Fundamentals of Petroleum

Geology
Historical

Petroleum products have been used for at least 8000 years
 Herodotus 450 BC – natural seeps
 Egyptians – mummification/ Victorian medication
 Ancient Greece everlasting flame in the sacred Oracle at Delphi
 Persian Temples built around natural gas sources

 Early uses:
 medication, waterproofing, warfare
 Up to mid 19th century: all oil produced from seeps, shallow pits and
hand dug shafts
 James Young: extracted oil from carboniferous shales, Scotland 1847:
“oil-shales”
 1st Natural gas: Sichuan Province China several thousand years ago
 Bamboo tools and pipes – salt production
 1st oil-seeking well = Pechelbronn, France, 1745
 1st well to produce oil: Oil creek, Pennsylvania by “Colonel” Drake
The Demand for Oil Products
Increased greatly by WWI (1914-18)
By 1920 the oil industry dominated by the “seven sisters
(oil companies)”
Post WWII, oil companies began to risk profits from
one productive area to explore for another.
1960: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) formed in Baghdad (Iraq)
 Objective: control the power of the independent oil companies
by price control & appropriation of company assets
The science of petroleum geology
Chemistry
 Geochemistry is a major component of petroleum geology
 Detailed knowledge of the mineralogical composition of rocks – reservoir
quality
 Pore-fluid chemistry – reservoir degradation/ enhancement
 Organic geochemistry: biomarkers, fingerprinting
Physics
 Geophysics contribute to
 Understanding the earth’s crust
 Understanding the structures involved in trapping: folds, faults
 Identifying the position of such traps: magnetics, gravity, seismics
 Understanding the wells: wireline logs, lithology, porosity..
Biology
 Study of fossil life: Palaeontology contributes
 Dating/ stratigraphic characterization
 Environmental characterization (fossil environments, palaeoecology)
 Biochemistry: transformation of plant and animal tissues into kerogen and
through to oil and gas.
The physical and chemical properties of oil
and gas
Hydrocarbon: composed of H and C

Gases Liquid Plastic

Oil, Crude Asphalts,
Coals,
Kerogen

Dry Wet
methane ethane,
propane
Natural Gas Liquid (NGL)
Classified into

INORGANIC ORIGIN ORGANIC ORIGIN

Inert Gases Hydrocarbon Gases
Helium
Argon Methane (dry)
Krypton Ethane (wet)
Radon Propane
Nitrogen Butane
Also
Carbon dioxide
Hydrogen
sulphide
 Crude Oil
“a mixture of hydrocarbons that existed in the liquid phase in natural
underground reservoirs and remains liquid at atmospheric pressure
after passing through surface”

 Highly variable in composition and in appearance

 Primarily carbon, hydrogen and minor oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur,
vanadium, nickel…
 Color: yellow, green, brown to dark brown & black
 Oil at the surface tends to be more viscous, most oils are less dense
than water: generally measured as the difference between its density
and that of water:
141.5
°API = - 131.5
SG 60/60°F

(API= American Petroleum Institute)

 Thus light oils have API < 10° and heavy oils are more dense than water.
The Five main components of an oil
accumulation
1. Must be an organic-rich source rock to generate the oil/
gas
2. The source rock must have been heated sufficiently to
yield its petroleum
3. There must be a reservoir to contain the expelled
hydrocarbons. This must have:
a. Porosity, to hold the hydrocarbons
b. Permeability, to allow fluid flow
4. The reservoir must be sealed by an impermeable Cap
Rock to prevent upwards escape of the hydrocarbons to
the earth’s surface
5. Source, reservoir and seal must be arranged in such a
way that the petroleum is Trapped
Formation of an oil accumulation
1. Burial of adequate organic source material.
 most petroleum is derived from the accumulation of trillions of
individual micro-organisms.

2. Burial to the appropriate depths.

 depths of 2-6 km and temperatures of 60-160º C.

3. Presence of a reservoir-quality rock.

1. a porous storage space. Sandstone and limestone are the most
common reservoir rocks. To be a reservoir they must have:
 Porosity, to hold the hydrocarbons
 Permeability, to allow fluid flow
4. Presence of an adequate seal
 A seal is an impermeable bed (such as a shale or a bed of salt) that
sits on top of the trap and prevents the hydrocarbons rising any
further.
5. Presence of a trap
 In order to prevent the hydrocarbons rising to the surface and
escaping they must be caught in a confined space, termed a trap.
i.e. the source, reservoir and seal must be arranged in such a way
that the petroleum is trapped.
The Petroleum System
In addition to the five components, a further two
events are essential:
Timing: no trapping unless the traps are present when
migration is occurring
Maturation: no petroleum if the source rock OM does
not mature
Migration: no accumulation if the petroleum doesn’t
migrate
The Source Rock

 This shale typically contains >1% of organic carbon, by weight. The shale is
very widespread, underlying much of Britain and most of the North Sea,
and is by far the most important source rock for the oil that has been found
in the North Sea Basin.
The Reservoir Rock: Sandstone

 An outcrop of pebbly sandstone (at base of cliff) overlain by red sandstone. The
Budleigh-Salterton pebble beds, of Triassic age. A few kilometres to the east
these beds dip into the subsurface, and form part of the oil reservoir at the
Wytch Farm Field, which is Britain’s largest onshore oil field.
The Reservoir Rock: Sandstone

 The Jurassic Bridport Sand. Another of the reservoir sandstones important in the
Wytch Farm field of southern Britain. The layering in this sandstone may be the
result of rhythmic climatic changes in the shallow sea where this sandstone was
deposited.
The Reservoir Rock: Dolomite

 The Cairns Formation, of Devonian age, exposed near Canmore, in the

Front ranges of the Rocky Mountains, just east of Banff, Alberta. This
is one of the more important reservoir units in the subsurface of
Alberta.
 The Reservoir Rock: Dolomite

This is an example of an important reservoir rock type. Fossil

stromatoporoids have been hollowed out by the chemical
conversion of limestone to dolomite, creating pore spaces so large
that they are sometimes called “cavernous porosity”
 Making reservoirs today: limestones
 An exposure of modern
limestone in the Florida Keys.
This limestone is only a few
hundred years old. It shows the
structure of coral and other
organic remains.
 Burial of this limestone would
probably lead to reduction in
porosity as a result of
cementation. Good quality
reservoir rocks, such as the
dolomite shown in another
picture, are created by
dissolution of some of the rock.
This usually occurs many
millions of years after the initial
formation and burial
The Seal
Commonly evaporites,
chalks and shales.
Relatively
impermeable
 The Trap: Stratigraphic
Stratigraphic traps are traps created by the limits of
the reservoir rock itself, without any structural
control.
Here is an example of a reef trap. The diagram
shows a vertical slice (cross-section) through
the reservoir and overlying rocks.

Stratigraphic traps are also formed in clastic

rocks: here, in a cross-section through a
continental margin, two sandstone beds form
traps within muddy coastal deposits.
River channels may form long, thin traps
corresponding to the former position of the
river or delta distributary. Beach sands may
form sheet-like bodies along an ancient
shoreline etc.
 The Trap: Structural
Structural traps are formed where the space for petroleum
is limited by a structural feature

Tilted fault-block traps are formed

where the upward flow of the
petroleum is prevented by
impermeability along the fault
plane and by an overlying cap or
seal: common in the North Sea.

Anticlinal traps are formed by

folding in the rocks.

Unconformity traps are generated

where an erosional break in the
stratigraphic succession is followed
by impermeable strata.
 The Trap: Structural
 This type of structural trap is
very common in fold-and-thrust
belts at the front of mountain
ranges like the Rocky Mountains
of Alberta, where older rocks are
pushed sideways over younger
rocks (e.g., the yellow unit is
here pushed over the light-blue
unit).
 Oil is pooled in anticlinal folds.
 The traps may also be partly
faulted, as in the upper one
shown here.
The Subsurface
Environment
Temperature in the subsurface
Increases towards the earth’s core: geothermal
gradient
Different lithologies will conduct heat differently:
thermal conductivity
Additional heat added by decay of radioactive species
Heat Flow = Geothermal gradient x thermal
conductivity Mineral Thermal
conductivity

Halite 5.5
Limestone 3 – 3.5
Sandstone 2.5 – 4
Coal 0.3
Pressure in the subsurface
 The force per unit area acting on a surface

Hydrostatic (imposed by a
column of fluid at rest)
Grain-grain Hydrodynamic (fluid potential
contact gradient caused by fluid flow)

Overburden pressure (S) = lithostatic pressure (p) + fluid pressure (f )

Column of freshwater = 0.43 psi/ft : normal

Abnormal (overpressured) = >0.43 psi/ft
Abnormal (underpressured) = <0.43 psi/ft
Temperature – Pressure Relationship
Boyle’s Law: (P x V)/T = constant
• Fluid may exist in either the liquid or gaseous form depending on the PT
conditions.
• Above the critical point: only 1 phase may exist

c
evaporation
PRESSURE

gas
liquid

condensation

TEMPERATURE
Modern Organic Processes at the Earth’s
Surface
Surface
 82% C locked into CO in carbonates
3
 18% occurs as organic C in coal, oil & gas
 When death occurs, a plant or animals remains are normally
oxidized and CO2/ H2O released
Subsurface
 When death occurs, a plant or animals remains are normally
oxidized and CO2/ H2O released
 Under exceptional conditions: organic matter is buried and
preserved in sediments
 The composition of the organic matter strongly influences whether
the organic matter can produce coal, oil or gas.
Basic components of organic matter in
sediments
PROTEINS
 More abundant in animals: O, C, N, H
CARBOHYDRATES
 Occur in both. C (H O)
n 2 n
 sugars, cellulose, starch
LIPIDS (Fats)
 Occur in both: C, H, O
 Fats, oils, waxes (e.g. leaf cuticles)
LIGNIN
 Occurs in plants: complex aromatic ring structures, large molecules

All of these + Time + Temperature + Pressure = KEROGEN

Types of Kerogen
Type I : algal kerogen
“best” oil source
Lipid-rich
Type II: herbaceous kerogen
Good oil source
Includes zooplankton (sapropelic)
Type III: woody kerogen (coaly)
Good gas source
Rich in humic components
Type IV: amorphous kerogen
 What happens when we subject kerogen
to subsurface conditions?
KEROGEN
Shallow subsurface
Normal pressure and temperature
Diagenesis Released: CH4, CO2, H2O
• Overall decrease in O
• Overall increase in H and C

Deeper subsurface
Catagenesis Increased pressure and temperature
Released: oil & gas
• Overall decrease in H and C

Metamorphism
Metagenesis High temperature and pressure
Only C remains: becomes graphite
When is oil expelled?
Migration of hydrocarbons
Primary
 From source rock to “carrier bed”
Secondary
 Through the carrier bed/ structure to the reservoir
How?
 As long as the oil droplets expelled are < pore throats, buoyancy will
migrate the droplets until they reach a throat through which they
cannot pass.
 Further movement can only occur when the displacement pressure
of the oil exceeds the capillary pressure of the pore
 This process progresses until the oil column reaches a rock whose
pores are so small that the oil column pressure cannot force further
movement: the oil is trapped against a CAP ROCK (seal)
The Reservoir Rock
 Must have sufficient porosity (F) to store the oil
 Must have sufficient permeability (K) to allow fluid
flow

 F% = (volume of voids / total volume of rock) x 100

 Effective F = total volume of voids that are
interconnected
Kv
 K: measured in Darcy units (commonly miliDarcy)
 Often measured as Kv and Kh due to grain orientation/
heterogeneity issues
Khz

 The perfect Reservoir rock: Khx

 10 – 30% F and 500 – 1000mD
 Well sorted, medium-coarse grain size
 Laterally continuous with no poor RQ intervals/ facies
The Trap
A subsurface obstacle to flow of petroleum to the
earth’s surface.
Classified (broadly) into
Structural Traps
 Formed by tectonism, diapirism, gravitational and compactional
processes, e.g. folds and faults.
Stratigraphic Traps
 Trap geometry is essentially inherited from the original
depositional architecture, e.g. pinchout and unconformity traps
Hydrodynamic Traps