1

Basin Types:
Sedimentary Basin - a depression in the crust of the earth, caused by plate tectonic activity and
subsidence, in which sediments accumulate.
Three factors:

• Basin Forming Tectonics

• Depositional sequences
• Basin modifying tectonics
~600 sedimentary basins exist, 25% of them (50% of area taken) are producing hydrocarbons
877 Giant Oil Fields exist (>500mil bbl) Rift
 2

Source Rocks
Origin of hydrocarbons - oil and gas are the result of organic matter
breakdown in the subsurface

Some occurrences of methane are thought to be inorganic

The breakdown of organic matter is either biogenic or thermogenic
Abiogenic - found in igneous rocks can indeed be originated in the deep
crust or mantle

Biogenic - methane from bacterial degradation of OM at shallow depths

Thermogenic - burial and subsequent heating and thermal maturation

The Carbon Cycle

Major groups of chemicals in organic matter

1. carbohydrates
2. lipids
3. lignin
4. proteins/amino acids
5. nucleic acids
 3

Organic matter may be humic or sapropelic

• Humic – rich in lignin, cellulose (carbohydrates), and lean in lipids. Terrestrial plants are common
sources
• Sapropelic – rich in lipids. Marine and some lucastrine algae are the main source

Bioturbated Sediment vs Laminated Sediment

Bioturbation = oxygenated waters, laminated = anoxic

Source Rock Characteristics

• fine grain clastics and carbonates

• 1-10% organic material
• Low porosity and permeability
• Can be fractured if brittle
• Coal beds
• Typical TOC >= 0.5%
• Coal TOC >50%
Marine Rocks tend to be oil prone while terrestrial Rocks tend to be gas prone
 4

Controls on Source Rocks

Major Factors of Source Rock Formation

• High Input and preservation of organic matter

• Sedimentation Rate
• Preservation requires anoxic conditions
Good source rocks are deposited during

• Warm global climate; oceans are poorly circulated then

• Long-term sea-level rise; more shelf areas flooded
 5

Organic Matter to Petroleum

Diagenesis - transformation of suitable types of organic matter to kerogen
Catagenesis - cooking/maturation process through which kerogen yields oil and gas
Metagenesis - stage of over-cooking or transformation of kerogen to carbon

Types of Kerogen

Thermal Maturation
 6

What happens to kerogen in catagenesis?

It changes color as it liberates hydrocarbons

- From yellow to brown to black with increasing degree of organic metamorphism and increasing source
rock maturity

Vitrinite - nonfluorescent organic material in petroleum source rocks derived from woody
material
The reflectivity of vitrinite is one of the best indicators of coal rank and thermal maturity of the
source rock (Ro)

Oil and Gas Windows:

• Temperature increases with increasing depth

• Earth’s heat generates and destroys petroleum
• Oil Window: 60-175 C
• Gas Window: 100-300 C
• Position of window depends on:
o Basin fill
o Organic matter
o Heating rate
• Thermal maturity is a function of both time & temp
Recall geothermal gradient: 25-30 C / km down

Conodonts - microfossils from extinct soft bodied marine

invertebrates. Elements are phosphatic in composition and
serves as eating-bits
LOM - Level of Organic Metamorphism – determines source rock maturity based on method
like VR. Scales from 0-20: like coal lignite – mega anthracite
 7

All maturity indices compared

Rock-Eval Pyrolysis:
S1: amount of free hydrocarbons

S2: number of hydrocarbons generated from

kerogen in rock (measure of remaining generative
capacity)

S3: amount of oxygen in the kerogen (release of

trapped CO2)

Tmax: temp at which maximum rate of

hydrocarbon generation occurs

Hydrocarbon Index (HI): S2/TOC *100

Oxygen Index (OI): S3/TOC *100

 8

Thermal alteration Index TAI – measures alterations of palynomorphs

Pros:
• Accurate when measured on like types of palynomorphs and carefully calibrated against
standards
Cons:
• Subjective method
Conodont Alteration Index CAI – measures color change in conodonts with thermal maturity
Pros:
• Conodonts existed as early as Cambrian
• Plentiful in carbonate rocks where pollen and vitrinite is often absent
Cons:
• CAI increases with presence of hot brines
• Conodonts not present in rocks younger than Triassic
• Large samples required
• Only an indirect indicator of hydrocarbon maturity

Source Rock Properties

Made from fine-grained clastics (sand, silt, and clay) and carbonates

Clay Mineralogy:

• Silica tetrahedron (SiO4)

• Aluminum octahedron (gibbsite:
Al2O3.3H2O)
• Sand: pure quartz: SiO2
 9

Types of water:
Normal pore water - bonded to layers of smectites
Clays - illitic or kaolinitic clays: one-stage dewatering
Smectitic clays - two-stage dewatering

Lime Mud - AKA micrite

It can be generated from ocean floor or shat out by fish I’m not even kidding there’s a picture of
it on the slides

Primary Migration
Migration - movement of oil and gas into the sub-surface

Types:

• Primary - any movement within the mature source rock

• Secondary - movement of hydrocarbons from source through carrier into the trap
• Tertiary - movement of a previously formed accumulation

Shale Pore Classification:

• Macropores: > 50nm

• Mesopores: 2- 50 nm
• Micropores: 0.8 – 2 nm
• Ultramicropores: <0.8 nm
 10

While details of primary migration are not well known and debated, common theme include:

• a combination of kerogen networks

• pressure build up resulting in microcracks
• subsequent movement of hydrocarbons
• Consequences of these features:
o Petroleum generated will eventually be expelled
o Expulsion efficiency has a dependency on TOC in source rock
o Also depends on quality of kerogen (generative potential)

Methods of Primary Migration:

Gas Phase:

• Low density = high buoyancy

• Gas can dissolve and transport liquid HC; temperature and pressure dependent
• Only some oil deposits
• Above critical point – all hydrocarbons may exist in a single-phase Oil Phase (the good
one):
• Organic material may form from a continuous bitumen and oil network; results in oil-
wet rock or mixed wetting which facilitates oil migration
• CO2 will facilitate oil migration by lowering oil µ and σ
• Methane will lower oil µ and ρ
• Kerogen is 5-10% of source rocks and load bearing
• Maturation turns kerogen into HC fluids
• Fluid is also over pressured
• Overpressure fracs rock
• HCs escape
• Cracks closes until a new episode of generation takes place
Both methods carry over to secondary migration
Organic Richness - of the source rock plays an important role on HC expulsion and primary
migration
 11

Other Methods:
Diffusion: (small soluble HC)

• Migration from high to low areas of concentration

• Methane: 1.74 km in 140 million years (very slow)
• Little evidence for significant diffusion of HC molecules larger than ethane
• Spontaneous, irreversible process
• Disperses HCs
Solution: (small soluble HC) 3

• Important only to methane, ethane, benzene, and toluene and small aromatic HC
• Solubility varies with pressure, salinity, and temperature
• Order of increasing solubility for HC groups: Paraffins -> naphtenes -> aromatics
• HCs dissolved in pore water come out of solution; partitioning with an oil-gas phase,
increase in gas saturation

Generalized Process:

1. Diffusion: spread within kerogen network

2. Desorption: HCs move from kerogen to pore wall
3. Aggregation: HCs move from pore wall to space
4. Flow: buildup of HCs in pore space leads to flow

Additional thoughts on microfractures:

• Permeability is greater for flow of hydrocarbons through oil-wet fractures than through a
water wet pore system
• Microfractures are the result of localized pressure during rock formation:
 12

o Volume expansion form phase changes during generation

o Thermal expansion of water and hydrocarbons
o Complicated stress during burial

When and why do mature hydrocarbons remain staying in source rocks?

What are they?

• In shales due to low permeability and low porosity.

What are the major factors controlling micro fracturing-induced expulsion in

source rocks

Secondary Migration
Secondary Migration - Movement in the carrier rocks or reservoir rocks outside of the source
rock / movement through source rock fractures
Oil and Gas migrate as separate phases in the subsurface
Diffusion is a minor contributor to migration and only over short distances (10m to 100m)
Driving forces for secondary migration:
• Buoyancy
• Waterflow
Buoyancy is directly proportional to the density difference between the petroleum phase and
the formation water

Darcy’s measure - affinity of fluids to interact with solids

Higher permeability = more secondary migration

Secondary migration is limited by:

• Capillary pressure - pressure required for oil and gas to displace the water from the rock
it’s trying to enter
• Influenced by radius of pore throats, HC-water tension, wettability
• Direction of fluid movement beyond source rock
• Existing or developing fracture patterns
• Chemical changes

Secondary migration moves through carrier beds and faults

 13

Hydrostatic - aqueous pore fluids are stationary; only buoyancy

Hydrodynamic - exists with water flow; effects the buoyancy

Rock wettability - tendency of one fluid to spread onto the surface of a solid in the presence of
other immiscible fluids

Oil moves easier through water wet rock than oil wet rock
• Water wet system will yield higher recovery

Resistant Forces:
Capillary Pressure - force required for non-wetting phase to displace wetting phase from the
capillary

What does secondary migration tell us?

• Tracing HC migration routes
• Interpreting shows
• Predicting vertical and lateral seal capacity
• Producing fields
• General understanding of subsurface Migration Pathways:
o Joints
o Faults
o Lineaments
o Stylolites
o Unconformities
o Sheet and channel sandstones
o Bedding planes and fractures
 14

Directions and Distances: depend on basin type and configuration

Parameters that control secondary migration and subsequent formations:

• Capillary pressure
• Tortuosity
• Respective lengths/distances
Seal Morphology - different seal shapes create different formation geometries

Degree of petroleum concentration - ratio of an effective drainage area to the area of a trap OR of
generated HCs from drainage area to volume of the trap Orthocontours can show migration paths;
perpendicular to contours on structure contour map, buoyancy effect dictates that the rising petroleum
will follow these Orthocontours.
 15

Orthocontours show lines of maximum dip

These contours show migration vectors from a source pod to prospects

Drainage Divide - separates one hydrocarbon fetch area from another; usually follows the
structural lows
Spill Point - Corresponds to the shallowest point on the drainage divide
Structural Closure - Vertical distance from the crest of the structure to the lowest structural
contour that passes through the spill point
Tertiary Migration (aka Remigration) - movement of a previously formed accumulation, either
leaking to surface or to a different trap Manifestations at surface:
• Oil Seeps (petroleum leaking on land)
• Oil Slicks (Petroleum leaking onto ocean surface)
• Tar pits (pits of petroleum, don’t walk into these)
• Gas leaks (associated with salt movements)

Traps and Seals 2: Electric Boogaloo

The reservoir must be sealed by an impermeable cap-rock to prevent the upward escape of
petroleum to the surface
 16

The “seal capacity” of a caprock is expressed as the maximum petroleum column height it will
support without leakage

Capillary seals only occur when capillary pressure across the pore throat is greater than the
buoyancy pressure of migrating HCs

Sealing Capacity Equation:

Capillary pressure and pore radius define difference between reservoir rock and seal. Smaller
radius = more pressure = better seal

Good Seals vs Bad Seals

 17

Trap Types
Structural
• Fold traps (domes and anticlines, both tensional and compressional)
• Fault traps (tensional and compressional)
• Compactional (drape structures)
• Piercement traps (salt and mud diapirs)

Stratigraphic
• Depositional (lens, reef, pinch-out, channels, bars)
• Erosional (unconformity traps)
• Diagenetic (mineralization, tar mats, gas hydrates, permafrost)

Combination (structural and stratigraphic)

Hydrodynamic
caused by differences in water pressure thereby creating tilted hydrocarbon-water contact

Anticlines:
 18

Spill Point - synclinal shape that controls HC level

Partial Fill - limited amount of oil reaches trap: forms pockets of oil in anticlines
Asymmetric Anticlines - most anticlines are asymmetric, steep and gentle sides
Well placement matters since the steep-side will not have petroleum deposits

Fault Traps:

Salt Domes and Trap

Produced by upward movement of sediments that are less dense than those overlying them
Sediments tend to be dragged upward by diapir and form series of traps

Hydrodynamic Traps
If water flow is strong enough the OWC may deviate from the horizontal because of the
hydrodynamic shear
Flow of fresh water through rocks results in degradation of the oil
 19

What does an angular unconformity represent? Why can this be a difficult Exploration Target?
My guess is that an unconformity would split your reservoir up which would be a bitch to drill
for but idk

Clastic Reservoirs
So basically
• 4th order = wellbore
• (microscopic scale: nm to mm)
• 3rd order = interwell
• (mesoscopic scale: mm to m) •
2nd order = field / entire reservoir
• (macroscopic scale: cm to m)
• 1st order = sedimentary
environment/basin
• (megascopic scale: 1-100km)

4th Order Heterogeneity

I have no idea what this means but here's a picture

Where does reservoir data come from?

• Ditch cuttings
• Sidewall cores - less expensive than a whole core but more expensive than just using
cuttings (gives core plugs)
o Percussion
o Rotary
• Whole cores (conventional cores, like the ones from lab)
 20

• Outcrops

Depositional Texture
Grain Composition

Provenance - The reconstruction of the origin of sediments

Provenance effectively decides what particles end up as reservoir rocks. Three principal types:
• Detrital quartz dominated
• Feldspar dominated
• Lithic fragments dominated

Sorting and Porosity

Degree of sorting exerts a control on the porosity of a sandstone

• Initial porosity
• Capacity to receive cement

Diagenetic Cement - Generated Within

Allogenic Cement - introduced from an outside source

Better sorting = better pore network = higher porosity

Less sorting can also imply that the rock is "immature"

Packing:
 21

Effects of Diagenesis
Simple Compaction - first effect of burial
Cementation is typically caused by fluids that precipitate into the pore spaces

Porosity - Relationship between porous space and total rock volume

• Total: ratio of all volume to all bulk volume
• Effective: volume of interconnected pores to bulk volume
• Ineffective: closed pore spaces
• Primary: porosity formed at deposition
• Secondary: voids formed after deposition

Residual/Isolated porosity has two forms:

• Isolated meso/macropores within an otherwise connected network
• Micropores with high resistance to fluid flow

Porosity of conventional reserves range from 5-40% but average hovers ~10-20%
 22

Permeability
Typically, porosity and permeability are directly related

Classifications of clastic components (smallest to largest)

• Laminae
• Lamina-sets

• Beds
• Bed-sets
All of these are genetically similar when compared to each other; only difference is the area
they take up (therefore interval of time for formation)

Don’t forget that permeability is a 3D measurement (x,y,z measurements)

2nd order: multiple wells spanning the entire field

1st order heterogeneity: Sedimentary environments and basin scale

Clastic Reservoirs 2: Reloaded

Parasequences - small-scale cycles seen in wells and outcrops; consist of upward shallowing
followed by an abrupt deepening roughly 10-50k years and reflect shallowing of water overtime
bounded by flooding sequences

On gamma ray logs, Parasequences can be seen with spikes of high decay

Types of reservoirs
Layer Cake: laterally extensive sandstone units having no major discontinuities or changes in
horizontal permeability; good areal connectivity and water flooding = efficient areal sweep
Jigsaw: series of sand bodies that fit together without any major gaps; several wells needed per
sq. km before reservoir shape can be defined; some reservoir dead ends exist and can trap oil
during waterflooding (thief oil)
Labyrinth: complex arrangements of channels, lenses, and sand pods; interconnects exist
locally but only between thin sheet sands; connectivity is anisotropic; reservoir management is
AIDS
 23

Classification of clastic depositional environments into three reservoir types:

Fluvial Depositional Models and their heterogeneity

• Common oil and gas reservoirs
• Distribution and heterogeneity differences of these rock types and the nature of
the boundaries
Meandering vs Braided streams
 24

Braided:

• many channels instead of one single channel

• usually form in rivers with large volume variations or high sediment loads
• very wide and not very deep
• high net to gross sand ratios
Meandering:
• migrate by undercutting of a bend and depositing a point bar
• eventually shifts and creates oxbow lakes
Barrier Island Sandstone Reservoirs

• can be complex due to variety of factors

• always moving due to migration of barrier bar and storm wash overs
Deep-water sandstone reservoirs
• also complicated
• two plays develop: “Intra-slope plays” and “Basin Floor Plays”

Carbonate Reservoirs
Carbonate Rocks/Minerals:

• Limestone – Calcite (CaCO3)

• Dolostone – Dolomite (Mg Ca (CO3)2)
• Limestone – Argonite (CaCO3)

Siliciclastics vs Carbonates
 25

Carbonate Reservoir Distribution

Major production: >=50 billion bbls

More than 60% of reservoirs are carbonates, including Ghawar and Prudhoe Bay
Carbonate Rock Classification
Based on:
• Texture
 26

• Composition
• Depositional facies defined by texture, composition, and sedimentary structures
• Sedimentary structures and depositional fabrics can have significant influence on
porosity and permeability values

Porosity of the carbonate depends on its age

Carbonate Porosity
• Interparticle - pores between particles or grains
• Intraparticle - pores within individual particles or grains
• Intercrystal - pores between crystals
• Moldic - pores formed by dissolution of an individual grain or crystal in the rock
• Fenestral - Primary pores larger than grain-supported interstices
• Fracture - formed by a planar break
• Vug - large pores formed by indiscriminate dissolution of cements and grains
 27

Three classifications of pore networks:

Carbonate Reservoirs 2: Judgement Day

Petrophysical Classes

Diagenetic Environments, Processes, and Controls

Environments
• Meteoric: Vadosa Zone, Phreatic (fresh water)
 28

• Marine: Vadosa Zone, Mixing zone, Phreatic zone

• Burial: Shallow, deep (they had the same chart)

Processes
• Cementation – near-surface marine and meteoric, burial
• Dissolution – near-surface and burial
• Replacement / recrystallisation / neomorphism
• Compaction (mechanical and chemical)
• Dolomitization Controls
• Climate
• Sea-level change
• Porewater chemistry
• Microbial processes
• Time
We don’t know shit about dolomitization they just kinda happen I guess I’m not putting the
models in here

Risk Analysis
Hydrocarbon potential + economics + risk = decision

Exploration capital budget - funds used to drill wells

Probability of occurrence
 29

Probability scale: 0-1

Geological Risk Elements

• Source
• Seal
• Structure
• Reservoir
• Timing

These are summed up by probability and determined via events chart

Alternatively, some companies use

• Psource
• Ptrap
• Preservoir
• Pdynamics

POSg = Ptrap * Pseal * Preservoir * Ptiming * Psource

Estimating Prospect Reserves

Deterministic approach
• Volume of reserve calculated
Area * Avg. Net Pay * Recovery Factor = volume

Three Point Method

Three parameters
• Area
• Net Pay
• Recovery Factor
Uses a range of values for each parameter such that these values correspond to confidence
intervals
 30

Depth Structure Map Critical for making accurate reserve predictions; the petrogeologists first
priority

Statistical data sets for each parameter are organized into histograms to check for consistency

Remember P90 = 10% chance and P10 - 90% chance

Swanson's Mean Reserve

Multiply the three 10th and 90th percentiles.
Mean reserves = ~P50 value on log graph

=> (P90 * 0.3) + (P50 * 0.4) + (P10 * 0.3) = 0.3 1.37MM

Portfolio Management
Since 1993, most companies have persistently over-estimated prospect reserves by 3080%

Only ~38% of predictions are accurate

Most successful company startups tend to just calculate POSg and then sell the field lol cheesy
ass play
 31

Midterm & Final Review iClicker Questions:

1. What exploration concept implies more risk?

• Play
2. Is the direct deep resistivity measurement from logs a function of?
• Formation Fluids
3. What type of plate boundary produces mainly normal faults?
• Divergent boundaries 4. What is an isochore map?
• Contour map of true vertical thickness
5. Which type of deposits are strongly controlled by transport agent?
• Fluvial Deposits
6. Which parameter controls porosity and permeability in sedimentary deposits?
• D) Grain size and grain type
7. Which chemical elements does the spectral log respond to?
• K, Th, & U
8. Which type of plate boundary is associated with pull apart basins?
• Transform
9. What type of kerogen is more prone to produce liquid oil?
• Type I
10. What is the factor that relates maturation level and present burial depth?
• Geothermal Gradient
11. What is the most likely clay mineral to swell?
• Smectite
12. What are the major factors controlling Primary Migration and expulsion in source rocks?
• Micro Fracturing
13. What does an angular unconformity represent?
• Deformation and erosion (not A&B)
14. What textural properties will enhance reservoir properties? • Good Sorting
and Coarse Grain
15. How do carbonates form?
• Precipitation and Biological Deposition (A&B) 16. Which factors control
carbonate reservoir porosity?
• All of the Above
17. What exploration concepts implies more risk?
• Play
18. What is the price of oil today?
• 51.73 as of 11/26/18