Material
• Cement
– Material precipitated post-depositionally,
during burial. Cements fill pores and replace
framework grains
• Pores
– Voids between above components
Sandstone Composition
Framework Grains
KF = Potassium
Feldspar
Pore
Throat Pores Provide the
Volume to Contain
Hydrocarbon Fluids
Negligible
Porosity
Illite Reduction
High Irreducible
Water Saturation
Migration of
Fines Problem
Jurassic Norphlet Sandstone
Hatters Pond Field, Alabama, USA (Photograph by R.L. Kugler)
Clay Minerals in Sandstone Reservoirs
Authigenic Chlorite
Secondary Electron Micrograph
Iron-Rich
Varieties React
With Acid
Occurs in Several
Deeply Buried
Sandstones With
High Reservoir
Quality
Occurs as Thin
Coats on Detrital
Grain Surfaces
Migration of Fines
Problem
Carter Sandstone
North Blowhorn Creek Oil Unit
Black Warrior Basin, Alabama, USA (Photograph by R.L. Kugler)
Effects of Clays on Reservoir Quality
100
10
10
1
1
0.1
0.1
0.01 0.01
2 6 10 14 2 6 10 14 18
Porosity (%)
(modified from Kugler and McHugh, 1990)
Influence of Clay-Mineral
Distribution on Effective Porosity
fe Clay
Minerals
Dispersed Clay
Detrital Quartz
Grains
fe
Clay Lamination
Structural Clay fe
(Rock Fragments,
Rip-Up Clasts,
Clay-Replaced Grains)
Diagenesis
Diagenesis is the Post-
Depositional Chemical and
Mechanical Changes that
Carbonate
Occur in Sedimentary Rocks
Cemented
Some Diagenetic Effects Include
Oil Compaction
Stained Precipitation of Cement
Dissolution of Framework
Grains and Cement
The Effects of Diagenesis May
Enhance or Degrade Reservoir
Quality
Whole Core
Misoa Formation, Venezuela
Fluids Affecting Diagenesis
Precipitation
Evaporation Evapotranspiration
Water Table
Infiltration
Meteoric
Water COMPACTIONAL
WATER Meteoric
Water
Petroleum
Fluids Zone of abnormal pressure
Isotherms
CH 4,CO 2,H2 S
Dissolution of
Partially
Framework Grains
Dissolved
(Feldspar, for
Feldspar
Example) and
Cement may
Enhance the
Pore Interconnected
Pore System
Quartz Detrital
Grain This is Called
Secondary Porosity
Thin Section Micrograph - Plane Polarized Light
Avile Sandstone, Neuquen Basin, Argentina
Vitrinite
A nonfluorescent type of organic material
in petroleum source rocks derived
primarily from woody material.
Reflected-Light Micrograph
of Coal
Interpretation of Total Organic Carbon (TOC)
(based on early oil window maturity)
Hydrocarbon
TOC in Shale TOC in Carbonates
Generation
(wt. %) (wt. %)
Potential
Poor 0.0-0.5 0.0-0.2
Organic Debris
Diagenesis
Oil Reservoir
Cracking
Methane
Metagenesis
Carbon
(modified from Foster and Beaumont, 1991, after Dow and O’Conner, 1982)
Generation, Migration, and
Trapping of Hydrocarbons
Fault
Oil/water
(impermeable)
contact (OWC)
Migration route
Seal
Hydrocarbon Reservoir
accumulation rock
in the
reservoir rock
Top of maturity
Source rock
Cross Section Of A Petroleum System
(Foreland Basin Example)
Geographic Extent of Petroleum System
Extent of Play
Extent of Prospect/Field
O
O O
Stratigraphic
Extent of
Petroleum
Overburden Rock
System Essential
Sedimentary
Seal Rock
Basin Fill
Elements
of Reservoir Rock
Petroleum
Pod of Active System Source Rock
Source Rock
Underburden Rock
Petroleum Reservoir (O)
Basement Rock
Fold-and-Thrust Belt Top Oil Window
(arrows indicate relative fault motion)
Top Gas Window
• Structural traps
• Stratigraphic traps
• Combination traps
Structural Hydrocarbon Traps
Gas
Shale Oil Oil/Gas Closure
Trap
Contact
Oil/Water
Contact
Oil
Fracture Basement Fold Trap
Salt
Salt Diapir
Oil
Dome
Gas
Oil
Sandstone
Shale
Fault Trap
Oil / Gas
Stratigraphic Hydrocarbon Traps
Unconformity Pinch out
Uncomformity Oil/Gas
Oil/Gas
Oil/Gas
Segments Reservoirs
Increases Tortuosity of
Fluid Flow
Heterogeneity May
Result From:
Depositional Features
Diagenetic Features
Fractures
Bounding
Surface
Bounding
Surface
Field Wide
From Well Logs,
Seismic Lines, 100's
Statistical m
Modeling,
etc.
1-10 km
Interwell
Reservoir 10's
Sandstone m
100's m
1-10's
Well-Bore
10-100's
m
10-100's mm
mm
Unaided Eye
Hand Lens or
Petrographic or Binocular Microscope
Scanning Electron
Microscope (modified from Weber, 1986)
Scales of Investigation Used in
Reservoir Characterization
300 m Relative Volume
14
Gigascopic 50 m Well Test 10
300 m
Reservoir Model 12
Megascopic Grid Cell 2 x 10
5m 150 m
2m
Wireline Log 7
1m
Interval 3 x 10
Macroscopic cm 2
Core Plug 5 x 10
mm - mm Geological
Microscopic 1
(modified from Hurst, 1993)
Thin Section
Stages In The Generation of
An Integrated Geological Reservoir Model
Geologic Activities
Regional Geologic
Framework
Depositional
Model (As Needed)
Integrated Fluid
Log Analysis Model
Well Test Analysis Geologic Model
(As Needed)
Applications Studies
Reserves Estimation
Simulation
Model Testing
And Revision