Ge3244 Summaray: Ntroduction
Ge3244 Summaray: Ntroduction
1 INTRODUCTION
Barrel of oil: 42 US gallons, 158.987 liters, $108.22 @ Aug 12th 2013
Petroleum is flammable liquid found in rock formations with complex mixtures of hydrocarbons
Natural gas is made from paraffin-like hydrocarbon molecules; Methane (mostly) CH4, Ethane
C2H6, Propane C3H8, Butane C4H10, H2S Rotten Eggs (very corrosive), inert gas (Co2, N, He)
Condensate: Shorter chain liquid hydrocarbons (5-7C) that condense out of wet gas (reservoirs
at high temp, surface low temp > change phase)
Wet gas are natural gas that contains condensate
Crude oil shrink when produced because pressure increase with depth, gas dissolved in oil. At
surface, the pressure is relieved and solution gas bubbles out. (Gas Oil Ratio)
Type of hydrocarbons: Alkanes (CnH2n+2), cycloalkanes (CnH2n), aromatic hydrocarbons (CnHn)
API = density scale, API of crude oils from 5 to 55, Light oil (35-45), Heavy oil (<25)
Principle components of kerogen: organic material like zooplankton, algae, terrestrial plants
Diagenesis (Cooking): burial process under high levels of heat (T) and pressure (P)
Petroleum production varying with geothermal gradient and depth of burial
Van Krevelin Diagram: classifying kerogens
Petroleum oil and gas forms from thermal maturation of buried kerogen.
(Oil @ 70-200 oC, gas @ >200 to 400 oC window)
Crude oil is refined by fractional distillation and cracking
2.1 MIGRATION
Migration: Migrate through primary migration (density difference between oil and water, and
compaction of source rocks by surface, microfractures from cooking) and secondary migration
(migration along paths of established permeability, seals)
Compaction: effect of weight of layers of rock lying above
Large amount of pore water squeezed out and escaped to surface
Mud (~20% water) > Clay (~10%water) > Shale (~5% water)
Porosity decrease with increasing depth ( water squeezed out)
Porosity is a measure of the void spaces in a rock (Void Volume/Total Volume). Measured by
Volume/density method, Water evaporation method, mercury intrusion, gas expansion method
Secondary porosity(cause overpressure) is caused by clay mineral reactions (lower density clay
breaking down to high density products) and organic reactions (Fluid P>tensile strength of rock =
fracture)
Permeability is the measure of the ease which fluid flows through a material. Measured by
forcing He or Hg through. (Darcy)
Wettability = ability of fluid to coat the mineral surface. Affects the amount of oil and gas that
can be extracted from reservoirs
Irreducible = percentage of effective porosity occupied by a fluid. Cannot be driven out
Most reservoirs are water wet, most oil source rocks are oil wet, carbonate reservoirs are mixed
Permeability is affected by presence of another phase (Oil and water)
Reservoir enhancement:
Increase Pressure by gas or water injection from nearby well
Reduce surface tension of oil (reduce viscosity) by add surfactants or heat oil with steam
Dissolve the oil in water, steam or carbon dioxide
Expand pore throats with dissolving acids (change wettability)
Oil must be pushed by
Strong Pressure differential from source to trap
Strong water flow from source to trap
Long, continuous phase hydrocarbon column = buoyancy force (density difference)
Capillary pressure: limiting pressure before start of migration of oil globules
Strike Slip Fault (Left Right)
Strength of fault seal quantified by subsurface pressure(capillary threshold pressure),
arising from buoyancy forces within hydrocarbon column that the fault can support
before leaking
Shale Gouge Ratio: net shale/clay content of the rocks
Hot water reacts with feldspars at fault zone to form impermeable clay layer
Salt Domes: formed which thick bed of evaporate minerals found at depth intrudes vertically
into surrounding rock strata, forming a diaper
Drill down here
1. Dome
Above Salt
4. Carbonate
Reef or Bank 3 cap rock
6 Fault trap on
5 side of dome side of dome
7 Angular unformity
8 pinch out
of sandstone
Ultrasonic: micro imaging, can see bedding and fracture orientation
a.
9. Principle of Uniformitarianism
a. Law of nature have been uniform and constant through time
b. Same processes operating today have been operated in the past, e.g. rock cycle
c. The present is the key to the past
10. Principle of Relative Dating
a. Places events in sequential order but not how long ago an event took place
b. Mean to interpret geologic history and develop a relative geologic time scale
c. Fundamental Principles of Relative Dating
i. Superposition
ii. Original horizontality
iii. Cross-cutting relationships
1. E.g. An igneous intrusion must be young than the rock it intrudes
iv. Lateral continuity
v. Inclusion
1. Inclusions in a rock are older than the rock layer itself
vi. Fossil succession
11. Principle of absolute Dating
a. Radiometric dating: many elements have unstable radioactive isotopes
i. Measure proportion of radioactive parents isotope to stable daughter isotope,
determine number of half-lives cycle
b. Long-Lived Radoactive Isotope Pair
i. Uranium: half-life 4.47 billion years, date ancient igneous rock, lunar samples,
meteorites
ii. Rubidium-strontium: half-life 47 billion years, used on old igeneous and met
rocks
iii. Potassium-argon: half-life 1.3 billion years, use to date volcanic rocks
12. Principle of the Geologic Time Scale
a. Absolute age of most sedimentary rocks and their contained fossils are established
indirectly
Glacial Environment (not source)
Lake
Sand dunes (dessert environment, well rounded sandstones, ideal reservoirs)
Alluvial fan (sand & gravel = reservoir)
Lake (lacustrine) environment
Lagoon
Continental Shelf environment (<200m depth)
Submarine Fan environment (depositional environment)
Barrier island environment
Deep marine environment
Tidal flat
Delta environment
Beach environment
Fluvial (river) environment
Siliciclastic rocks: quartz, potassium and sodium feldspar, rock fragment
Gravel >2mm : Conglomerate (rounded clasts), sedimentary breccia (angular clasts)
Sand 1/16mm to 2mm: Quartz sandstone(mostly quartz), Arkose (>25% feldspars)
Silt 1/256mm to 1/16mm: Siltstone (not good seal, will slowly leak, good gas reservoirs)
Clay <1/256mm: Claystone (shale if fissile)
Silt + clay: Mudstone (shale if fissile)
Clay minerals formed by chemical weathering (water + granite = clay)
Shale only deposited in the least energetic environment (quiet places like lakes, delta swamps,
tidal flats, lagoons, mangrove swamps, outer continental shelf, abyssal plains)
6 PALEOGEOGRAPHY OF LIMESTONE
Limestone made from calcium carbonate CaCO3
Increased silicate weathering>increased drawdown of CO2>global cooling
Colder ocean dissolves more CO2, decreases atmospheric CO2
Carbonate ion concentration of seawater regulates atmospheric CO2
Seawater is supersaturated with respect to calcite by a factor of ~5
Triggering Mechanism for deposition of calcite
1. Increased Temperature
Lower Temperature = Increase CO2 solubility = less calcite
2. Agitated Water (decreased agitation)
Less agitation = CO2 increase = CaCO3 precipitate as lime mud
3. Saline Water (high salt content)
Increased salinity = precipitate more calcite
4. Organisms (increased organic activity)
Most carbonate is formed by organisms
Reefs (communities of plant (algae) and animals(coral, sponges, etc.)
Calcite compensation depth (CCD): above CCD calcite precipitates, ~ 4.5km below sea level
Most carbonates forming today in:
1. Warm Water
Calcite is precipitated easily
Growth of calcareous (mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate)
organisms is stimulated
2. No silicate detritus (quartz/feldspar sand, mud)
Silicate clastics choke growth of calcareous-shelled organisms
3. Typically in shallow rather than deep water
As shells of planktonic forams sink below CCD, they dissolve
Extensive shallow shelf seas are absent today because temperatures are colder and ice caps and
glaciers have taken up water as ice
Shallow marine carbonate environments are influenced by:
1. Concentration of CO2 dissolved in seawater
2. Water temperature, water chemistry, including salinity
3. Availability of sunlight & nutrients (biological growth)
4. Weather systems (waves & pressure systems, storms, etc.)
5. Sea level changes, relative and tidal
6. Amount of sediment delivered to the shoreline by rivers
Major marine carbonate environments are tidal flats, sub tidal environments (lagoons), reefs,
open shallow and deep marine shelf ramps, deep basin and deep submarine fan environment
(Carbonate factory below)
1.
Limestone CaCO3 (density 2.71), from modern carbonate shells, corals, etc (aragonite).
Dolostone (CaMg)(CO3)2 forms during lithification with Mg+2 from seawater replacing Ca2+ in
calcite
1. Density of calcite = 2.71, dolomite = 2.84
2. Increased porosity because same amount of limestone change to dolomite results in
cracking
Test for calcite or dolomite: diluted hydrochloric acid (HCl)
1. Calcite will bubbles visibly releasing CO2 gas
2. Dolostone will not react unless crushed and powdered
Limestone classification
1.
Ramp margin carbonate environment: supratidal and subtidal regions, lagoons, shaloow ramp
shoals of ooids, steeper ramp region, basin sea floor environments: all carbonate no siliclastics
1.
Rimmed margin carbonate environment: shelf edge barrier reefs, sharp shelf edge reef “walls”,
foreslope reef debris and turbidite fans to basin sea floor environments: all carbonate, no
siliclastics
1.
Sandstone and limestones are brittle: when they are bent (folded) they fracture and break to
form joint
1. Joint patterns have a tremendous influence on the productivity of gas and oil reservoirs
Fracture reservoirs in limestone
1. Provide permeability for a porous but low permeability reservoirs
2. Open fractures enhance already permeable rocks
Limemud (micrite) matrix: micro-crystalline calcite
Sparite matrix: cemented as coarse carbonate crystals (calcite spar) precipitated from
supersaturated pore fluids