Impact of volcanism on the formation and hydrocarbon generation of organic-rich shale in the Jiyang Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China

Globally,most organic-rich shales are deposited with volcanic ash layers.Volcanic ash,a source for many sedimentary basins,can affect the sedimentary water environment,alter the primary productivity,and preserve the organic matter(OM)through physical,chemical,and biological reactions.With an increasing number of breakthroughs in shale oil exploration in the Bohai Bay Basin in recent years,less attention has been paid to the crucial role of volcanic impact especially its influence on the OM enrichment and hydrocarbon formation.Here,we studied the petrology,mineralogy,and geochemical characteristics of the organic-rich shale in the upper submember of the fourth member(Es_(4)^(1))and the lower submember of the third member(Es_(3)^(3))of the Shahejie Formation,aiming to better understand the volcanic impact on organic-rich shale formation.Our results show that total organic carbon is higher in the upper shale intervals rich in volcanic ash with enriched light rare earth elements and moderate Eu anomalies.This indicates that volcanism promoted OM formation before or after the eruption.The positive correlation between Eu/Eu*and Post-Archean Australian Shale indicates hydrothermal activity before the volcanic eruption.The plane graph of the hydrocarbon-generating intensity(S1+S2)suggests that the heat released by volcanism promoted hydrocarbon generation.Meanwhile,the nutrients carried by volcanic ash promoted biological blooms during Es_(4)^(1 )and Es_(3)^(3) deposition,yielding a high primary productivity.Biological blooms consume large amounts of oxygen and form anoxic environments conducive to the burial and preservation of OM.Therefore,this study helps to further understand the organic-inorganic interactions caused by typical geological events and provides a guide for the next step of shale oil exploration and development in other lacustrine basins in China.

Burial depth interval of the shale brittle–ductile transition zone and its implications in shale gas exploration and production

Brittleness and ductility of shale are closely related to shale gas exploration and production. How to predict brittleness and ductility of shale is one of the key issues in the study of shale gas preservation and hydraulic fracturing treatments. The magnitude of shale brittleness was often determined by brittle mineral content(for example, quartz and feldspars) in shale gas exploration.However, the shale brittleness is also controlled by burial depth. Shale brittle/ductile properties such as brittle, semibrittle and ductile can mutually transform with burial depth variation. We established a work flow of determining the burial depth interval of brittle–ductile transition zone for a given shale. Two boundaries were employed to divide the burial depth interval of shale brittle/ductile properties. One is the bottom boundary of the brittle zone(BZ), and the other is the top boundary of the ductile zone(DZ). The brittle–ductile transition zone(BDTZ) is between them.The bottom boundary of BZ was determined by the overconsolidation ratio(OCR) threshold value combined with pre-consolidation stress which the shale experienced over geological time. The top boundary of DZ was determined based on the critical confining pressure of brittle–ductile transition. The OCR threshold value and the critical confining pressure were obtained from uniaxial strain andtriaxial compression tests. The BZ, DZ and BDTZ of the Lower Silurian Longmaxi shale in some representative shale gas exploration wells in eastern Sichuan and western Hubei areas were determined according to the above work flow. The results show that the BZ varies with the maximum burial depth and the DZ varies with the density of the overlying rocks except for the critical confining pressure.Moreover, the BDTZ determined by the above work flow is probably the best burial depth interval for marine shale gas exploration and production in Southern China. Shale located in the BDTZ is semi-brittle and is not prone to be severely naturally fractured but likely to respond well to hydraulic fracturing. The depth interval of BDTZ determined by our work flow could be a valuable parameter of shale gas estimation in geology and engineering.

Pre-stack seismic density inversion in marine shale reservoirs in the southern Jiaoshiba area, Sichuan Basin, China

For a typical marine shale reservoir in the Jiaoshiba area, Sichuan Basin of China, P-impedance is sensitive for identifying lithology but not suitable for indicating good shale reservoirs. In comparison, density is an important quantity, which is sensitive for identifying the organic-rich mud shale from non-organic-rich mud shale. Due to the poor data quality and incidence angle range, density cannot be easily inverted by directly solving the ill-posed pre-stack seismic inversion in this area. Meanwhile, the traditional density regularizations implemented by directly using the more robust P-impedance inversion tend to be inaccurate for recovering density for this shale reservoir. In this paper, we combine the P-impedance and the minus uranium to construct the pseudo-P-impedance（PIp） at well locations. The PIp is observed to be sensitive for identifying organic-rich mud shale and has a good correlation with density in this area. We employ the PIp–density relation into the pre-stack inversion framework to estimate density. Three types of regularization are tested on both numerical and field data： These are no regularization, traditional regularization and the proposed approach. It is observed that the proposed method is better for recovering the density of organic-rich mud shale in the Jiaoshiba area.

Formation and distribution characteristics of Proterozoic–Lower Paleozoic marine giant oil and gas fields worldwide

There are rich oil and gas resources in marine carbonate strata worldwide.Although most of the oil and gas reserves discovered so far are mainly distributed in Mesozoic,Cenozoic,and upper Paleozoic strata,oil and gas exploration in the Proterozoic–Lower Paleozoic（PLP）strata—the oldest marine strata—has been very limited.To more clearly understand the oil and gas formation conditions and distributions in the PLP marine carbonate strata,we analyzed and characterized the petroleum geological conditions,oil and gas reservoir types,and their distributions in thirteen giant oil and gas fields worldwide.This study reveals the main factors controlling their formation and distribution.Our analyses show that the source rocks for these giant oil and gas fields are mainly shale with a great abundance of type I–II organic matter and a high thermal evolution extent.The reservoirs are mainly gas reservoirs,and the reservoir rocks are dominated by dolomite.The reservoir types are mainly karst and reef–shoal bodies with well-developed dissolved pores and cavities,intercrystalline pores,and fractures.These reservoirs arehighly heterogeneous.The burial depth of the reservoirs is highly variable and somewhat negatively correlated to the porosity.The cap rocks are mainly thick evaporites and shales,with the thickness of the cap rocks positively correlated to the oil and gas reserves.The development of high-quality evaporite cap rock is highly favorable for oil and gas preservation.We identified four hydrocarbon generation models,and that the major source rocks have undergone a long period of burial and thermal evolution and are characterized by early and long periods of hydrocarbon generation.These giant oil and gas fields have diverse types of reservoirs and are mainly distributed in paleo-uplifts,slope zones,and platform margin reef-shoal bodies.The main factors that control their formation and distribution were identified,enabling the prediction of new favorable areas for oil and gas exploration.

Microstructural analysis of organic matter in shale by SAXS and WAXS methods

Characterizing the kerogen-hosted pore structures is essential to understand the adsorption,transport and storage potential in organic-rich shale reservoirs.In this paper,we first separated the organic matter(kerogen)from the mineral matrix in four different shale samples of the Bakken Formation with different thermal maturities and then analyzed their chemical compositions using the wide-angle X-ray scattering(WAXS)method.Next,we acquired small-angle X-ray scattering(SAXS)to characterize the structure of the organic matter and see how these two will relate.The WAXS results showed that the isolated kerogens have high purity(free of inorganic minerals)and retain different chemical compositions.Moreover,SAXS analysis revealed that the isolated kerogens have similar radius of gyration(R_(g))which is around 90Åand the molecules are in the compact mode.Based on the pore size distribution analysis from the SAXS data,two main peaks were found in all of these four samples with one peak less than 40Åand the other one larger than 1000Å.Also,the TEM images revealed that Sample 1 is abundant in pores with sizes around 20 nm while Sample 2 does not have pores of that size,which agrees with the results from the pore size distribution that was obtained from the SAXS method.Ultimately,this study exhibits how different analytical instruments can provide us with useful information from complex structures of geomaterials.

Pore structure evolution of lacustrine organic-rich shale from the second member of the Kongdian formation in the Cangdong Sag,Bohai Bay Basin,China

Pyrolysis experiments were conducted on lacustrine organic-rich shale from Cangdong Sag in Bohai Bay Basin,China,to investigate the impact of hydrocarbon generation on shale pore structure evolution.Thermal evolution is found to control the transformation of organic matter,hydrocarbon products characteristics,and pore structure changes.Furthermore,pore volume and specific surface area increase with increasing maturity.In low-mature stage,the retained oil content begins to increase,pore volumes show slight changes,and primary pores are occluded by the generated crude oil of high molecular weight and density.In the oil-window stage,the retained oil content rapidly increases and reaches maximum,and pore volumes gradually increase with increasing thermal maturity.At high mature stage,the retained oil content begins to decrease,and the pore volume increases considerably owing to the expulsion of liquid hydrocarbon.In over mature stage,natural gas content significantly increases and kerogen transforms to asphalt.Numerous organic pores are formed and the pore size gradually increases,resulting from the connection of organic pores caused the increasing thermal stress.This study lays a foundation for understanding variation of hydrocarbon products during the thermal evolution of lacustrine shales and its relationship with the evolution of shale reservoirs.