Petroleum systems analysis. Case studies / Анализ углеводородных систем. Учебные примеры

Petroleum systems analysis has come a long way from pure geochemical evaluation to integration of all petroleum elements, including source rock characteristics, hydrocarbon generation, expulsion and migration, traps, seals, and alterations of the hydrocarbon fluids and columns. Quantification of many of these processes is attempted by the use of more complex 3-D basin models.

One of the first early attempts to quantify petroleum system processes was the kinetics of kerogen degradation (Tissot, 1969; Tissot and Espitalie, 1975; Tissot and Welte, 1984) and the application of Lopatin’s time-temperature index (Waples, 1980). That effort resulted in the mathematical construction of software tools to reconstruct the basin geothermal subsidence history represented by the early 1980s 1-D basin models of BasinMod™, Temis™, and Petromod ™, to name a few. Source rock pyrolysis followed, which drastically decreased the time needed to analyze source rocks, which in turn gave rise to acquisition of the geochemical profiles in exploration wells. The first 2-D basin models (Petromod and Temis) started to fascinate the oil industry at the end of the 1980s, allowing to model generation and migration of hydrocarbons (Doligez et al., 1986; Wygrala, 1988). Quantitative evaluation of the charge became a routine job, and in some occasions it was mandatory to perform before bidding on new acreages. <...>