SGGS 6106

EXPLORATION GEOCHEMISTRY

ORGANIC PETROLOGY AND

GEOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF
EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION
ESSAY

By
ZAINAL AZIMUDIN BIN ZAINAL ABIDIN
SGI 140016

Petroleum geochemistry (Organic geochemistry and petrology) is another

branch of petroleum geosciences and studies the history of chemical elements in the
Earths crust and their behaviour which related to the petroleum elements; source
rock, reservoir rock, migration and accumulation. In other words, petroleum
geochemistry studies on the petroleum system evaluation which focuses on the
source rock evaluation, thermal maturity assessment and hydrocarbon characteristic.
Petroleum geochemistry studies can be divided into two major parts that is
quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Quantitative assessment of the petroleum
elements can be studied through the source rock evaluation where geochemists
need to know how much oil and gas being produced by the source and through the
hydrocarbon characteristic. Besides that, qualitative assessment of the petroleum
assessment also is another important aspect in evaluating the petroleum system
where thermal maturity and hydrocarbon characteristic play its roles.
The importance of petroleum geochemistry in oil and gas life cycle is actually
to increase data coverage and reducing the uncertainties of data analysis which is
able to reduce evaluation risk of the potential prospect. The main purpose in the
integration of geological and geochemical studies in source rock evaluation and
petroleum exploration is to enhance the progress in the development of new
analytical technique and interpretive concepts and integrated understanding of
petroleum generation and migration in term of the petroleum system. The application
of petrology and geochemistry has become more rapid and is now capable of solving
more exploration and development problem by reducing the uncertainties in
identifying accurate petroleum elements.

ORGANIC GEOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS

A source rock can be defined as any organic-rich rock what is capable of
generating and expelling petroleum, given sufficient exposure to heat and pressure.
Source rock can be characterized and addressed as potential source rock, effective
source rock and active source rock. Potential source rock contains organic matter to
generate petroleum, but has not yet generated and considered as immature.
Effective source rock contains organic matter and has generated petroleum in its
mature stage, while active source rock is currently generating and expelling
petroleum at the critical moment which is the oil window maturity. Evaluation of the
source rock can be divided into both organic geochemical and organic petrological
methods which give different type of analysis and interpretations of the results.
Organic geochemical analysis is started off with the analysis of the Total
Organic Carbon (TOC) content. Total organic carbon describes the quantity in term
of percentage of organic carbon in a whole rock sample and includes both kerogen
and bitumen (Peters and Cassa, 1994). Instruments such as Rock-Eval and LECO
412 will measure TOC which interpret roughly on the potential quantity of the
generation of hydrocarbon from the source rock as shown in table 1. Another
approach of the organic geochemical analysis is using the S1 and S2 peaks of the
pyrolysis result to know the potential quantity of source rock as shown in table 1.
Pyrolysis is defined as the heating of organic matter in the absence of oxygen to
yield organic compounds and being used to identify the type of organic matter to
detect petroleum potential in rock samples. S1 is the amount of free hydrocarbon (oil
and gas) while S2 is the amount of hydrocarbon generated through thermal cracking
of kerogen.

Potential

TOC (Wt

S1

S2

Bitumen

Hydrocarbons

(Quantity)

%)

(mg/g)

(mg/g)

(ppm)

(ppm)

Poor

< 0.5

< 0.5

< 2.5

< 500

< 300

Fair

0.5 1

0.5 1

2.5 5

500 1000

300 600

Good

12

12

5 10

1000 2000

600 1200

Very Good

24

24

10 20

2000 4000

1200 2400

Excellent

>4

>4

> 20

> 4000

> 2400

Table 1. Quantitative analysis of potential petroleum generation. (Peter and Cassa,

1994)

Another simplest way to classify the potential quantity of evaluating the source
rock is by using the Extractable Organic Matter (EOM) methods. The bitumen and
hydrocarbon extracted from EOM methods is the being quantified and classified
according to the table above based on Peter and Cassa, 1994s classification. The
extraction of the bitumen and hydrocarbon is conducted using the Soxhlet Extractor
instruments.
Besides having the S1, S2 and S3 peaks value from pyrolysis, the value of
hydrogen and oxygen index can be calculated together with the TOC value.
Hydrogen index can be calculated by using value of S2*100/TOC and oxygen index
using the S3*100/TOC. The plot of the hydrogen and oxygen index can determine
the kerogen type I, II, III or IV and separates the hydrocarbon window which lead to
the quality approach of the source rock.

Another geochemical approach that can be done is the thermal maturity

assessment. This type of assessment measure the degree of cooking (temperature
and pressure) of source rock in the process of transforming the kerogen into
hydrocarbon by using the Rock-Eval pyrolysis and EOM methods. Besides giving the
S1, S2 and S3 peaks, Rock-Eval pyrolysis also provided the maximum temperature,
Tmax to determine the maturity of the sample. From the Tmax value and the
production index, PI that can be calculated by having S1/(S1+S2), we can determine
the maturity of the rock by using the Peter and Cassa, 1994s assessment as shown
in table 2. EOM bitumen extration also can deduce on the thermal maturity
assessment which is based entirely on the amount of TOC or bitumen in mg/g as
shown in the table. Late and postmature maturity of the rock will not extract any TOC
or the bitumen.

Mature

Maturity

Tmax (C)

PI (s1/(s1+s2))

Bitumen/TOC

Bitumen (mg/g)

Immature

< 435

< 0.10

< 0.05

< 50

Early

435 445

0.10 0.15

0.05 0.10

50 100

Peak

445 450

0.25 0.40

0.15 0.25

150 250

Late

450 470

> 0.40

----

----

> 470

----

----

----

Postmature

Table 2. Thermal maturity assessment of source rock from geochemical analysis as

described by Peter and Cassa, 1994.

ORGANIC PETROLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Evaluation of source rock also can be done using the organic petrological
analysis which is using the optical assessment of the sample.

Petrological

assessment are more specified analysis compare to geochemical analysis, and can
be used to determine the kerogen type and maturity of the source rock. Optical or
petrology assessment can be divided into two methods; one is reflected light
microscopy and second is the transmitted light microscopy.
Reflected light microscopy is the first method used in assessing the optical
properties of the source rock. It can be conducted by completing the vitrinite
reflectance by measuring the percentage of vitrinite that presence in order to
determine the thermal maturity of the rock. Percentage of vitrinite reflectance, %Ro,
will determine the maturity and the hydrocarbon generation window from beginning
of oil accumulation to peak or end of oil generation to condensate and dry gas zone
to metamorphic or post-over mature.. Another assessment in using the reflected light
microscopy is by characterised the maceral composition either vitrinite, liptinite or
inertinite group. By deducing the main composition of the maceral, we can conclude
on what type of kerogen it is as describe in Table 3 below.
The second method in describing the optical analysis is by doing the
transmitted light microscopy analysis. This analysis can be conducted using the
thermal alteration index (TAI) or spore colour which will determine the thermal
maturity of the source rock. Visual kerogen typing is another analysis method that
can be used from transmitted light analysis by characterised the palynofacies. Spore
colour and TAI will determine the organic maturity within source rock as describe in
figure 4 described by Al-Ameri et al., 2010.

Table 3. Maceral composition analysis of liptinite, vitrinite and inertinite related to

type of kerogen.

Figure 4. Spore colour and thermal alteration index (TAI) analysis of maturity of
source rock.

Case study (Exploration of Mesohellenie Basin, Greece):

Objective
The main objective in conducting the organic petrology and geochemical
analysis in the exploration stage is to deduce the petroleum system and
exploration/appraisal risk, correlate the oil-source rock genetic link, production
estimation

via

volumetric

calculation

and

timing

of

generation-migration-

accumulation maturity.
Result
The analysis is done through Rock-Eval II pyrolysis, bitumen extraction, liquid
chromatography, GC-Mass Spectrometer, maceral analysis and vitrinite reflectance
measurement. The genetic potential (S1+S2) of the sample ranges from 28.43 to
66.07 kg HC/t rock indicates a potential for gas generation. Type of kerogen is type
III based on hydrogen and oxygen index plot over the van Krevelen diagram. The
Tmax values range from 410 to 432 revealing an immature to very early mature level
of the source rock. The yield of the deltaic samples > 150 mg/g is higher than this
obtained from the Oligocene submarine fan which indicate migrated hydrocarbons.
Most vitrinite fragments are lipid-rich with cell structure remnants,which lower the
reflectance (0.51% at average) which can be said to have maturity is at the top of oil
generation zone. In conclusion, Sediments sampled from the basin, indicate a
fluctuation of the organic matter content from rick to very rich, the occurrence of
different source material and early maturation stage of organic matter.

Case study (Production offshore southeast Asia Basin):

Objective:
The main objective in conducting the organic petrology and geochemical analysis in
the production stage is mainly for reservoir and production monitoring which covers
the production allocation of commingled pipeline, biodegradation rate and reservoir
compartmentalization of reservoir which produce different type of oil or gas
Results:
The oils produced from northern and southern fields share the same source
as indicated by very tight sterane and diasterane distributions. Other biomarker
source parameters including hopanes/steranes and triaromatic steroids ratios,
C26/C28 20S and C27/C28 20R, are also highly similar supporting that the oils have
originated from the same source. Oils from field G are also biodegraded to the same
degree as those from field E. Although similar in hydrocarbon profiles, G-field oils
contain slightly more abundant light hydrocarbons (gasoline range) than E-field oils.
Oil - oil correlation was completed by detailed comparison of oil fingerprint
ranks chromatographic peak ratios for their ability to separate oils into groups. The
results of this correlation show three distinct groups. Eleven of the oils have a distinct
E-field signature, three a G-field signature, and 16 a northern-fields (or A-field)
signature. The oil fingerprinting technique for production allocation provides rapid
results for an accurate assessment of tax liability and for taking measures in effective
reservoir management. In addition to addressing allocation issues of current
production.

Reference:

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