Igneous reservoirs are unconventional petroleum reservoirs found within the Earth.

These petroleum
reservoirs are made up of reservoir rocks that store fluids within the pores of the rocks, which
accumulate water, gas and oil. Igneous reservoirs are considered as secondary reservoir targets for
oil and gas exploration compared to the more common sandstone and carbonate reservoirs. Igneous
reservoirs make up a small percentage of reservoirs explored but they can still be a viable option for
oil production. There are prominent igneous reservoirs found in Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan,
Venezuela, Argentina, Russia, California and in China. [1]

Figure 1 Various igneous reservoirs worldwide [1]

Igneous rocks form reservoirs in many parts of the world. Reservoir quality varies and most benefit
from natural fractures since the majority of these reservoirs can be shown to contain hydrocarbons
that migrated from conventional sedimentary sources. [2]

History and features of igneous reservoirs

Figure 2 Schematic of a typical petroleum reservoir (from Petropedia, How Hydrocarbon Reservoirs Are
Formed: The Rock Cycle) [3]

To form a reservoir there must a system where a source rock, which produces the hydrocarbons, is
trapped and sealed with a good porosity and permeability to accumulate the petroleum for
production in economical quantities. Viable igneous reservoirs need to have a similar attributes as
the sedimentary reservoirs, i.e. good porosity and permeability with the ability of migration, see
Figure 2. Since igneous rocks are much more resistant to weathering than sedimentary or carbonate
rocks, the most common way to have a good porosity in these igneous reservoirs will be fractured
porosity. There are three main reservoirs found in the Earth including sandstone, carbonate, and
igneous/metamorphic reservoirs. Sandstone and carbonate reservoirs make up the majority of the
reservoirs, while igneous reservoirs make up roughly 5 percent. [4]

Figure 3 Main characteristics of volcanic reservoirs worldwide. (translated and modified from Zhang and Wu,
1994) [5]

Reservoir porosity and permeability

Porosity is the void space/pore space in a rock that can store fluids. In the subsurface this volume of
the pores may be filled with petroleum, either oil or gas, and water. [3]
Porosity is symbolized in phi (ϕ) and its value is expressed in percentage. Porosity value calculation:

Porosity divided into two types, absolute porosity and effective porosity. Absolute porosity is the
ratio of the total pore volume in the rock to bulk volume, obtained by the calculation:

This equation gives the total amount possible of porosity, but most times its not possible for
the pores to all be interconnected so we want to know the effective porosity of the reservoir,
which gives the economic amount of the pores available for production. Effective porosity is
the ratio of interconnected pore volume to bulk volume, obtained by calculation:
Primary porosity is the amount of empty pores available during the deposition and
creation of the rock, while secondary porosity is the amount of pore space created after
the rock was formed, deposited and buried, such as a crack in the rock. Igneous
reservoirs mostly have secondary porosity where the igneous rocks where fractured and
filled with hydrocarbons then subsequently trapped in the reservoirs, through
compaction of sedimentary rocks which forces the hydrocarbons into the igneous
rocks. [2]
The main difference between the more explored sedimentary reservoir and igneous
reservoirs is that sedimentary rocks are less resistant and have a greater permeability
than that of igneous rocks. Permeability is way to describe the ability to flow through
rocks. Darcy (D) is the standard unit of permeability, but milidarcies (1 mD = 10-3 D) are
more commonly used. A Darcy is defined as a flow rate of 10-2 ms-1 for a fluid of 1 cp
(centipoise) under a pressure of 10-4atm m-2. Most reservoir rocks range in
permeability from 0.1 mD to more than 10 D. [3]

Geology of igneous reservoirs

Figure 4 An example of emplacement of igneous rocks. (from Oilfield Review, Spring 2009:
21, no 1) [1]

Igneous rocks are classified by composition, texture, and method of emplacement.

Intrusive igneous rocks are formed inside the earth, which cool slowly. They are formed
from magma within the earth, have large grains and include silicate minerals. Intrusions
are called sills when oriented roughly horizontal and dikes when near
vertical. [2] Extrusive igneous rocks form on the surface of the earth due to lava flow,
they cool quickly leading to small grain sizes. They typically contain little to no gas from
the initial formation. Both intrusive and extrusive serve as the basis of igneous
reservoirs that can contain fractures by either contraction while cooling, or metamorphic
compactions during diagenesis. [4] Intrusive rocks may alter the rocks above and below
them by metamorphosing the rock near the intrusion, while extrusive only heat the rock
below them, and may not cause much alteration due to rapid cooling. [2] The mineral
composition of an igneous rock depends on where and how the rock was formed. [2]

Type Description [2]

Dark colored and consist mainly of magnesium and iron. Common

Mafic igneous minerals found in mafic rocks include olivine, pyroxene, amphibole,
rocks and biotite. They contain about 46-85% mafic mineral crystals and
have a high density.

Very dark colored and contain higher amounts of the same common
Ultramafic
minerals as mafic rocks, but with about 86-100% mafic mineral
igneous rocks
crystals

Intermediate In between light and dark colored. They share minerals with both
igneous rocks felsic and mafic rocks. They contain 15 to 45% mafic minerals

They generally have very low porosity and permeability. Natural

Plutonic and fractures may enhance porosity by allowing solution of feldspar
volcanic rocks grains. Some examples with average porosity as high as 17% are
known.

Tuffs have high total porosity because of vugs or vesicles in a glassy matrix compared
to pumice has almost no effective porosity. [2]

Characteristics of igneous reservoirs

Igneous reservoirs are generally small and mainly of Tertiary and Late Cretaceous age,
with burial depth in the range of 400–2000 m. [4] These sediments typically undergo
rapid early diagenesis at shallow depths and low temperatures which ruins primary
porosity by compaction and cementation, but later diagenesis creates secondary
porosity through dissolution. [1] Thus, the ability of volcaniclastic deposits to serve as
hydrocarbon traps depends on the coincidence of porosity preservation and generation
processes with the time of hydrocarbon migration.
 Figure 5 Traps caused by igneous intrusions [1]

Igneous reservoirs can be overburdened which help trap the hydrocarbons. The
intrusion process can create a migration pathway due to the igneous rocks
fracturing. [4] Intrusive igneous rocks can become a reservoir or trap as hot hydrothermal
fluid convective cells can generate hydrocarbons that return to the intrusive rock. [2] The
possibility of hydrocarbon generation is interrelated with the relative degree of thermal
maturity of the potential source rock at the time of intrusion. [4]

[4]
Figure 6 Types of igneous petroleum systems related to sills and laccoliths

References
1. Farooqui, M. Y., Hou, H., Li, G., Machin, N., Neville, T., Pal, A., . . . Yang, X.
(2009). Evaluating Volcanic Reservoirs. Oilfield Review.
2. Crain, E. R. (2011, June). UNICORNS IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND
EVIL: Part 8 – Igneous and Metamorphic Reservoirs. Reservoir Issue 6.
3. (2017, August) How Hydrocarbon Reservoirs Are Formed: The Rock Cycle,
Petropedia
4. D. H., & Bermudez, A. M. (2009, July). Petroleum systems including
unconventional reservoirs in intrusive igneous rocks (sills and laccoliths). The
Leading Edge.
5. Lenhardt, N., & Gotz, A. E. (2011, February). Volcanic settings and their
reservoir potential: An outcrop analogue study on the Miocene Tepoztlán
Formation, Central Mexico.
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