Hydrocarbon accumulation and orderly distribution of whole petroleum system in marine carbonate rocks of Sichuan Basin,SW China

Based on the situation and progress of marine oil/gas exploration in the Sichuan Basin,SW China,the whole petroleum system is divided for marine carbonate rocks of the basin according to the combinations of hydrocarbon accumulation elements,especially the source rock.The hydrocarbon accumulation characteristics of each whole petroleum system are analyzed,the patterns of integrated conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon accumulation are summarized,and the favorable exploration targets are proposed.Under the control of multiple extensional-convergent tectonic cycles,the marine carbonate rocks of the Sichuan Basin contain three sets of regional source rocks and three sets of regional cap rocks,and can be divided into the Cambrian,Silurian and Permian whole petroleum systems.These whole petroleum systems present mainly independent hydrocarbon accumulation,containing natural gas of affinity individually.Locally,large fault zones run through multiple whole petroleum systems,forming a fault-controlled complex whole petroleum system.The hydrocarbon accumulation sequence of continental shelf facies shale gas accumulation,marginal platform facies-controlled gas reservoirs,and intra-platform fault-and facies-controlled gas reservoirs is common in the whole petroleum system,with a stereoscopic accumulation and orderly distribution pattern.High-quality source rock is fundamental to the formation of large gas fields,and natural gas in a whole petroleum system is generally enriched near and within the source rocks.The development and maintenance of large-scale reservoirs are essential for natural gas enrichment,multiple sources,oil and gas transformation,and dynamic adjustment are the characteristics of marine petroleum accumulation,and good preservation conditions are critical to natural gas accumulation.Large-scale marginal-platform reef-bank facies zones,deep shale gas,and large-scale lithological complexes related to source-connected faults are future marine hydrocarbon exploration targets in the Sichuan Basin.

Fifty Years of Dedication to Technology Dissemination,New Journey Ahead with Splendid Chapter:To the 50^(th) Anniversary of Petroleum Exploration and Development

As the New Year kicks off,it's also time to celebrate the 50^(th) Anniversary of Petroleum Exploration and Development.In the past 50 years,Petroleum Exploration and Development has been endeavoring to disseminating technology,witnessing and recording the glorious history of China's oil industry developing from weak to strong.In the new era,we have been focusing on theoretical innovation and technology advancement in oil and gas exploration and development,taking an edge on the latest development of the industry,continuously improving the quality of our journal,and leading the journal in a way of high quality and with special features.

Utility of fluid inclusion paleo-temperature in petroleum system modelling:A case study from western offshore,India

The paleo-temperature(Th)data from fluid inclusions are utilized for thermal history modelling using PetroMod software.Generally,bottom hole temperature(BHT)and vitrinite reflectance(Ro)measurements are widely used in petroleum system modelling(PSM)in the oil industry for calibration purposes.Th representing the minimum temperature of fluid entrapment estimated from fluid-inclusion study provides extra support to build the thermal models for PSM.Fluid inclusion parameters along with Rock-Eval pyrolysis analysis have been used to predict the maturity of oil in terms of API gravity as well as the maturity of source rocks respectively.Two exploratory wells RV-1(Mumbai Offshore Basin)and KK4C-A-1(Kerala-Konkan Offshore Basin),India were examined and the T_(h)from most of the fluid inclusions of wells RV-1 and KK4C-A-1 fell in the oil window range of 60-140℃suggesting thermal conditions favourable for oil generation in both of the wells.T_(h)of coeval aqueous inclusions along with the Hydrocarbon Fluid inclusions(HCFIs)was used to calibrate PSM.Vital parameters show that source rocks of well RV-1 are mature and that of well KK4C-A-1 are immature.Two sets of PSM are created in terms of generation and expulsion for the dry wells RV-1 and KK4C-A-1 and calibrated each well using fluid inclusion Th and BHT.From the fluid inclusion analysis method,it is evident that hydrocarbon generation happened in both wells and the paleo-temperature indicates that the formations of both wells were subjected to temperatures in the oil window range,even though it was designated as dry wells in the present scenario.The present study highlights the application of fluid inclusion paleo-temperature(Th)during calibration instead of commonly used methods.We could obtain desirable and accurate data output from PSM using T_(h) calibration.

Basic principles of the whole petroleum system

This paper expounds the basic principles and structures of the whole petroleum system to reveal the pattern of conventional oil/gas-tight oil/gas-shale oil/gas sequential accumulation and the hydrocarbon accumulation models and mechanisms of the whole petroleum system.It delineates the geological model,flow model,and production mechanism of shale and tight reservoirs,and proposes future research orientations.The main structure of the whole petroleum system includes three fluid dynamic fields,three types of oil and gas reservoirs/resources,and two types of reservoir-forming processes.Conventional oil/gas,tight oil/gas,and shale oil/gas are orderly in generation time and spatial distribution,and sequentially rational in genetic mechanism,showing the pattern of sequential accumulation.The whole petroleum system involves two categories of hydrocarbon accumulation models:hydrocarbon accumulation in the detrital basin and hydrocarbon accumulation in the carbonate basin/formation.The accumulation of unconventional oil/gas is self-containment,which is microscopically driven by the intermolecular force(van der Waals force).The unconventional oil/gas production has proved that the geological model,flow model,and production mechanism of shale and tight reservoirs represent a new and complex field that needs further study.Shale oil/gas must be the most important resource replacement for oil and gas resources of China.Future research efforts include:(1)the characteristics of the whole petroleum system in carbonate basins and the source-reservoir coupling patterns in the evolution of composite basins;(2)flow mechanisms in migration,accumulation,and production of shale oil/gas and tight oil/gas;(3)geological characteristics and enrichment of deep and ultra-deep shale oil/gas,tight oil/gas and coalbed methane;(4)resource evaluation and new generation of basin simulation technology of the whole petroleum system;(5)research on earth system-earth organic rock and fossil fuel system-whole petroleum system.

A tectono-thermal perspective on the petroleum generation,accumulation and preservation in the southern Ordos Basin, North China

The southern Ordos Basin has excellent petroleum exploration prospects.However,the tectono-thermal history and the controls on petroleum generation,accumulation and preservation conditions in southern basin are unclear.In this study,we analyzed the present geothermal field,paleo-geothermal gradient,maturity of the hydrocarbon source rocks,uplift and cooling process and tectono-thermal evolution history.In the study area,for the Ordovician,Permain and the Triassic strata,the present temperature is low(3070℃)in the southeastern area but high(80140℃)in the northwestern area.The paleogeothermal gradient varied from 24℃/km to 30℃/km with a heat flow of 58—69 m W/m^(2)(i.e.,a medium-temperature basin).The paleo-temperatures are higher than the present temperatures and the maximum paleo-temperatures controlled the thermal maturity of the source rocks.The vitrinite reflectance(Ro)values of the Triassic strata are>0.7%and the thermal maturity reached the middlemature oil generation stage.The Rovalues of the Permian-Ordovician strata are>1.8%and the thermal maturity reached the over-mature gas generation stage.The southern Ordos Basin has experienced the multiple tectonic events at the Late Ordovician Caledonian(452 Ma),Late Triassic(215 Ma),Late Jurassic(165160 Ma),End-Early Cretaceous(110100 Ma)and Cenozoic(since 40 Ma).A large-scale tectonothermal event occurred at the End-Early Cretaceous(110100 Ma),which was controlled by lithospheric extension,destruction and thinning.This event led to the highest paleo-temperatures and thermal maturities and coeval with the peak period of petroleum generation and accumulation.The southern Ordos Basin has undergone rapid and large-scale uplift since the Late Cretaceous due to expansion of the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau,uplift of the Qinling orogenic belt and thrust faulting in the Liupanshan tectonic belt.The southern Ordos Basin experienced tectonic overprinting that was strong in the south and weak in the north.The strongest overprinting occurred in the southwestern part of the basin.The large-scale uplift,denudation and faulting led to oil and gas loss from reservoirs.The petroleum generation,accumulation and preservation in the southern Ordos Basin were affected by deep lithospheric structures and the tectono-thermal evolution.This work provides a novel tectono-thermal perspective on the petroleum generation,accumulation and preservation condition of the southern Ordos Basin.

Control of Earth system evolution on the formation and enrichment of marine ultra-deep petroleum in China

Taking the Paleozoic of the Sichuan and Tarim basins in China as example,the controlling effects of the Earth system evolution and multi-spherical interactions on the formation and enrichment of marine ultra-deep petroleum in China have been elaborated.By discussing the development of“source-reservoir-seal”controlled by the breakup and assembly of supercontinents and regional tectonic movements,and the mechanisms of petroleum generation and accumulation controlled by temperature-pressure system and fault conduit system,Both the South China and Tarim blocks passed through the intertropical convergence zone(ITCZ)of the low-latitude Hadley Cell twice during their drifts,and formed hydrocarbon source rocks with high quality.It is proposed that deep tectonic activities and surface climate evolution jointly controlled the types and stratigraphic positions of ultra-deep hydrocarbon source rocks,reservoirs,and seals in the Sichuan and Tarim basins,forming multiple petroleum systems in the Ediacaran-Cambrian,Cambrian-Ordovician,Cambrian-Permian and Permian-Triassic strata.The matching degree of source-reservoir-seal,the type of organic matter in source rocks,the deep thermal regime of basin,and the burial-uplift process across tectonic periods collectively control the entire process from the generation to the accumulation of oil and gas.Three types of oil and gas enrichment models are formed,including near-source accumulation in platform marginal zones,distant-source accumulation in high-energy beaches through faults,and three-dimensional accumulation in strike-slip fault zones,which ultimately result in the multi-layered natural gas enrichment in ultra-deep layers of the Sichuan Basin and co-enrichment of oil and gas in the ultra-deep layers of the Tarim Basin.

A comparative study for petroleum removal capacities of the bacterial consortia entrapped in sodium alginate,sodium alginate/poly(vinyl alcohol),and bushnell haas agar

The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the degradation efficiencies of free and entrapped bacterial consortia(Staphylococcus capitis CP053957.1 and Achromobacter marplatensis MT078618.1)to different polymers such as Sodium Alginate(SA),Sodium Alginate/Poly(Vinyl Alcohol)(SA/PVA),and Bushnell Haas Agar(BHA).In addition to SA and SA/PVA,which are cost-effective,non-toxic and have different functional groups,BHA,which is frequently encountered in laboratory-scale studies but has not been used as an entrapment material until now.Based on these,the polymers with different surface morphologies and chemical compositions were analyzed by SEM and FT-IR.While the petroleum removal efficiency was higher with the entrapped bacterial consortia than with the free one,BHA-entrapped bacterial consortium enhanced the petroleum removal more than SA and SA/PVA.Accordingly,the degradation rate of bacterial consortia entrapped with BHA was 2.039 day^(-1),SA/PVA was 1.560,SA was 0.993,the half-life period of BHA-entrapped bacterial consortia is quite low(t_(1/2)=0.339)compared with SA(t_(1/2)=0.444)and SA/PVA(t_(1/2)=0.697).The effects of the four main factors such as:amount of BHA(0.5,1,1.5,2,2.5,3 g),disc size(4,5,6,7,8 mm),inoculum concentration(1,2.5,5,7.5,10 mL),and incubation period on petroleum removal were also investigated.The maximum petroleum removal(94.5%)was obtained at≥2.5 mL of bacterial consortium entrapped in 2 g BHA with a 7 mm disc size at 168 h and the results were also confirmed by statistical analysis.Although a decrease was observed during the reuse of bacterial consortium entrapped in BHA,the petroleum removal was still above 50%at 10th cycle.Based on GC-MS analysis,the removal capacity of BHA-entrapped consortium was over 90%for short-chain n-alkanes and 80%for medium-chain n-alkanes.Overall,the obtained data are expected to provide a potential guideline in cleaning up the large-scale oil pollution in the future.Since there has been no similar study investigating petroleum removal with the bacterial consortia entrapped with BHA,this novel entrapment material can potentially be used in the treatment of petroleum pollution in advanced remediation studies.

Three-dimensional structural models,evolution and petroleum geological significances of transtensional faults in the Ziyang area,central Sichuan Basin,SW China

With drilling and seismic data of Transtensional(strike-slip)Fault System in the Ziyang area of the central Sichuan Basin,SW China plane-section integrated structural interpretation,3-D fault framework model building,fault throw analyzing,and balanced profile restoration,it is pointed out that the transtensional fault system in the Ziyang 3-D seismic survey consists of the northeast-trending F_(I)19 and F_(I)20 fault zones dominated by extensional deformation,as well as 3 sets of northwest-trending en echelon normal faults experienced dextral shear deformation.Among them,the F_(I)19 and F_(I)20 fault zones cut through the Neoproterozoic to Lower Triassic Jialingjiang Formation,presenting a 3-D structure of an“S”-shaped ribbon.And before Permian and during the Early Triassic,the F_(I)19 and F_(I)20 fault zones underwent at least two periods of structural superimposition.Besides,the 3 sets of northwest-trending en echelon normal faults are composed of small normal faults arranged in pairs,with opposite dip directions and partially left-stepped arrangement.And before Permian,they had formed almost,restricting the eastward growth and propagation of the F_(I)19 fault zone.The F_(I)19 and F_(I)20 fault zones communicate multiple sets of source rocks and reservoirs from deep to shallow,and the timing of fault activity matches well with oil and gas generation peaks.If there were favorable Cambrian-Triassic sedimentary facies and reservoirs developing on the local anticlinal belts of both sides of the F_(I)19 and F_(I)20 fault zones,the major reservoirs in this area are expected to achieve breakthroughs in oil and gas exploration.

Whole petroleum system in Jurassic coal measures of Taibei Sag in Tuha Basin,NW China

Based on the latest results of near-source exploration in the Middle and Lower Jurassic of the Tuha Basin,a new understanding of the source rocks,reservoir conditions,and source-reservoir-cap rock combinations of the Jurassic Shuixigou Group in the Taibei Sag is established using the concept of the whole petroleum system,and the coal-measure whole petroleum system is analyzed thoroughly.The results are obtained in three aspects.First,the coal-measure source rocks of the Badaowan Formation and Xishanyao Formation and the argillaceous source rocks of the Sangonghe Formation in the Shuixigou Group exhibit the characteristics of long-term hydrocarbon generation,multiple hydrocarbon generation peaks,and simultaneous oil and gas generation,providing sufficient oil and gas sources for the whole petroleum system in the Jurassic coal-bearing basin.Second,multi-phase shallow braided river delta–shallow lacustrine deposits contribute multiple types of reservoirs,e.g.sandstone,tight sandstone,shale and coal rock,in slope and depression areas,providing effective storage space for the petroleum reservoir formation in coal-measure strata.Third,three phases of hydrocarbon charging and structural evolution,as well as effective configuration of multiple types of reservoirs,result in the sequential accumulation of conventional-unconventional hydrocarbons.From high structural positions to depression,there are conventional structural and structural-lithological reservoirs far from the source,low-saturation structural-lithological reservoirs near the source,and tight sandstone gas,coal rock gas and shale oil accumulations within the source.Typically,the tight sandstone gas and coal rock gas are the key options for further exploration,and the shale oil and gas in the depression area is worth of more attention.The new understanding of the whole petroleum system in the coal measures could further enrich and improve the geological theory of the whole petroleum system,and provide new ideas for the overall exploration of oil and gas resources in the Tuha Basin.

Whole petroleum system and ordered distribution pattern of conventional and unconventional oil and gas reservoirs

The classical source-to-trap petroleum system concept only considers the migration and accumulation of conventional oil and gas in traps driven dominantly by buoyance in a basin,although revised and improved,even some new concepts as composite petroleum system,total petroleum system,total composite petroleum system,were proposed,but they do not account for the vast unconventional oil and gas reservoirs within the system,which is not formed and distributed in traps dominantly by buoyancedriven.Therefore,the petroleum system concept is no longer adequate in dealing with all the oil and gas accumulations in a basin where significant amount of the unconventional oil and gas resources are present in addition to the conventional oil and gas accumulations.This paper looked into and analyzed the distribution characteristics of conventional and unconventional oil/gas reservoirs and their differences and correlations in petroliferous basins in China and North America,and then proposed whole petroleum system(WPS)concept,the WPS is defined as a natural system that encompasses all the conventional and unconventional oil and gas,reservoirs and resources originated from organic matter in source rocks,the geological elements and processes involving the formation,evolution,and distribution of these oil and gas,reservoirs and resources.It is found in the WPS that there are three kinds of hydrocarbons dynamic fields,three kinds of original hydrocarbons,three kinds of reservoir rocks,and the coupling of these three essential elements lead to the basic ordered distribution model of shale oil/gas reservoirs contacting or interbeded with tight oil/gas reservoirs and separated conventional oil/gas reservoirs from source rocks upward,which is expressed as“S\T-C”.Abnormal conditions lead to other three special ordered distribution models:The first is that with shale oil/gas reservoirs separated from tight oil/gas reservoirs.The second is that with two direction ordered distributions from source upward and downward.The third is with lateral distribution from source outside.

Upper Paleozoic total petroleum system and geological model of natural gas enrichment in Ordos Basin, NW China

Based on the analysis of Upper Paleozoic source rocks, source-reservoir-caprock assemblage, and gas accumulation characteristics in the Ordos Basin, the gas accumulation geological model of total petroleum system is determined. Then, taking the Carboniferous Benxi Formation and the Permian Taiyuan Formation and Shanxi Formation as examples, the main controlling factors of gas accumulation and enrichment are discussed, and the gas enrichment models of total petroleum system are established. The results show that the source rocks, faults and tight reservoirs and their mutual coupling relations control the distribution and enrichment of gas. Specifically, the distribution and hydrocarbon generation capacity of source rocks control the enrichment degree and distribution range of retained shale gas and tight gas in the source. The coupling between the hydrocarbon generation capacity of source rocks and the physical properties of tight reservoirs controls the distribution and sweet spot development of near-source tight gas in the basin center. The far-source tight gas in the basin margin is mainly controlled by the distribution of faults, and the distribution of inner-source, near-source and far-source gas is adjusted and reformed by faults. Generally, the Upper Paleozoic gas in the Ordos Basin is recognized in four enrichment models: inner-source coalbed gas and shale gas, inner-source tight sandstone gas, near-source tight gas, and far-source fault-transported gas. In the Ordos Basin, inner-source tight gas and near-source tight gas are the current focuses of exploration, and inner-source coalbed gas and shale gas and far-source gas will be important potential targets in the future.

Integrated gravity and magnetic study on patterns of petroleum basin occurrence in the China seas and adjacent areas

The China seas and adjacent areas contain numerous petroleum basins.One of the main challenges for future oil and gas exploration is to identify the inherent patterns of petroleum basin distribution.The formation and evolution of petroleum basins along with the migration and accumulation of oil and gas are often closely related to the tectonic environment.The gravity and magnetic fields with high lateral resolution and wide coverage provide important data for regional tectonic research.Based on the gravity data in the Global Satellite Gravity Anomaly Database(V31.1)and magnetic data from the Earth Magnetic Anomaly Grid(2-arc-minute resolution)(V2),this study uses integrated gravity and magnetic field technique to obtain integrated gravity and magnetic field result for the China seas and adjacent areas,and then adopts the normalized vertical derivative of the total horizontal derivative technique to conduct partition.Finally,it identifies the relationship between the partition characteristics and tectonics as well as the patterns of petroleum basin occurrence.The research shows that the partition of gravity and magnetic field integrated result has a good correlation with the Neo-Cathaysian tectonic system and tectonic units.The petroleum basins are characterized according to three blocks arranged from north to south and four zones arranged from east to west.The north-south block structure causes the uneven distribution of oil and gas resources in the mainland area and the differences in the hydrocarbon-bearing strata.Petroleum basins are more abundant in the north than in the south.The ages of the main oil-and gas-bearing strata are“Paleozoic–Mesozoic,Paleozoic–Mesozoic–Cenozoic,and Paleozoic–Mesozoic”,in order from north to south.The difference in the overall type of oil and gas resources in all basins is controlled by the east–west zonation.From east to west,the oil and gas resource type exhibits a wave-like pattern of“oil and gas,gas,oil and gas,gas”.The vertical distribution is characterized by an upper oil(Mesozoic–Cenozoic)and lower gas(Mesozoic–Paleozoic)structure.Within the study area,the Paleozoic marine strata should be the main strata of future natural gas exploration.

Multimodal Fuzzy Downstream Petroleum Supply Chain:A Novel Pentagonal Fuzzy Optimization

The petroleum industry has a complex,inflexible and challenging supply chain(SC)that impacts both the national economy as well as people’s daily lives with a range of services,including transportation,heating,electricity,lubricants,as well as chemicals and petrochemicals.In the petroleum industry,supply chain management presents several challenges,especially in the logistics sector,that are not found in other industries.In addition,logistical challenges contribute significantly to the cost of oil.Uncertainty regarding customer demand and supply significantly affects SC networks.Hence,SC flexibility can be maintained by addressing uncertainty.On the other hand,in the real world,decision-making challenges are often ambiguous or vague.In some cases,measurements are incorrect owing to measurement errors,instrument faults,etc.,which lead to a pentagonal fuzzy number(PFN)which is the extension of a fuzzy number.Therefore,it is necessary to develop quantitative models to optimize logistics operations and supply chain networks.This study proposed a linear programming model under an uncertain environment.The model minimizes the cost along the refineries,depots,multimode transport and demand nodes.Further developed pentagonal fuzzy optimization,an alternative approach is developed to solve the downstream supply chain using themixed-integer linear programming(MILP)model to obtain a feasible solution to the fuzzy transportation cost problem.In this model,the coefficient of the transportation costs and parameters is assumed to be a pentagonal fuzzy number.Furthermore,defuzzification is performed using an accuracy function.To validate the model and technique and feasibility solution,an illustrative example of the oil and gas SC is considered,providing improved results compared with existing techniques and demonstrating its ability to benefit petroleum companies is the objective of this study.

Cosmic Contributions to the Deposition of Petroleum Source Rocks: Review and Analysis

The development of globally distributed Phanerozoic petroleum source rocks is concentrated on time intervals, which correlate convincingly with climatic driven glaciation epochs of Earth’s history, repeated every 150 million years, and during sea level high stands and maxima of global magmatism with a period of 300 million years. The 150 million year periodicity appears to be related to the path of the solar system through the spiral arms of the Milky Way and the 300 million year periodicity to changes of the spiral system. The spiral arms are preferred birth places of new stars, of which the larger ones have only smaller lifespans. Their preliminary deaths ended with explosions and selectively with the development of so-called white dwarfs, neutron stars or black holes. The times of the explosions of intermediate (sun-like) stars can be determined by measuring the present brightness of the dwarfs. Not surprisingly the last two maxima of recordable near solar system star explosions took place during the presumably spiral arms driven glacial epochs in Eocene to present and Upper Jurassic times. Such near solar system star explosions may have been the source of intense neutrino showers, cosmic rays and star dust. This dust contained all kinds of chemical elements, including phosphorus and uranium. Such cosmic phosphorus may have supported, through fertilizing, the distribution of life on Earth additionally to local phosphorus resources via bloom of biota in lakes and oceans and the enhanced growth of plants on land across all climatic zones. Subsequently it maintained the development of petroleum source rocks of all organic matter types within black shales and coals. Via the distribution of remnants of exploding stars—mainly white dwarfs, but neutron stars and black holes have to be counted as well—a cosmic contribution can therefore casually linked to the deposition of petroleum source rocks on Earth, not only purely correlatively by their contemporaneous appearances.

Investigation of Physical Properties of Nano Crude Petroleum: Increasing Oil Flow Rate in Reservoirs

The zinc oxide nano-particles have been used in this research. In this work, zinc oxide nanoparticles have been added to light and heavy crude oil. In this research, thermoelectric and physical properties of light and heavy crude petroleum have been measured, experimentally. In addition, dimensionless groups in hydrodynamics and heat transfer calculations are presented. This research illustrates that heat capacity of light and heavy crude petroleum varies from 4256 J/kg·°C to 4457 J/kg·°C and 4476 J/kg·°C to 5002 J/kg·°C, respectively. Moreover, heat capacity of light and heavy nano-crude petroleum is changing from about 4285 J/kg·°C to 4496 J/kg·°C and 4494 J/kg·°C to 5021 J/kg·°C, respectively.

Warmly Celebrate the Establishment of the 9th Editorial Committee of Petroleum Exploration and Development

On the 49th anniversary of the founding of Petroleum Exploration and Development,the 9th Editorial Committee is officially established,with Academician Zhao Wenzhi of the Chinese Academy of Engineering serving as the Director and Professor Dou Lirong,President of PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development,serving as the Executive Deputy Director.

Petroleum Exploration and Development SCI Impact Factor of 7.5in Q1,Ranked 1st Among World Petroleum Engineering Journals

On June 28^(th),2023,Clarivate Analytics released the Journal Citation Reports of 2022.The impact factor of Petroleum Exploration and Development has reached 7.5,a 44%increase against 5.194 as of 2021,seting a new historical record in world petroleum engineering journals.

Orientational Separation of Sulfur in Petroleum Coke by Alkali Calcining and Reflux Washing

The application of high-sulfur petroleum coke after desulfurization in aluminum electrolysis anodes is an important development trend. However, removing sulfur from high-sulfur petroleum coke is still a significant challenge.This study proposes alkali calcining and reflux washing to examine the impacts of temperature, particle size, the mass ratio of Na_(2)CO_(3) to NaOH, and total sodium addition on the desulfurization efficiency and mechanism. The results show that the desulfurization rate increases with increasing temperature, increasing total sodium content, and decreasing particle size. The addition of alkali can significantly reduce the opening-ring reaction temperature of thiophene and convert organic sulfur into inorganic sulfur(Na_(2)S). Three washing methods were compared, and reflux washing was selected to separate inorganic sulfur(Na_(2)S) from calcined petroleum coke. The sulfur content in petroleum coke decreased from 7.29% to 1.90%, with a desulfurization rate of 80.13% under optimal conditions. The petroleum coke was analyzed before and after desulfurization using X-Ray diffraction(XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM), Infrared Spectroscopy(IR), Thermogravimetric Analysis and Differential Scanning Calorimetry(TG-DSC), Gaschromatography-mass Spectrometry(GC-MS). The results show that thiophene and benzothiophene in petroleum coke are decomposed and converted into octane and ethyl cyclohexane. These new observations are expected to provide further understanding and guidance for the utilization of highsulfur petroleum coke.

Laboratory Design Criteria for Monitoring Biostimulated Bioremediation of a Crude Oil Contaminated Soil in Niger Delta Using Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon

The remediation of crude oil-impacted soil has always been a challenge in different soil environments and climatic conditions. Bioremediation technology has offered a breakthrough in restoring crude oil-impacted soil/sediment in muddy, dry soil and wetlands. Though, there have been varied environmental conditions that have hampered the success of the bioremediation process. This study has evaluated the effectiveness of a biostimulated bioremediation of crude oil-impacted soil using some design criteria—nutrient amendment (NPK fertilizer) and moisture content. Soil sample sets—A, B, C, D, E, F, and G were impacted with crude oil at a ratio of 10 g/kg and amended with varying amounts of nutrient 30, 60, and 80 g of N.P.K fertilizer. The medium for the inoculation of the nutrient was water and the volume of water applied varied from 30% to 80% saturation. The soil sample sets were harvested at an interval of 3 months for 180 days to determine the concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbon left in the soil. The analysis of the total petroleum hydrocarbon was achieved using a GC-FID with a capillary column and autosampler. Soil samples were extracted with mixed solvent dichloromethane and acetone at a 1:1 ratio. The total petroleum hydrocarbon results show that biostimulated bioremediation achieved better results in soil sample sets with low moisture content (30% water saturation) and moderate nutrient amendment. The biodegradation of the sample sets with high water saturation and a high nutrient amendment was slow with a higher amount of total hydrocarbon content at the end of the 180 days. The variability in the hydrocarbon degradation pattern of contaminated soil shows that biostimulated bioremediation achieved better results in soils with low moisture content than in soil environments with high water content (saturation). More so, nutrient overdosing of the substrate hampered the effectiveness of the remediation process.

Enhancing Heavy Crude Oil Flow in Pipelines through Heating-Induced Viscosity Reduction in the Petroleum Industry

The process of transporting crude oil across pipelines is one of the most critical aspects of the midstream petroleum industry.In the present experimental work,the effect of temperature,pressure drop,and pipe diameter on the flow rate of heavy crude oil have been assessed.Moreover,the total discharge and energy losses have been evaluated in order to demonstrate the improvements potentially achievable by using solar heating method replacing pipe,and adjusting the value of the initial pressure difference.Crude oil of API=20 has been used for the experiments,with the studied pipelines sections connecting the separator unit to the storage tank operating at a temperature of 25℃-100℃,pressure drop of 3,4,5,and 6 kg/cm^(2),and with pipe diameter of 4,6,and 8 in.The results show that on increasing the temperature and/or the pressure drop,the flow rate through the pipeline becomes higher,thus raising the total pumping energy(as the pipe diameter increase),while energy losses increase from the last separator to the storage tank in the field.A pipe diameter increase can also produce a growth of the total pumping energy(i.e.,energy losses increase).The results of the present analysis suggest that employing an optimal temperature(50℃)is needed to ensure good performance.