Hydrocarbon Potential of Pre-cenozoic Strata in the North Yellow Sea Basin

The North Yellow Sea Basin ( NYSB ), which was developed on the basement of North China (Huabei) continental block, is a typical continental Mesozoic-Cenozoic sedimentary basin in the sea area. Its Mesozoic basin is a residual basin, below which there is probably a larger Paleozoic sedimentary basin. The North Yellow Sea Basin comprises four sags and three uplifts. Of them, the eastern sag is a Mesozoic-Cenozoic sedimentary sag in NYSB and has the biggest sediment thickness; the current Korean drilling wells are concentrated in the eastern sag. This sag is comparatively rich in oil and gas resources and thus has a relatively good petroleum prospect in the sea. The central sag has also accommodated thick Mesozoic-Cenozoic sediments. The latest research results show that there are three series of hydrocarbon source rocks in the North Yellow Sea Basin, namely, black shales of the Paleogene, Jurassic and Cretaceous. The principal hydrocarbon source rocks in NYSB are the Mesozoic black shale. According to the drilling data of Korea, the black shales of the Paleogene, Jurassic and Cretaceous have all come up to the standards of good and mature source rocks. The NYSB owns an intact system of oil generation, reservoir and capping rocks that can help hydrocarbon to form in the basin and thus it has the great potential of oil and gas. The vertical distribution of the hydrocarbon resources is mainly considered to be in the Cretaceous and then in the Jurassic.

Weathered and Volcanic Provenance-Sedimentary System and Its Influence on Reservoir Quality in the East of the Eastern Depression, the North Yellow Sea Basin

Seismic stratigraphy, core logging and the data from cores are used to identify the development and evolution of the east provenance-sedimentary system and to analyze its influence on the quality of reservoirs in the eastern depression of the North Yellow Sea Basin. The eastern provenance-sedimentary system is a fan delta （delta） and subaqueous fan sedimentary system with volcanic provenance. Its evolution is closely related to internal uplift and coeval volcanic activity. During faulting and volcanic activity, an internal uplift gradually formed and the eastern provenance-sedimentary system began to develop. Clastic materials from the weathered uplift and volcanic activity were the main sources of sediment and were deposited in the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. A subaqueous fan sedimentary system developed in the Middle Jurassic, a deltaic to subaqueous fan sedimentary system developed in the Late Jurassic, and a fan delta to subaqueous fan sedimentary system developed in the Early Cretaceous. The volcaniclastic detritus was mainly composed of acidic materials with a small amount of intermediate materials. The reservoir in the eastern sedimentary system is a type of tight sandstone with ultra-low porosity and very low permeability due to the influence of volcanism and diagenesis. The reservoir quality is worse than those of the northern and the western sedimentary systems. However, the high volume of volcanic materials and deep-marine sedimentary conditions resulted in good-quality hydrocarbon source rocks that ensures the exploration potential in the eastern sedimentary system reservoir.