PETROLEUM GEOLOGY SKPP 3223

CHAPTER 6
Origin of Petroleum
 PETROLEUM
Difference between Crude Oil, Petroleum Products and Petroleum
Crude Oil Mixture of HC existing as liquid in
natural underground reservoirs and
remain liquid during extraction

Petrol eum Produced from the processing of crude

Pro ducts oil at petroleum refineries and
extraction of liquid HC at natural gas
processing plan t

Petrol eum Refers to the broad category that

includes both crude oil and petroleum
products
Co mposition of Crude Oil
Differe nt Crude Oil Quality
Differe nt Crude Oil Quality
 Petroleum Formation
There are basically 2 theories explaining the origin of petroleum
1. Abiotic theory
2. Biotic theory
 1.0 Abiotic/ Inorganic The ory
a) Deep s eated terrestrial hypothesis

Dmitri Mendeleev (1877)- Petroleum deposits in the world

seem to be con trolled more by large scale tectonic features
than by the age of sedimen tary rocks

• Primodial Origin
• Plate tectonic activity

- man tle of the ear th con tained iron carbide which

would react with percolating water to form methane
FeC2 + 2H2O = CH4 + FeO2

Pro blem?
lack of evidence for the existence
of iron carbide in the man tle.
 1.0 Abiotic/ Inorganic The ory
a) Extraterrestrial Hypothesis
• Sokoloff (1890)- cosmic origin for petroleum. His
theory was that hydrocarbons precipitated as rain
from original nebular matter from which the solar
system was formed. The hydrocarbons were then
ejected from ear th's in terior on to surface rocks
• Mueller (1963) -meteorite called carbonaceous
chondrites,. Chondritic meteorites con tain greater
than 6% organic matter (not graphite) and traces of
various hydrocarbons including amino acids.
 1.0 Abiotic/ Inorganic The ory
Methane and extraterrestrial hydrocarbons
Methane in Titan (Saturn’s Moo n)

Radar images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft (2015)

Methane in Mars
 2.0 Biotic/ Organic The ory
Engler (1890) - The oil and gas are formed
from remains of prehistoric plan ts and animals.
Remains of plan ts have been transformed to
coal and animals to oil and gas
WIDELY ACCEPTED THEORY
REASON
1. Carbon-hydrogen-organic matter connection
2. Chemical characteristics of petroleum similar
to plan t and animal matter
3. Presence of porphyrins also mean that
anaerobic conditions

Asphalt lake
Trinidad
2.0 Biotic/ Organic The ory

Video Formation of Biogenic Petroleum

 2.0 Biotic/ Organic The ory
4 stages cycle of organic matters
1. Early m ari n e life forms living on earth
were primarily plankton (rich in
hydrogen & carbon) 95%
living mat ters in ocean is plankton
2. As these plankton di ed, their remain s
were cap tured by the process of erosion
and sedimen tation.
3. Successive layers of organic-rich m ud &
silt covered preceding layers of organic-
rich s edi m ents & over time created
layers on the sea floor rich in the fossil
remain s of previous life.
4. Therm al m aturati o n processes (decay,
heat,pressure) slowly conver ted the
organic mat ter in to oil & gas over periods
of million s of geologic years.
 Com position of Sedim entary Organ ic Matter and
KEROGEN

The major group of compounds in organic matter are:

1. Proteins - found largely in animals and to a lesser exten t in plan ts. They con tain
H, C, O, N, with some S and P. The simplest form of protein is aminoacids
2. Carbohydrates - presen t in both plan ts and animals and consists of C, H and O
with H/ O ratio being 2 as in the water molecule. They include sugars, glucose,
cellulose, starch and chitin
3. Lipids - Found in both animals and plan ts. Include fats, oils and waxes. Con tain C,
H and O.
4. Lignins - Found in higher plan ts.

KEROGEN: The early diagenesis of organic

matter modifies the organic matter and
converts the biopolymers to geopolymers
collectively. Sedimen tary organic matter
insoluble in organic solven ts