Controlling factors of marine shale gas differential enrichment in southern China

Based on the exploration and development practice of marine shale gas in Fuling, Weiyuan, Changning, Luzhou and Southeast Chongqing in southern China, combined with experiments and analysis, six factors controlling differential enrichment of marine shale gas are summarized as follows:(1) The more appropriate thermal evolution and the higher the abundance of organic matter, the higher the adsorption and total gas content of shale will be.(2) Kerogen pyrolysis and liquid hydrocarbon cracking provide most of the marine shale gas.(3) The specific surface area and pore volume of organic matter rich shale increased first and then decreased with the increase of thermal evolution degree of organic shale. At Ro between 2.23% and 3.33%, the shale reservoirs are mainly oil-wet, which is conducive to the enrichment of shale gas.(4) The thicker the roof and floor, the higher the shale gas content. The longer the last tectonic uplift time and the greater the uplift amplitude, the greater the loss of shale gas will be.(5) The buried depth and dip angle of the stratum have different controlling and coupling effects on shale gas in different tectonic positions, resulting in two differential enrichment models of shale gas.(6) The effective and comprehensive matching of source, reservoir and preservation conditions determines the quality of shale gas accumulation. Good match of effective gas generating amount and time, moderate pore evolution and good preservation conditions in space and time is essential for the enrichment of shale gas.

A hydrocarbon enrichment model and prediction of favorable accumulation areas in complicated superimposed basins in China

The geologic conditions of superimposed basins in China are very complicated. This is mainly shown by multi-phase structural evolution, multiple sets of source-reservoir-cap rock combinations, multiple stages of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion from source rocks, multi-cycle hydrocarbon enrichment and accumulation, and multi-phase reservoir adjustment and reconstruction. The enrichment, accumulation and distribution of hydrocarbon is mainly controlled by the source rock kitchen, paleo- anticline, regional cap rock and intensity of tectonic movement. In this paper, the T-BCMS model has been developed to predict favorable areas of hydrocarbon accumulation in complicated superimposed basins according to time and spatial relationships among five key factors. The five factors include unconformity surface representing tectonic balancing （B）, regional cap rock representing hydrocarbon protection （C）, paleo-anticline representing hydrocarbon migration and accumulation （M）, source rock kitchen representing hydrocarbon generation and expulsion （S） and geological time （T）. There are three necessary conditions to form favorable areas of hydrocarbon accumulation. First, four key factors BCMS should be strictly in the order of BCMS from top to bottom. Second, superimposition of four key factors BCMS in the same area is the most favorable for hydrocarbon accumulation. Third, vertically ordered combination and superimposition in the same area of BCMS should occur at the same geological time. The model has been used to predict the most favorable exploration areas in Ordovician in the Tarim Basin in the main hydrocarbon accumulation periods. The result shows that 95% of the discovered Ordovician hydrocarbon reservoirs are located in the predicted areas, which indicates the feasibility and reliability of the key factor matching T-BCMS model for hydrocarbon accumulation and enrichment.