PETROLEUM SYSTEM

SOURCE ROCK

LESSON 3
 OUTLINE

1. Basic Petroleum System

2. Source Rocks
3. Describing Source Rocks
Qualitative
1. Kerogen Type
2. Maturity
Quantitative
1. Kerogen Type – Elemental Analysis (van Krevelen)
2. Kerogen Type – Pyrolysis (Pseudo van Krevelen)
3. Maturity – Vitrinite Reflectance (Ro)
4. Maturity – TTI
5. Quality – Hydrogen Index
6. Quality – Total Organic Carbon (TOC)
Basic Petroleum System
 Origin of petroleum

 There are mainly two theories of petroleum origin:

 The Organic theory of petroleum origin is based on the
accumulation of hydrocarbons from living things plus the
formation of hydrocarbons by the action of heat on biologically
formed organic matter.
 The inorganic theory assumes that oil forms from the
reduction of primordial carbon or it’s oxidized form at elevated
temperature deep in the earth.
 Petroleum Systems

Petroleum system  a natural system that encompasses a pod of active source

rock and all related oil and gas and which includes all of the geologic elements and
processes that are essential if hydrocarbon accumulation is to exist
(Magoon & Dow, AAPG Memoir 60)

Elements Processes

Source Rock Generation

Migration Route Migration
Reservoir Rock Accumulation
Seal Rock Preservation
Trap Timing
 Petroleum System Elements

 Source rock – a rock with abundant hydrocarbon-prone

organic matter
 Reservoir rock – a rock in which oil & gas accumulates:
 Porosity - space between rock grains in which oil accumulates
 Permeability – passage-ways between pores through which oil & gas
moves
 Seal rock – a rock through which oil & gas cannot move
effectively (such as mudstone & claystone)
 Migration route – avenues in rock through which oil &
gas moves from source rock to trap
 Trap – The structural and stratigraphic configuration
that focuses oil & gas into an accumulation
 Petroleum System Processes
Petroleum System Elements

Gas
Cap
Oil
Accumulation
Entrapment Water Seal Rock
Reservoir
Rock

Migration
120° F

350° F
Generation
24803
Source
Rock
 Petroleum System Processes

 Generation – burial of source rock to temperature and

pressure regime sufficient to convert organic matter into
hydrocarbon
 Migration – movement of hydrocarbon out of the source
rock toward and into a trap
 Accumulation – a volume of hydrocarbon migrating into
a trap faster than the trap leaks resulting in an
accumulation
 Preservation – Hydrocarbon remains in reservoir and is
not altered by biodegradation or “water-washing”
 Timing – Trap forms before and during hydrocarbon
migrating
Source Rocks
 Composition of petroleum

 Petroleum is composed almost entirely of the

elements hydrogen and carbon. Crude oil contains
approximately 84-87 % carbon and 11-13 %
hydrogen.
 The minor elements sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen
constitute less than 3% of most petroleum.
 Traces of heavy metals such as vanadium and nickel
also are present.
 The elements carbon and hydrogen are
combined as hydrocarbons that vary in both
size and type of molecule in crude oil.
Carbon Cycle
The red arrow indicates
fertilizing of the ocean
with iron-rich dust,
leading to increased
algal growth and an
acceleration of the
carbon cycle
 Why is Carbon so Important in the Life Cycle?

 Carbon has numerous ways of bonding with many

other elements, particularly oxygen and hydrogen
 It forms “organic” and “inorganic” compounds.
Organic compounds are considered unstable in the
biosphere because they are in the reduced state.
Inorganic compounds, principally calcite and
dolomite, are stable because they are in the oxydized
state.
 Carbon Storage

 24% Organic C (reduced) in sediments

 76% inorganic C (oxidized) in Limestones
 0.04% Dissolved in the Ocean
 0.005% Atmosphere and life
 0.01% in Coal and Oil
 0.005% in oil reservoirs
 Source rock

 A petroleum source rock is generally recognized as “a

fine grained sedimentary rock that has naturally
generated and released enough hydrocarbons to form a
commercial accumulation of oil and/or gas” (Tissot and
Welte, 1984).
 Implicit in this definition is that a source rock meets the
following geochemical requirements (Peters and Cassa,
1994):
 the source rock contains sufficient organic matter
 the organic matter is of sufficient oil and/or gas, and
 the source rock attained a level of thermal capable of generating and
expelling hydrocarbons grained quantity of quality to generate
maturity
 Source Rock

 How Good Source Rocks Form

 Sedimentation in areas of high organic productivity

 Preservation of organic matter in sediment

 Organic matter can be derived from both terrestrial

and marine organisms
 When organic matter is deposited in sediments only
a small fraction escapes destruction/ oxidation
 For preservation of organic matter a reducing
environment is required
 Key Element: Source Rocks

 Black organic-rich marine shales

 Organic matter is preserved in low-oxygen water
 Restricted marine basins and zones were water rises
from the deep
Shales
 Shale rock = 99% clay
mineral + 1% organic
material.
 Kerogen Insoluble
 High molecular weight
 Polymeric compound
Describing Source Rocks

1. QUALITATIVE
2. QUANTITATIVE
Qualitative
 Kerogen

 Kerogen is normally defined as that portion of the

organic matter present in sedimentary rocks that is
insoluble in ordinary organic solvents.
 The kerogen is the precursor of most oil and gas that
we exploit as fossil fuels.
 Complex mixture of high molecular weight organic
materials
 General composition may be described as:
(C12H12ON0.16 )x
 Formation of kerogen

 There are three major phases in the evolution of organic

matter in response to burial.
1. Diagenesis phase that occurs in shallow subsurface at near normal
temperatures and pressures. It includes both biogenic decay, aided by
bacteria, and abiogenic reactions. Methane, carbon dioxide, and water
are given off by the organic matter, leaving a complex hydrocarbon
called kerogen. The net result of diagenesis of organic matter is the
reduction of its oxygen content, whereas the hydrogen: carbon ratio
remains largely unaltered.
2. Catagenesis phase that occurs in the deeper subsurface as burial
continues and temperature and pressure increase. Petroleum is
released from kerogen during catagenesis, first oil and later gas. The
H:C ratio declines, with no significant change in the O:C ratio.
3. Metagenesis phase that occurs at high temperatures and pressures
verging on metamorphism. The last hydrocarbons, generally only
methane, are expelled. The H:C ratio declines until only carbon is left
in the form of graphite. Porosity and permeability become negligible.
 Kerogen Types

 Type I : algal/algae kerogen

– “best” oil source
 Type II: herbaceous/liptinic kerogen
– Good oil source
 Type III: woody kerogen (coaly) / humic
– Good gas source
 Type IV: amorphous kerogen
 Types of Petroleum

 Oil and gas are formed by the thermal cracking of

organic compounds buried in fine grained rocks.
 Type I Kerogen

 Highest hydrogen contents because they have few

rings or aromatic structures.
 Rare
 High grade algal sediment
 Generally lacustrine
 H:C = 1.6 – 1.8
 Type II Kerogen

 High in hydrogen
 Intermediate derivation
 Commonly marginal marine
 Mixture of continental and aquatic (planktonic) OM
 Algal tissue, pollen, spores
 Principal source for oil
 H:C = about 1.4
 Type III Kerogen

 Lower hydrogen contents because they contain

extensive aromatic systems.
 Sediment containing primarily humic OM
 Terrestrial (woody) origin
 Equivalent of coal vitrinite
 Deposited at the oxic water/sediment interface
 Gas prone
 H:C < 1.0 (more C than H)
 Type IV Kerogen

 Mainly contain polycyclic aromatic systems, have the

lowest hydrogen contents.
 From any source
 Oxidized, recycled or altered during an earlier
thermal event
 Inert carbonaceous material
 H:C < 0.4
 No evolutionary path left: no hydrocarbons
generated.
 Thermal

 Thermal alteration of kerogen forms crude oil by

increasing the carbon contents.
 At shallow depths (< 3,000 ft), bacteria actions on
organic materials form Biogenic Gas (natural gas).
 At great depths (high temperature & overburden),
Thermogenic Gas is formed.
 Later stages of thermogenesis will form wet gas and
condensate.
Thermal Maturation History
 Quantitative

1. KEROGEN TYPE (VAN KREVELEN)

2. MATURITY (VITRINITE REFLECTANCE,
TMAX)
3. QUALITY (HI, TOC)
 Source Rock Evaluation

 Study of sedimentary organic matter (OM) contained

in Source Rocks which is precursor of hydrocarbons
 Quantity of organic material
 Type (quality) of organic material
 Maturity of organic material
Hydrocarbon maturation
 Purposes of Maturation Indicators

 To recognize and evaluate potential source rocks for

oil and gas by measuring their contents in organic
carbon and their thermal maturities
 To correlate oil types with probable source beds
through their geochemical characteristics and the
optical properties of kerogen in the source beds
 To determine the time of hydrocarbon generation,
migration and accumulation
 To estimate the volumes of hydrocarbons generated
and thus to assess possible reserves and losses of
hydrocarbons in the system.
 Other Maturation Indicators

 Several approaches to quantify the degree of maturation have

been proposed aside from the TTI. Most of them are sensitive
to temperature and time.
 Vitrinite Reflectance (Ro) measures the reflectance of vitrinite
(see Kerogen maturation diagram) in oil, expressed as a
percentage. It correlates with fixed carbon and ranges
between 0.5 and 1.3 for the oil window. Laborious but widely
used.
 Thermal Alteration Index (TAI) measures the color of finely
dispersed organic matter on a scale from 1 (pale
yellow) to 5 (black). This index has a poor sensitivity
within the oil window (TAI around 2.5 to 3.0) and is not
generally used.
 Level of Organic Maturation (LOM) is based on coal ranks
and is adjusted to give a linear scale.
Correlation of TTI, Ro, and TAI
Maturity of the organic material (vitrinite reflectance)

 ‘‘Vitrinite reflectance will tell me if my source rock is

generating’’
 Vitrinite reflectance is commonly measured on
populations of randomly oriented particles in a kerogen
concentrate. Mean values are calculated for the
populations of vitrinite particles from each sample and
reported as percentage reflectance in oil immersion
(%Ro). The mean values are plotted on a log scale versus
linear depth, commonly resulting in a linear trend.
 Vitrinite reflectance data need to be put into a geologic
context for proper interpretation of maturity.
Maturity of the organic material (vitrinite reflectance)

 Vitrinite Reflectance is the most commonly used organic

maturation indicator in the petroleum industry. This is mainly
because it is irreversible, accurate, quick, non-destructive and
inexpensive.
 Vitrinite reflectance is an indicator of the cumulative time and
temperature history of the sediments.
 Vitrinite reflectance can indicate if generation could have
occurred and suggest the types of hydrocarbons that may have
been formed.
 Maturity inferences from vitrinite reflectance can help
identify which source rocks are potential contributors to a
petroleum system. Also, vitrinite reflectance can be used in
basin modeling to tell if the modeled thermal history is
reasonable. To address the issues of migration and expulsion,
direct geochemical indicators and basin modeling are needed.
VRo values increase with depth in a well and
maturity is plotted basin wide
 Lopatin’s TTI Index

 V. Lopatin (1971) recognized the dependence of thermal

maturation from temperature AND time. He developed a
method wherein the temperatures are weighted with the
residence time the rock spent at this temperature.
Periods of erosion and uplift are also taken into account.
This so-called time-temperature index TTI is still in use,
although in variations.
 The plot on the right shows a simple depiction of it. Rock
of age A enters the oil-generating window at time y, while
the older rock B has been at that time already in the gas-
generating window and will stay there until the present.
 Rock Eval Pyrolisis

 S1 measures hydrocarbon shows as the amount of

hydrocarbons that can be volatilized out of the rock
without cracking the kerogen (mg HC/g rock). S1
increases at the expense of S2 with maturity.
 S2 measures the hydrocarbon yield from kerogen (mg
HC/g rock) and heavy hydrocarbons and represents the
existing potential of a rock to generate petroleum. S2 is a
more realistic measure of source rock potential than TOC
because TOC includes "dead carbon" incapable of
generating petroleum.
 S1 + S2 is a measure of genetic potential or the total
amount of petroleum that might be generated from a
rock.
 Rock Eval Pyrolisis

 Hydrogen index [HI = (S2/TOC) x 100, mg HC/g

TOC]
 Oxygen index [OI = (S3/TOC) x 100, mg CO2 /g
TOC] is related to the amount of oxygen in the
kerogen.
 Tmax measures thermal maturity and corresponds to
the Rock Eval pyrolysis oven temperature (C) at
maximum S2 generation.
 Total Organic Carbon (TOC)

Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Analysis

 For source rock evaluation, the fundamental parameter is the Total
Organic Carbon (TOC) of the Sedimentary rock sample under
investigation.
 Analysis normally requires one gram of rock. The samples can be
conventional cores, sidewall cores or drilled cuttings of a well or outcrops.
 The samples are analyzed after carbonate is removed by treatment with
hydrochloric acid.
 Virtually all TOC analyzers measure the CO2 formed when a sample of
powdered, carbonate free rock is combusted at very high temperature in the
presence of a large excess of oxygen.
 All organic carbon is converted to carbon dioxide, which is trapped within
the instrument and then released into a detector when combustion is
complete.
 The amount of carbon dioxide produced is proportional to the organic-
carbon content of the rock.
 Total Organic Carbon (TOC)

 ‘‘If I have high TOC, I have a good source rock’’

 Although a good source rock should have a high
TOC, not all organic matter is created equal. Some
organic matter will generate oil, some will generate
gas, and some will generate nothing (Tissot et al.,
1974).
 Both TOC and Rock Eval S2 need to be used to
determine a source rock’s richness and maturity
needs to be factored in.
 Oil Source Rock Criteria

 The criteria for a sedimentary rock to be an effective

oil source can be quantitatively described. They are
as follows:
 The TOC should be 0.4% or more
 Elemental C should be between 75% and 90% (in weight)
 The ratio of bitumen to TOC should exceed 0.05
 The kerogen type should be I or II
 Vitrinite reflectance should be between 0.6 and 1.3%
 Total Organic Carbon (TOC)

 If a rock contains significant amounts of organic

carbon, it is a possible source rock for petroleum or
gas.
 The TOC content is a measure of the source rock
potential and is measured with total pyrolysis.
 TOC Types

 TOC in sedimentary rocks can be divided into two

types:
 Bitumen, the fraction that is soluble in organic solvents such as
chloroform
 Kerogen, the insoluble, non-extractable residue that forms in
the transformation from OM
 Kerogen is an intermediate product formed during
diagenesis and is the principal source of hydrocarbon
generation. It is a complex mixture of high-weight
organic molecules with the general composition of
(C12H12ON0.16)x
 Source Rock Quality

 The primary factor determining source rock quality

is the level of TOC.
 Additionally, the quality of the source rock is better
for higher H:C ratios before thermal maturation.
 As thermal maturation proceeds and HCs are
formed, the kerogen will continuously deteriorate as
a source for HC formation.
Source Rock Characterization by RE Parameters