Oil accumulation related to migration of source kitchens in the Lukeqin structural belt, Turpan-Hami Basin, China

The Lukeqin structural belt is the main heavy oil accumulation zone in the Turpan-Hami Basin. The recent discovery of light oil in the Triassic indicates that there may be multiple source kitchens contributing to the oil accumulation. According to oil geochemical analysis and oil-source correlation, the oil in deep and shallow reservoirs of the Lukeqin Oilfield presents different physical and saturated hydrocarbon mass spectrum characteristics. The Triassic heavy oil is from the northern Upper Permian lacustrine source rocks, and the light oil represented by the Yudong-9 Well is from the northwestern Lower Jurassic coal-measure source rocks. The timing of oil charging was determined by K/Ar isotope dating, reservoir fluid inclusion analysis and the evolution history of different source rocks. In summary, the accumulation process consists of two stages. From the end of Triassic to early Jurassic, the northern Permian source kitchen generated a considerable amount of oil, which was finally degraded to heavy oil, migrated to the south and then accumulated. The northwestern Jurassic coal-measure source kitchen began to generate oil at the end of Cretaceous, while the northern source kitchen could only generate a little hydrocarbon. The heavy oil and the light oil have different source rock locations, migration directions and accumulation times. The migration of hydrocarbon source kitchens affects the distribution of heavy oil and light oil reservoirs at the present time.

Combination and superimposition of source kitchens and their effects on hydrocarbon accumulation in the hinterland of the Junggar Basin,west China

In the hinterland of the Junggar Basin, there are multiple depressions with multiple sets of source rocks. Therefore, the conditions of hydrocarbon sources are complex, and the geochemical characteristics and sources of hydrocarbon vary in different structural belts. The evolution of the Che- Mo palaeohigh affected the formation of hydrocarbon source kitchens and hydrocarbon migration. We studied the combination and superimposition of hydrocarbon source kitchens, using as an example the hinterland of the Junggar Basin （including the Yongjin, Zhengshacun, Moxizhuang and Luliang uplift areas）. The study was based on geochemical analyses of crude oil and fluid inclusions, and the histories of tectonic evolution and hydrocarbon generation. The results indicated that before the Paleogene there were two hydrocarbon-generating depressions： the Western Well Penl depression and the Changji depression on the south and north sides of the Che-Mo palaeohigh, respectively. The Permian source kitchen had been generating hydrocarbon continuously since Triassic and reached high maturity stage in the Cretaceous period. After Paleogene, the adjustment of the Che-Mo palaeohigh led to the subsidence of the Changji depression and the Jurassic source rocks reached mature stage and became the main source kitchens. However, the Jurassic source rocks in the Western Well Penl depression were still in a low maturity stage and did not generate oil because of the adjustment of tectonic movements. As a result, in the central and southern parts of the Junggar Basin, Jurassic source rocks generated oil, but in the Luliang uplift, the crude oil was from the Permian source rocks in the Western Well Penl depression and the Jurassic source rocks did not contribute. The crude oil in the central Zhengshacun-Moxizhuang belt was from the Permian source rocks in two depressions, and partially from the Jurassic source rocks. The crude oil in the Luliang uplift was from the source rocks of the lower Permian Fengcheng Formation and middle Permian Wuerhe Formation, which is characterized by superimposition of two sets of source kitchens and three accumulation stages. The crude oil in the Yongjin tectonic belt was from the lower Permian, middle Permian and Jurassic source rocks, which is characterized by superimposition of three sets of source kitchens and two accumulation stages. The crude oil in the Zhengshacun tectonic belt was from a combination of source kitchens of lower Permian and middle Permian in the Western Well Penl depression in the early stage and from the superimposition of Jurassic source rocks in the Changji depression in the late stage.

Geological theory and exploration & development practice of hydrocarbon accumulation inside continental source kitchens

Continental shale strata in China are rich in petroleum resources and are an important area to strengthen domestic oil exploration and development.Based on the latest progress in geological research and exploration and development of petroleum inside continental source kitchens of China National Petroleum Corporation exploration areas in recent two years,we have achieved the following results:(1)The geological connotations of continental hydrocarbon accumulation inside source kitchen and"sweet spot"have been proposed.The intra-source petroleum accumulation refers to the accumulation of liquid-rich hydrocarbons retained or captured in the continental organic-rich shale strata,and"sweet spot"refers to the favorable reservoir with higher oil content,better physical properties,easier to stimulate and higher in commercial development value in the overall oil-bearing continental source rock series,they can be divided into three types,interlayer,hybrid sediment and shale.(2)High-quality shale formations in both salt water and freshwater lacustrine basins can generate hydrocarbons on a large scale,shale strata have multiple types of favorable reservoirs with large-scale storage capacity,the intra-source shale strata are overall oil-bearing and large in resource scale,and there are multiple favorable shale series for development.The exploration and development practice is propelling the formation of a series of exploration and development key technologies with"sweet spot exploration"and"volume development"as the core.Some pilot tests of these technologies have provided an important scientific basis for the economic and effective development of hydrocarbon accumulation inside source kitchen,and popularization of these technologies have achieved encouraging results preliminarily.(3)Two types of continental intra-source petroleum resources in China have great potential,including medium-high maturity with liquid-rich hydrocarbons and medium-low maturity with organic-rich matter.The Ordos,Songliao,Bohai Bay and Junggar basins are the main areas of these resources.By addressing the theoretical and technical challenges in the exploration and development,the two types of resources inside continental source kitchens will become the realistic and major strategic replacement oil resources respectively in the future.

Differences in source kitchens for lacustrine in-source and out-of-source hydrocarbon accumulations

Because of the differences of hydrocarbon accumulation between in-source and out-of-source oil pools, the demand for source kitchen is different. Based on the establishment of source-to-reservoir correlation in the known conventional accumulations, and the characteristics of shale oil source kitchens as well, this paper discusses the differences of source kitchens for the formation of both conventional and shale oils. The formation of conventional oil pools is a process of hydrocarbons enriching from disperse state under the action of buoyancy, which enables most of the oil pools to be formed outside the source kitchens. The source rock does not necessarily have high abundance of organic matter, but has to have high efficiency and enough amount of hydrocarbon expulsion. The TOC threshold of source rocks for conventional oil accumulations is 0.5%, with the best TOC window ranging from 1% to 3%. The oil pools formed inside the source kitchens, mainly shale oil, are the retention of oil and gas in the source rock and there is no large-scale hydrocarbon migration and enrichment process happened, which requires better quality and bigger scale of source rocks. The threshold of TOC for medium to high maturity of shale oil is 2%, with the best range falling in 3%–5%. Medium to low mature shale oil resource has a TOC threshold of 6%, and the higher the better in particular. The most favorable kerogen for both high and low-mature shale oils is oil-prone type of I–II1. Carrying out source rock quality and classification evaluation and looking for large-scale and high-quality source rock enrichment areas are a scientific issue that must be paid attention to when exploration activity changes from out-of-source regions to in-source kitchen areas. The purpose is to provide theoretical guidance for the upcoming shale oil enrichment area selection, economic discovery and objective evaluation of resource potential.

Characteristics of the Upper Jurassic Marine Source Rocks and Prediction of Favorable Source Rock Kitchens in the Qiangtang Basin, Tibet

This study evaluated the hydrocarbon-bearing potential of Upper Jurassic marine source rocks in the Qiangtang （羌塘） Basin through a comprehensive organic geochemical analysis of the samples from a large number of outcrops in different structural units to predict the location of favorable hydro- carbon kitchens, based on the evaluation standards of Mesozoic marine source rocks in the Qiangtang Ba- sin. Rocks＇ depositional environment, thickness and organic geochemistry feature were analyzed in this study. The principal controlling factors of the occurrences of favorable source rocks were analyzed. Upper Jurassic Suowa （索瓦） Formation source rocks are mainly platform limestone in the Dongcuo （洞错）-Hulu （葫芦） Lake deep sag and Tupocuo （吐坡错）-Baitan （白滩） Lake deep sag. Lithologically, the Suowa Fro- mation is made up of a suite of marls in intra-platform sags, micrites and black shales, which were all de- posited in the closed, deep and static water depositional environment. Marl could form hydrocarbon-rich source rocks and its organic matter type is mainly II type in mature to highly-mature stage, the limestone forms a medium-level source rock. In addition, the favorable source kitchen of limestone is larger than that of mudstone. This study provides an important reference for the evaluation of Jurassic marine source rocks and for prediction of petroleum resources in the Qiangtang Basin.

Determining the Main Gas-generation Phase of Marine Organic Matters in Different Occurrence States using the Kinetic Method

This paper probes the determination of the main gas-generation phase of marine organic mattes using the kinetic method. The main gas-generation phase of marine organic matters was determined by coupling the gas generation yields and rates in geological history computed by the acquired kinetic parameters of typical marine organic matters （reservoir oil, residual bitumen, lowmaturity kerogen and residual kerogen） in both China and abroad and maturity by the EasyRo（%） method. Here, the main gas-generation phase was determined as Ro%=1.4%-2.4% for type Ⅰ kerogen, Ro%=1.5-3.0% for low-maturity type Ⅱ kerogen, Ro%=1.4-2.8% for residual kerogen, Ro%=1.5-3.2% for residual bitumen and Ro%=1.6-3.2% for reservoir oil cracking. The influences on the main gas-generation phase from the openness of the simulated system and the ＂dead line＂ of natural gas generation are also discussed. The results indicate that the openness of simulation system has a definite influence on computing the main gas-generation phase. The main gas-generation phase of type Ⅱ kerogen is Ro%=1.4-3.1% in an open system, which is earlier than that in a closed system. According to our results, the ＂dead line＂ of natural gas generation is determined as Ro=3.5 % for type Ⅰ kerogen, Ro=4.4-4.5% for type Ⅱ kerogen and Ro=4.6% for marine oil. Preliminary applications are presented taking the southwestern Tarim Basin as an example.

Two highly efficient accumulation models of large gas fields in China

Based on reserve abundance,large gas fields in China can be divided into two types：type one of high abundance large gas fields,dominated by structural gas reservoirs; type two of low abundance large gas fields,dominated by stratigraphic and lithologic gas reservoirs.The formation of these two types of large gas fields is related to the highly efficient accumulation of natural gas.The accumulation of high abundance gas fields is dependent on the rapid maturation of the source kitchen and huge residual pressure difference between the gas source kitchen and reservoir,which is the strong driving force for natural gas migration to traps.Whereas the accumulation of low abundance gas fields is more complicated,involving both volume flow charge during the burial stage and diffusion flow charge during the uplift stage,which results in large area accumulation and preservation of natural gas in low porosity and low permeability reservoirs.This conclusion should assist gas exploration in different geological settings.

Development potential and technical strategy of continental shale oil in China

Continental shale oil is a general term for liquid hydrocarbons and many kinds of organic matter in continental organic-rich shale series with vitrinite reflectance of more than 0.5%at buried depth of more than 300 m,and is an important type of source-rock oil and gas.Based on the evolution model of oil generation and expulsion in organic-rich shale series controlled by maturity,continental shale oil is divided into two types:medium-high maturity and medium-low maturity.(1)The continental shale series in China develop high-quality source rocks of freshwater and saltwater lacustrine facies,as well as multiple types of reservoirs,including clastic rocks,carbonate rocks,diamictite,tuff and shale,forming a number of"sweet sections"and"sweet areas"of continuous distribution inside or near source rocks,which have large scale resources.(2)Experimental analysis of organic rich shale samples shows that the shale samples with wavy and horizontal beddings have good storage conditions,and the horizontal permeability of shale is tens to hundreds of times of its vertical permeability,which is conducive to the lateral migration and accumulation of shale oil in the source rocks.(3)After evaluation,the geological resources of medium-high maturity shale oil are about 10 billion tons,which can be effectively developed by horizontal drilling and volumetric fracturing,and will be a practical field of oil exploration in recent years.Shale oil with medium and low maturity has huge resource potential,and technological recoverable resources of(70?90)billion tons,making it a strategic alternative resource of oil industry.However,economic development of this type of shale oil needs in-situ conversion technology breakthroughs.Continental shale oil is an inevitable choice in the process of Chinese continental petroleum exploration from"outside source"to"inside source".Making breakthroughs in the core technologies such as"sweet area"evaluation and optimization,horizontal well volume fracturing and in-situ conversion technology and equipment is the key to realizing scale development of continental shale oil economically.

Theory, Technology and Practice of Unconventional Petroleum Geology

0 INTRODUCTION The breakthroughs in unconventional petroleum have a great impact on world petroleum industry and innovation in petroleum geology(Dou et al,2022;Jia,2017;Zou et al.,2015b,2014a;Yerkin,2012;Pollastro,2007;Schmoker,1995).The exploration and development evolution from conventional petroleum to unconventional petroleum and more and more frequent industrial activities of exploring petroleum inside sources kitchen have deepened theoretical understanding of unconventional petroleum geology and promoted technical research and development(Jia et al.,2021,2017;Jin et al.,2021;Zhao W Z et al.,2020;Ma Y S et al.,2018,2012;Zou et al.,2018b,2016,2009;Dai et al.,2012).We have introduced and extended the theory of continuous hydrocarbon accumulation since 2008 and published several papers/books(in Chinese and English)with respect to unconventional petroleum geology since 2009,basically forming the theoretical framework for this discipline(Yang et al.,2022a,2021a,2019a,,2015a;Zou et al.,2019c,2017b,2014a,,2013a).In this paper,we present the background of unconventional petroleum geology,review the latest theoretical and technological progress in unconventional petroleum geology,introduce relevant thinking and practices in China,and explore the pathway of unconventional petroleum revolution and multi-energy coordinated development in super energy basins,hopefully to promote the unconventional petroleum geology and industry development.