7th Semester [PETROLEUM GEOLOGY] Petroleum: A naturally occurring oily flammable liquid composed of hydrocarbons, and occasionally found

in springs and pools but usually obtained from beneath the earths surface by drilling wells, usually called rock oil, unrefined petroleum is now usually called crude oil. Petroleum geology: The geology of petroleum (and natural gas), that is the detection and exploration of its occurrence and extent within the rocks of the earths crust, the examination of condition under which it was found, the consideration of its origin and mode of accumulation and study of all aspects of geological sciences which apply to these ends. The nature of Petroleum hydrocarbons: Introduction: Begin by describing the physical and chemical properties of hydrocarbons and defining five parameters that must be fulfilled for a commercial accumulation of hydro carbons to occur. The modal distribution of hydrocarbons, with respect to age, trap type, reservoir rock type, basinal setting and depth and by discussing reasons for this pattern. The physical and chemical properties of hydrocarbons: There are five major types of hydrocarbons of interest to petroleum exploration. 1. Kerogen: Kerogen is fine grained, generally amorphous, organic matter found principally in argillaceous sediments. Kerogen generates crude oil when heated and is insoluble in normal petroleum solvents such as carbon disulphide. Its average chemical composition is 75% carbon, 10% hydrogen, and 15% other (Sulfur, oxygen, nitrogen, etc.) Kerogen is of no commercial significance except where it is so abundant (greater than 10%) as to occur in oil shales. It is however, of great geological importance because it is the substance which generates hydrocarbon oil and gas. A source rock must contain significant amount of Kerogen. 2. Asphalt: asphalt is a hydrocarbon that is solid at surface temperatures and pressures, though it may flow slowly and plastically. Unlike Kerogen, asphalt is soluble in normal petroleum solvents. It is produced by the partial maturation of Kerogen or by the degradation of mature crude oil. 3. Crude Oil: crude oil is a hydrocarbon that is liquid at surface temperature and pressures, and is soluble in normal petroleum solvents. Chemically, it consists of four major group of organic compounds: i. ii. iii. iv. i. Paraffins Naphthenes Aromatics Asphaltics

Paraffin or alkane types of molecules are straight chains of carbon atoms with single bonds between the carbons. The general formula for Paraffins is Cn H2n + 2. They range in size from 5 carbons up in length and do not cause any problems unless the molecule is longer than 18 carbons in length. These long molecules are waxy and form waxy crude oil. In the subsurface reservoir where it is hot, a waxy crude oil exists as a liquid. When the waxy crude oil is pumped up the well, however, the oil cools and waxes solidify inside the well, restricting production. Because waxes are not very valuable, a refiner pays less for a waxy crude oil. The Naphthene or cycloparaffin type of molecule is a closed circle with single bond between the carbon atoms. The general formula for naphthenes is CnH2n. these molecules vary from 5

ii.

7th Semester [PETROLEUM GEOLOGY] carbons up in size. Oils with high naphthene content tend to have a high asphalt content that reduces the value of the oil. iii. The aromatic or benzene molecules are closed rings with some double bonds between carbon atoms. Their general formula is CnH2n-6. Aromatic molecules range from 6 carbons up in size. At the refinery, an aromatic-rich crude oil yields the highest-octane gasoline. Because of this, a refiner often pays a premium for this type of crude oil. Fresh from the well, a normal crude oil has a pungent odor of gasoline. An aromatic-rich crude oil, however, has fruity odor. The asphaltic molecule is brown to black and is solid to semisolid under room conditions it has a high boiling point and high molecular weight, with 40 to over 60 carbon atoms. Asphaltics are not valuable, and the refiner wills not pays as much for an asphaltic crude oil. Average Molecular composition of crude oil.
Molecular Type Paraffin Naphthene Aromatic Asphaltic % by Weight 30 49 15 6

iv.

Refiners are concerned with the products they refine from crude oil. Because of this, there are two basic crude oils to the refiner. An asphaltic-based crude oil contains little or no paraffin wax and tends to be black in color. When it is refined, it yields considerable high-grade gasoline and asphalt. A paraffin-based crude oil contains little or no asphalt and tends to be greenish in color. When refined, it yields considerable paraffin was, high-quality lubricating oil, and kerosene. A mixed-based crude oil is a combination of both types. Crude oils are commonly described by their gravity or density. A commonly used density scale is API (American petroleum institute) gravity. The formula for computation of API gravity is:

An API gravity of 10 equals a specific gravity of 1.0. Heavy oils, e.g., those that sink in water, have an API of less than ten. Normal crudes have API values of between 30-40o API (0.88 - 0.80 specific gravity). Average crude oil fall in the 30 40 degree range. The API gravity of crude oils varies from about 5 to 55 degrees. Very light and fluid crude oils have high API gravities, from 45 to 55 degrees. Dense, viscous, and dark-colored crude oils have API gravities, from 5 to 20 degrees. 4. Natural Gas: natural gas is a term used in the industry to imply hydrocarbon gas, though there are many inorganic natural gases beneath the earth. The major hydrocarbon gases are methane (CH4), ethane (C3H6), propane (C3H8), and butane (C4H10). Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) gas is sometimes present, hence the terms sour and sweet gas. Sweet natural gas is gas without hydrogen sulfide; sour natural gas has the impurity. Many natural gas fields are almost pure methane. Propane and butane burn so hot that they are often refined from natural gas, compressed to liquefy them, and sold separately as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). A unit used to measure heat quantity in a fuel is the British thermal unit (Btu), which is approximately equivalent to the heat given off by burning one wooden match. In general, the Btus in 1 barrel of crude oil are equivalent to the Btus in 6040 cubic feet of gas. The non-hydrocarbon, gaseous impurities in natural gas are called inerts.

7th Semester [PETROLEUM GEOLOGY] 5. Condensates: condensates are hydrocarbons transitional between gas and crude oil (gaseous in the subsurface but condensing to liquid at surface temperatures and pressures). Chemically, condensates consist largely of Paraffins, such as pentane, octane, and hexane. Origin, Migration and accumulation of petroleum: Generation or Origin of petroleum: The most important factor in the generation of crude oil from organic matter in sedimentary rocks is temperature. A minimum temperature of 120F (50C) is necessary from generation of oil under average sedimentary basin conditions. The minimum temperature is reached by burying the organic-rich sediments in the earth the deeper the depth, the higher the temperature. At relatively shallow depts., the temperature is not sufficient to generate oil. Bacterial action on the organic matter produces a large volume of biogenic gas that is almost pure methane. This gas is commonly known as swamp gas, and is generated very quickly. The generation of biogenic gas decreases as the bacterial action decreases with depth. In an average sedimentary basin, oil generation starts at 120 F (50C), peaks at 190F (90C), and ends at 350F(175C). Time is also an important factor. The older the sediments are, the lower the temperature of generation. Younger sediments need higher temperature to generate oil than the average. Heavy oils (viscous, with low PI gravities) are generated at the lower temperatures. Light oils (fluid, with high API gravities) are generated at the higher temperatures. It takes million of years to generate oil from organic matter. The youngest know source rock that has generated oil is Pliocene. At temperatures higher than 350F (175C), crude oil is irreversibly transformed into graphite (carbon) and natural gas. Organic matter and coal also generate only natural gas at these higher temperatures. This gas is generated at a rapid rate and is called thermal gas. Wet gas is formed first, and then, under higher temperatures, dry gas is formed. Because the oil generation has a ceiling (120F) and a floor (350F), the depth in the earth where oil is generated is called the oil window. Above (biogenic gas) and below (thermal gas) the oil window, natural gas is generated. The depths at which the oil window occurs in a given area depend upon the heat gradient of the earths crust in that area. For an average sedimentary basin (surface temperature of 55F, 1.4F per 100-foot gradient), the oil window starts at about 5000 feet and ends at 21,000 feet. This also varies with the age of the sediments. Crude oil cannot exist below the oil window. Many sedimentary basins are unproductive. An unproductive basin might not have an organic-rich source rock that could generate petroleum. Even if an unproductive basin has a source rock, it might never have been buried unto the oil window. Shallow, biogenic gas could have been generated, but was not trapped. Some productive basins are gas-prone; that is, they produce online natural gas. Woody organic matter derived from land trees generates only natural gas. Non-woody organic matter generates ancient sedimentary rocks is algae. If the basins source rock contains only woody organic matter, the basin will be gas-prone. A gas-prone basin can also originate when high temperatures destroy the oil, forming thermal gas. Migration: Migration is the process whereby petroleum moves from its place of origin, the source rock, to its destruction at the earths surface. Along the route, the petroleums progress may be temporarily arrested an d the petroleum may rest on its journey within a trap. The process of migration may be divided into three stages. Primary migration- expulsion of petroleum from source rock; Secondary migration- the journey from source rock to trap; Tertiary migration- leakage and dissipation of the petroleum at the earths surface. Accumulation: Once the gas and oil migrates into the trap, it separates according to density. The gas, being lightest, goes to the top of the trap to form the free gas cap. The oil goes to the middle, and the water, which is always present, is on the bottom. The oil portion of the trap is saturated with a certain percentage of oil and water. The gas-oil portion of the trap is saturated with a certain percentage of oil and water. The gas-oil and oil- water

7th Semester [PETROLEUM GEOLOGY] contacts are buoyant and are usually level. In some traps, only gas and water are found. In other traps, only oil and water are found, although there is usually some gas dissolved in the oil. A well drilled on the crest of structure has the highest probability of discovering petroleum. This is called drilling on structure. The well would encounter the free gas cap and oil. A well drilled to the side is called drilling off structure. It would miss the free gas cap and encounter oil and water. A well that does not produce commercial amounts of petroleum is called a dry hole, duster, or wet well. Source Rocks: The ultimate source of gas and oil is the organic matter buried in sedimentary rocks. Most sedimentary rocks were deposited in an ancient costal or shallow-water environment. A source rock is a sedimentary rock that contains sufficient organic matter such that when it is buried and heated it will produce petroleum (oil and gas). Oil and gas form from organic matterdead plants and animals. Along with mineral grains such as sands and muds, organic matter, dead plants and animals, was deposited. A lot of the organic matter decays on the surface, a process of oxidation by oxygen from the air, or dissolved in the water. Some, however, is preserved. It was either buried by other sediments before it decayed or was deposited on the bottom of a sea with stagnant, oxygen-free waters. The black color of sedimentary rocks comes primarily from the organic content. Two black-colored, organic-rich sedimentary rocks are coal and shale. Coal is pure, woody material that has been transformed by high pressure and temperature. Coal is not a common rock. A coal seam 1 to 2 feet thick near the surface off the ground is considered minable. Shale is the most common sedimentary rock, and many types of shale are black. Black shale will commonly have 1 to 3% organic matter, whereas green or gray shale has about 0.5% organics. Because black shale is so common and has such a high organic contain, it is thought to be the source rock for most gas and oil. Some sedimentary layers, usually sandstones and shales, are red in color, and are called red beds. There red color is formed by an iron oxide coating on the grains. Iron oxide coating is thought to form in a highly oxidizing environment, such as a desert. When red bed sediments were deposited, all organic matter was removed from the sediments by oxidation. Source Rock: Source rocks are sedimentary rocks, usually shales or limestones, in which organic matter was transformed to liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons under the influence of pressure, heat, and time. Source rock patameters are (1) amount of organic matter, (2) type of organic matter, and (3) maturity of organic matter. An active source rock can be defined as a rock containing a sufficient amount of organic matter of a proper type and of sufficient maturity. A potential source rock is an immature source rock. Generation of hydrocarbons from source beds is related to temperature and, to a lesser degree. To pressure and geologic time. Oil is generated and primary migration occurs when the source rocks attain an optimum temperature range. The temperature gradient is variable in different basins. The term oil window has been applied to the temperature range in which hydrocarbons are generated. The present depth of burial may be markedly less than in previous geological epochs because of erosion of large volumes of overburden since oil generation took place. Reservoir Rock: The reservoir rock is the rock in which oil and gas are found. Hydrocarbon reservoirs are rocks that have sufficient porosity and permeability to permit the accumulation of crude oil or natural gas under adequate trapping conditions. In more instances the rock is sediment, generally a sandstone or a carbonate rock; exceptionally, shales, pyroclastics, tuffs, or fractured igneous rocks serve as reservoir rocks. There are two fundamental physical properties that a good reservoir must have. (1) Porosity which is the void spaces within the rock to contain hydrocarbons and (2) Permeability due to which fluids are able to flow through the pores. It is therefore essential for the pore spaces in the reservoir rock to be connected.

7th Semester [PETROLEUM GEOLOGY] Effective porosity refers to the amount of pore volumes, which are actually interconnected. The porosity of a rock is the ratio of its total pore space to its total volume.

Many rocks are sufficiently porous but still useless as reservoirs, because their passageways or pore-throats are too small to allow petroleum droplets to move through them. This can be due to fine grain size, as in siltstones and shales, or to poor sorting, where fine and coarse grain sizes are intermixed and the finer particles clog the passageways. The best reservoirs are coarse to medium grained and show a high degree of sorting. Muddy sandstone lithologies, deposited by turbidity currents or rocks containing unstable minerals which are easily weathered to clay generally make poor reservoir rocks. Permeability is the capacity of a porous rock for transmitting gas or fluids. Permeability is determined conventionally based on Darcys law using the equation:

The conventional units of measurements are Darcy (D) or milidarcy (mD).most reservoirs, however, only have permabilities recorded in the range of milidarcies (1/1000 Darcy), typically between 5 and 500 millidarcies, although some reservoirs may have permeabilitys exceeding 5 dacries. Gas which is less viscous than crude oil may be able to flow from tight sands or dense limestones with permabilities of only a few milidarcies or less. Porosity in reservoir rocks is normally between 10% and 20%, but some excellent reservoirs may have porosities of 30% or more. Accumulations in reservoir with less than about 5% porosity are usually not commercial. Porosity is classified as primary and secondary according to its time of formation. Sandstones generally have primary intergranular porosities, while limestones have secondary porosity. Carbonate reservoirs are usually cemented quite early and most lose their primary porosity. Carbonates, when they are reservoirs have porosities which are usually secondary. This may be due to solution, to fracture or to intercrystalline pore development. Porosity Sandstone: Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor Very poor to tight 25-30 20-25 15-20 10-15 5-10 <5 % % % % % %

Less than about 8 % in sandstones will not normally produce oil. In carbonates: Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor >20 15-20 10-15 5-10 2-5 % % % % %

7th Semester [PETROLEUM GEOLOGY] Less than 2% will probably not produce any oil. Permeability For oil: Excellent >1000 Very good 500-1000 Good 50-500 Fair 5-50 Poor 0.1-5 Very poor 0.01-0.1 For gas, permabilities can be lower because of its low viscosity.

md md md md md md