W1V6-Origin of Hydrocarbon Resources2-V2016 - Handout PDF

Oil & Gas
From exploration to distribution

Week 1 V06 Origin of hydrocarbon resources
part 2
Jean-Pierre Deflandre
W1V6 Origin of hydrocarbon resources 2 p. 1

IFPEN - IFP School 2016 / TOTAL SA 2016
IFPEN - IFP School 2015 / TOTAL SA 2015 / IFP Training 2015
Introduction
Last time was introduced the downward part of the story, from surface sediment deposit to the expulsion
of hydrocarbon fluids from the source rock. Our objective was to understand how sediments generate
hydrocarbon fluids.
In this lesson we will focus on the underground migration of hydrocarbon fluids, these fluids being not so
dense as water that they will aim to move upward.
Therefore, looking at migration pathways will allow us to understand and inventory the wide spectrum of
natural hydrocarbon resources.
Our main objective will be to understand the origin of the different typologies of hydrocarbon which
indeed reflect the different underground fluid flow stories.
Another objective will be to introduce very basic notions of fluid flows in porous media.
Geological scenario
For our travel in the underground, we will use this particular schematic geological section to comment on
examples of hydrocarbon migration scenarios and to illustrate where the different typologies of
hydrocarbon resources can be found.
At first we can consider four main domains: the atmosphere, the sea, the continental basement and finally
the sedimentary rock domain where hydrocarbons are generated and displace.
If real, such a section would be a testimony of a quite complex and long geological story during which large
scale tectonics and erosion processes strongly reshape the Earth: tilting formations, faulting them while
eroding others and creating new ones in a permanent way during hundreds of millions of years.
Faults, depending on their sealing, play an important role in fluid migration, isolating or connecting the
different compartments noted here: A, B, C and D.
In our case we will assume the fault separating compartments A and B to be permeable (fluids can circulate
in the fault) and the two others as impermeable, being sealed by some minerals.
Indeed in each location it is a particular story geologists will aim to understand when addressing oil and gas
production.
Let us look in detail at these sedimentary formations composed, in our specific case, of:
two source rocks, mainly shales, coal and different types of clays and sandstones. These different kinds of
rocks represent more or less porous and permeable materials where hydrocarbon fluids can or cannot
displace through or accumulate into.

The porosity represents the amount of void in a medium such as hole volumes in a piece of swiss cheese.
The permeability reflects the ability of a material to allow fluids to displace through it. It represents the
way pores and/ or open fracture networks are connected.
Permeability is reported in Darcies or more generally in millidarcies.
The more the compaction of the rock the less the porosity and permeability of it.

Let us now focus on the geological sequence in compartment A.

The deepest and oldest sedimentary layer, a source rock, in brown, is first overlapped by a tight sandstone
formation, in light yellow, then a thin coal deposit, in black, a second tight sandstone formation and a
second source rock deposit. All these formations correspond to extremely low permeability formations.
Fluid migration in such formations is not easy due to capillary pressure effects.
Above, two porous and permeable sandstone layers in yellow and orange respectively covered by an
impermeable clay formation have been more or less eroded over time from one compartment to the
other.
Such sandstones are excellent carrier systems for fluid migration, and on the contrary clay is an efficient
barrier such as the source rocks themselves.
The red line corresponds to the geological erosion limit of these oldest sediments. It is called unconformity
and delimits two main geological stages.

Note on the left part of the figure all these sediments outcrop. This is very helpful for the study of buried
sediments.
On the right part of the figure, these sediments remain buried but they have been uplifted during tectonics
phases.
This means they were buried deeper at a higher temperature and pressure some millions of years ago
making the maturation of organic matter possible.
Back to our geological section now. The recent sedimentary layers correspond to another type of clay in
light green and to two very different permeable and porous sandstones.

Migration of hydrocarbon fluids

Now let us consider the different scenarios of migration of the hydrocarbon fluids taking into account
petrophysical rock properties such as porosity and permeability, in situ stresses, pressure gradients,
temperature, etc and source rock maturation.
Last time we saw that hydrocarbon fluids were expelled from the source rock if it was mature enough.
Most fluids remain within the source rock.

Now lets start our inventory of the hydrocarbon resources.
Typologies of hydrocarbon resources

First let us consider the HC remaining trapped within the Source rock which represents huge resources
worldwide.
They are nowadays exploited in North America delivering light oil, condensates or gas, better known as
shale oil and shale gas.

Oil or gas will penetrate the tight sandstones and will be trapped due to the very low permeability effects.
Hydrocarbon resources present in tight formations can be disseminated in wide sedimentary areas. They
represent huge resources and can be produced in a similar way as source rocks.
To be exhaustive we have also to consider the gas generated from another kind of source rock: the coal
beds.
Methane is trapped within the coal itself and is produced thanks to the natural fracture system.

Hydrocarbons will also easily penetrate the high porosity high permeability sandstones located above,
starting their long-term upward migration.
At this stage, there are two main scenarios when considering migration.
-Nothing blocks the migration of hydrocarbon fluids allowing them to reach the surface.
-It is blocked or affected by a barrier of permeability (such as a clay formation or a sealed fault) which will
block them or will affect their pathway.
When nothing blocks the migration of hydrocarbon fluids as in compartment A, they reach the surface as
oil and gas seeps.
At shallow depths oil can be biodegraded creating tar sands and bitumen or extra heavy oil deposits such
as in Canada and Venezuela.
In another geological context, such as in compartment D, gas penetrates the shallow porous sediments,
and in presence of water, changes into solid hydrates due to specific high pressure and low temperature
conditions.
Huge amounts of gas are trapped under hydrates in large areas worldwide within artic domains and deep
offshore.
Now let us consider the case where hydrocarbon fluids migrate into a geological cul-de-sac.
No escape is possible and fluids will accumulate over time in this local and limited trap as indicated here.
It is the combination of a porous and permeable rock, which we call a reservoir rock, capped with an
impermeable one: a caprock or seal by definition.
The production of hydrocarbon fluids located in structural traps is the most common way to produce oil
and gas today. In other words it is conventional.
By comparison all the other scenarios are called unconventional ones.
Our last case corresponds to immature rich-organic source rock. This is the case in compartment A for
source rock located at shallow depths.
Producing oil from such resources is possible ex situ after mining and heating.
These huge hydrocarbon resources are known as oil shale resources.


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Oil & Gas

From exploration to distribution

W1V6 Origin of hydrocarbon resources 2 p. 1

W1V6 Origin of hydrocarbon resources 2 p. 3

W1V6 Origin of hydrocarbon resources 2 p. 4

Let us now focus on the geological sequence in compartment A.

W1V6 Origin of hydrocarbon resources 2 p. 5

W1V6 Origin of hydrocarbon resources 2 p. 7

Migration of hydrocarbon fluids

W1V6 Origin of hydrocarbon resources 2 p. 8

Now lets start our inventory of the hydrocarbon resources.

Typologies of hydrocarbon resources

W1V6 Origin of hydrocarbon resources 2 p. 9

W1V6 Origin of hydrocarbon resources 2 p. 10

W1V6 Origin of hydrocarbon resources 2 p. 13

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