2.
Introduction
Awang H. Satyana (SKK Migas) INDONESIAN PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION (IPA)
SHORT COURSE, YOGYAKARTA, 6-10 APRIL 2015
• What is petroleum geochemistry ?
• What can petroleum geochemistry do ?
• How have most people ignored petroleum geochemistry ?
Introduction
Petroleum Geochemistry
• Geochemistry is the application of chemistry to the study of rocks and fluids.
(Selley, 1985 : Elements of petroleum geology)
• Petroleum is a material occurring naturally in the earth which is predominantly composed of mixtures of
chemical compounds of carbon and hydrogen
(hydrocarbon) and including various forms from solid bitumen, through the normal liquids to gases.
(Tver and Berry, 1980 : The petroleum dictionary)
Petroleum Geochemistry
• The application of chemical principles to the study of the origin, migration,
accumulation, and alteration of
petroleum and the use of this knowledge in the exploration and production of oil and gas.
(Hunt, 1996: Petroleum geochemistry and geology)
Petroleum Geochemistry: Categories
• Today, petroleum geochemistry is normally divided into different categories as:
– surface geochemical exploration – source rock geochemistry
– reservoir geochemistry
– detection and characterization of hydrocarbon shows – oil and gas geochemistry
– oil-oil correlation
– oil-source rock correlation
– evaluation of leakage through caprock – analysis of drilling mud
What can petroleum geochemistry do ?
• evaluate physical and chemical properties of oil and/or gas in basin
• determine how many oil and/or gas families are present in basin
• expect source/s of oil and/or gas in basin
• evaluate presence, quality, and maturity of source rocks in basin
• determine volumetric of oil and/or gas generated, migrated, and accumulated in basin
• evaluate migration pathways of oil and/or gas in basin
• predict fluid type (oil/gas/water) containing in prospect ahead of drilling
• predict in-reservoir alteration (e.g. biodegradation) and its trend
• understand intra-field/-reservoir petroleum variations
• etc.
BP Research (1991)
BP Research (1991)
BP Research (1991)
How have most people ignored petroleum geochemistry ?
• What people know (in lesser detail): reservoir, trap, seal, kitchen, migration.
• Too much evaluation on reservoir and trap. Too less
evaluation on hydrocarbon charging (evaluation on kitchen and migration are too over-simplified).
• One with strong interest, knowledge, and experience on
geochemistry is scarce.
Paradox of Petroleum Geochemistry
• People explore petroleum using petroleum system.
Identification of petroleum system is through
petroleum geochemistry. However, petroleum
geochemistry has been overlooked.
The Essences of
Petroleum Geochemistry
• To make it benefit, inputs from petroleum geochemistry should be integrated with petroleum geology (broad basin analysis).
• Petroleum geochemistry is more exact (not much interpretive) than other petroleum geosciences, but it heavily depends on laboratory analyses.
• Geology-Geophysics-Geochemistry (3G) is a trinity of petroleum
geosciences. If one of them were ignored, risk for exploration
failure increases.
Trilogy of Exploration Success
• Needs integration of geology, geophysics, and geochemistry
“3G” - Approach
Selley (1985)
Selley (1985)
