Petroleum Geology Shaltami
Petroleum Geology Shaltami
Petroleum Geology Shaltami
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Petroleum Geology
Oil well: An oil well is a boring in the Earth that is designed to bring
petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface.
Gas well: A well that is designed to produce mainly or only gas may be
termed a gas well.
Dry well
Note
Petroleum seep: It is a place where natural liquid or gaseous
hydrocarbons escape to the earth's atmosphere and surface, normally
under low pressure or flow. Seeps generally occur above either terrestrial
or offshore petroleum accumulation structures.
Properties of Petroleum
Chemical Properties of Petroleum (Classification of Hydrocarbons)
On the basis of structure, hydrocarbons can be broadly classified into
two classes:
1. Open chain hydrocarbons (Aliphatic compounds)
2. Closed chain hydrocarbons (Cyclic compounds)
Hydrocarbons
Ethene Propene
b2) Alkyne: Hydrocarbons containing a triple bond between carbon
atoms are known as an alkyne. They have the general formula of CnH2n-
Ethyne Propyne
2) Cyclic (or Closed) chain compounds
Those hydrocarbons, which contain the ring of carbon atoms are known
as cyclic ring compounds They are further classified into homocyclic
and heterocyclic compounds.
Benzene Naphthalene
A2) Alicyclic hydrocarbons: Those cyclic hydrocarbons, which have
no alternate C-C and C=C and similar properties to aliphatic
compounds in characters, are known as alicyclic compounds (e.g.
cyclohexane (C6H12) and cyclopentane (C5H10)).
Cyclohexane Cyclopentane
b) Heterocyclic compounds: Those cyclic hydrocarbons, which are
composed of carbon atoms as well as other elements like N, O, S etc.
are known as heterocyclic compounds (e.g. furan (C4H4O) and pyridine
(C5H5N)).
Furan Pyridine
Composition of Crude Oils
* Average producible crude oils contain 57% aliphatic hydrocarbons
(with a slight dominance of acyclic over cyclic), 29% aromatic
hydrocarbons, and 14% resins and asphaltenes.
* Less than SG 1.0 floats on water, while greater than SG 1.0 sinks in
water
* Light crudes are generally those with an API gravity over 40. Those
with an API gravity below 40 are regarded as heavy.
* Crude oil with high API gravity, generally has a higher monetary value.
2) Surface tension
* Surface tension together with viscosity affects the rate of spread over
water or ground.
* It is the temperature at which the oil becomes plastic and will not flow.
* Heavy oils may become solid on cold water, and may become fluid
while sitting in the sun on the shoreline, penetrating into the shoreline.
5) Flash point
* Lighter, volatile oils, once spilled, will gradually loose their lighter
components to evaporation and dispersion.
6) Solubility in water
7) Sulfur content
* Based on the sulfur content, there are two types of crude oil :
a) Sweet crude (˂ 5 % S)
b) Sour crude (˃ 5 % S)
Organic Matter
Organic materials are defined as carbon-based compounds, originally
derived from living organisms. Most are combinations of a few of the
lightest elements, particularly hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen.
Organic materials are further divided into three categories based on
their source. These categories are as follows:
1) Cellulosic materials (plant materials)
2) Proteinaceous materials (animal materials)
3) Organic Polymers are derived from fossil fuels or other oils.
Shales are the most important types of source rocks in the world.
Type I kerogen (Sapropelic) has a high H/C (atomic) ratio (>1.25) and
a low O/C (atomic) ratio (<0.15). It is rich in lipids, especially long-
chain aliphatics, and has high petroleum potential. It is derived
primarily from algal and bacterial remains, often deposited in aquatic or
estuarine environments.
Type II kerogen (Planktonic), the most common type, has
intermediate H/C (<1.25) and O/C (<2.0) ratios. It is derived primarily
from planktonic and bacterial remains deposited in marine
environments (though remains of high plants can contribute as well).
Because of its marine origin, it is often sulfur rich. Its lipid content and
oil potential are somewhat lower than Type I kerogen. Tend to produce
a mix of gas and oil.
Type IV kerogen (Residue) has a low H/C (atomic) ratio (<0.5) and a
low O/C (atomic) ratio (<0.3). Type IV kerogen contains mostly
decomposed organic matter in the form of polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons. They have no potential to produce hydrocarbons.
Fig. 3: Classification of kerogen
Comparison between kerogen types
Type I kerogen is related to liptinite
Type II kerogen is related to exinite
Type III kerogen is related to vitrinite
Type IV kerogen is related to inertite
Reservoir Rock
Reservoir rock is a rock that has sufficient porosity and permeability to
contain accumulations of oil or gas. It is a place that oil migrates to and
is held underground.
The porosity of a reservoir rock must not be below 5 %. There are four
types of porosity in the reservoirs:
1) Poor porosity (5-10 %)
2) Medium porosity (10-15 %)
3) Good porosity (15-20 %)
4) Very good porosity (20-25 %)
Table 1: Porosity types in sandstones
Table 2: Porosity types in carbonate rocks
Total porosity
Total porosity = effective porosity + ineffective porosity
Q = (-K(P1-P2)A)/(µL)
Where:
K = Permeability
Q = Rate of flow
P1-P2 = Pressure drop across the sample
A = Cross-sectional area of the sample
L = Length of the sample
µ = Viscosity of the fluid
Reservoir Continuity
Wettability is the tendency of one fluid to spread on, or adhere to, a solid
surface in the presence of other immiscible fluids.
In a reservoir rock the liquid phase can be water, oil or gas, and the solid
phase is the rock mineral assemblage.
3) Mixed-wet
In this case, the oil likely migrated into a water-wet formation.
Reservoir Quality
1) Macroscopic techniques
a) Modern three dimensional seismic data
b) Wireline logs
c) Drill stem testing (DST ) or formation testing.
d) Core analysis
2) Microscopic techniques
Microscopic techniques used to assess reservoir quality include many
techniques, for example thin section analysis, scanning electron
microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), etc.
Migration of Petroleum
Migration of petroleum refers to the movement of hydrocarbons from
source rock into reservoir rock. There two types of migration:
1) Structural traps
2) Stratigraphic traps
3) Salt dome traps
4) Hydrodynamic traps
5) Combination traps (structural trap + stratigraphic trap)
1) Structural traps
a1) Primary pinch out of strata, e.g., strata that pinch out updip in less
permeable rocks such as shale.
a2) Fluvial channels of sandstone that are isolated and surrounded by
impermeable shale
a3) Submarine channels and sandstone turbidites in strata rich in shale
a4) Porous reefs that are surrounded by shale, etc.
b) Secondary stratigraphic traps result from variations that developed
after sedimentation, mainly because of diagenesis.
* Traps may form (1) in the strata overlying the salt dome, (2) in the top
of the salt domes, (3) in the strata that curve upward against the salt
intrusion, (4) due to stratigraphic pinch-out of strata around the salt
Fig. 5: Ideal salt-dome traps
5) Hydrodynamic Traps
* If porewater flow in a sedimentary basin is strong enough, the oil-water
contact may deviate from the horizontal because of the hydrodynamic
shear stress that is set up. In some cases, oil may accumulate without
closure.
Sedimentary Basin
Sedimentary basin is a low area in the Earth’s crust, of tectonic origin,
in which sediments accumulate.
* The Source rocks, reservoirs and seals are found in the sedimentary
basin
* Width and length of the sedimentary basin shall not be less than 10 and
100 km, respectively.
* There are three types namely; pre-, syn- and post-depositional basins:
1) Pre-depositional basins: Rapid tectonic movements predate
significant sediment accumulation and create a morphological basin. The
water depth in the basin decreases with time.
2) Syn-depositional basins: Sediment accumulation is affected by
syndepositional tectonic movements. The sediment thickness increases
toward the center of the basin.
3) Post-depositional basins: The deposition of sediments largely
predates tectonic movements forming a basin structure. Hence, there is
no or little relationship between the transport, distribution and facies of
these sediments and the later evolved basin structure.
The difference between syn- and post-depositional basins
* The main difference between syn- and post-depositional basins are
showing in the following figure.
Transitions between basins
* Of course, there are transitions between these simplified basin types
and certain basins may show a complex history and therefore contain
pre- tectonic as well as syn-tectonic or post-tectonic sediments.
Geomorphological classification of sedimentary basins
Fig. 7: Plot of S1 vs. TOC showing the difference between non-indigenous and
indigenous hydrocarbons
Table 2: Geochemical parameters describing kerogen type (quality) and
the character of expelled products
0.10
0.05
Terrestrial
Lacustrine
0.00
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
C31 22R/H
Fig. 12: Plot of C31 22R/H vs. C30 sterane index showing the organic matter
input
Land Plant
C29/C27
Pr/Ph
Fig. 13: Plot of Pr/Ph versus C29/C27 regular steranes showing
paleooxygenation conditions
Pristane (Pr) is an isoprenoid hydrocarbon C19H40 obtained primarily
from shark liver oil, from which its name is derived. It is also found in
the stomach oil of birds in mineral oil and some foods.
Ph/n-C18
Fig. 14: Ph/n-C18 vs. Pr/n-C17 showing depositional conditions and type of
organic matter
1.5
anoxic/ dysoxic
highly
C35/C34 homohopanes 1.0 anoxic
0.5
oxic
0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
Pr/Ph
Fig. 15: Plot of Pr/Ph vs. C35/C34 homohopanes showing the depositional
environment with chemical variations
Marine
C31-22R-hopane/C30-hopane
Fluvial to fluvial-deltaic
Pr/Ph
Toluene/Methyl Cyclo-Hexane
1.2
0.9
Pristine oils
0.6
0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Benzene/Cyclo-Hexane
Fig. 17: Plot of benzene and toluene ratios against their water-insoluble
structural equivalents
0.8
0.6
High mature oil
Oils
0.2
C29 steranes:ßß/(αα+ßß)
Fig. 18: Plot of the %20S and %ββ sterane maturity biomarker showing the
sterane isomerization
0.6
29Ts/(29Ts+30NH)
0.4 Late mature
Mid mature
0.2
Early mature
0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
Ts/(Ts+Tm)
Fig. 19: Plot of the Ts/(Ts+Tm) vs. 29Ts/(29Ts+30NH) showing the oil maturity
Fig. 20: Ternary plot of SARA composition for oil
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