Origin and accumulation of high-maturity oil and gas in deep parts of the Baxian Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China

Great quantities of light oil and gas are produced from deep buried hill reservoirs at depths of 5,641 m to 6,027 m and 190 ℃ to 201 ℃ in the Niudong-1 Well, representing the deepest and hottest commercial hydrocarbons discovered in the Bohai Bay Basin in eastern China. This discovery suggests favorable exploration prospects for the deep parts of the basin. However, the discovery raises questions regarding the genesis and accumulation of hydrocarbons in deep reservoirs. Based on the geochemical features of the hydrocarbons and characteristics of the source rocks as well as thermal simulation experiments of hydrocarbon generation, we conclude that the oil and gas were generated from the highly mature Sha-4 Member （Es4） source rocks instead of thermal cracking of crude oils in earlier accumulations. The source kitchen with abnormal pressures and karsted carbonate reservoirs control the formation of high-maturity hydrocarbon accumulations in the buried hills （i.e., Niudong-1） in conjunction with several structural-lithologic traps in the ES4 reservoirs since the deposition of the upper Minghuazhen Formation. This means the oil and gas exploration potential in the deep parts of the Baxian Depression is probably high.

Heterogeneous geological conditions and differential enrichment of medium and high maturity continental shale oil in China

Based on the comparison of basic geological conditions and enrichment characteristics of shale oil plays, the heterogeneity of source and reservoir conditions and differential enrichment of medium-high maturity continental shale oil plays in China have been confirmed.(1) Compared with the homogeneous geological settings and wide distribution of marine shale oil strata in North America, the continental medium and high maturity shale oil plays in China are significantly different in geological conditions generally;continental multi-cyclic tectonic evolution forms multiple types of lake basins in multi-stages, providing sites for large-scale development of continental shale oil, and giving rise to large scale high-quality source rocks, multiple types of reservoirs, and diverse source-reservoir combinations with significant heterogeneity.(2) The differences in sedimentary water environments lead to the heterogeneity in lithology, lithofacies, and organic material types of source rocks;the differences in material source supply and sedimentary facies belt result in reservoirs of different lithologies, including argillaceous and transition rocks, and tight siltstone, and complex source-reservoir combination types.(3) The heterogeneity of the source rock controls the differentiation of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion, the diverse reservoir types make reservoir performance different and the source-reservoir configurations complex, and these two factors ultimately make the shale oil enrichment patterns different. Among them, the hydrocarbon generation and expulsion capacity of high-quality source rocks affect the degree of shale oil enrichment. Freshwater hydrocarbon source rocks with TOC larger than 2.5% and saline hydrocarbon source rocks with TOC of 2% to 10% have a high content of retained hydrocarbons and are favorable.(4) High-abundance organic shale is the basis for the enrichment of shale oil inside the source. In addition to being retained in shale, liquid hydrocarbons migrate along laminae, diagenetic fractures, and thin sandy layers, and then accumulate in laminae of argillaceous siltstone, siltstone, and argillaceous dolomite, and dolomitic siltstone suites, etc. with low organic matter abundance in the shale strata, resulting in differences in enrichment pattern.

Biomarker geochemistry of marine organic matter in the Hushan and Chaohu areas,Lower Yangtze region

Marine strata are widely exposed in the Hushan and Chaohu areas, Lower Yangtze region. As biomarker geochemistry of the strata has not been well documented, this paper deals with the biomarker composition of representative samples collected from the Silurian, Carboniferous and Triassic systems and their geological implications, thus providing clues to marine organic matter. On the basis of experimental results, it is shown that abundant biomarkers (e.g. n-alkanes, isoprenoids, terpanes and steranes) were detected. As organic matter in the strata is highly to over mature in general based on petrologic microobservation, some biomarkers (mainly n-alkanes) except terpanes and steranes cannot reflect the source, depositional environment and maturity of organic matter. Thus, primarily based on analyses of the terpanes and steranes, it is suggested that organic matter in the Silurian and Carboniferous strata is derived mainly from lower organisms, while higher plants are predominant in the Triassic organic matter. This further indicates that the depositional environment may have transformed from the marine to continental facies in the Late Triassic. These results provide new evidence for the study of regional depositional evolution, and have enriched the study of biological composition of organic matter. In addition, the biomarker geochemistry of organic matter at high to over maturation stage is addressed.

Molecular evolution of nitrogen-containing compounds in highly mature organic matter: Implications for the hydrocarbon generation potential

Evaluating the hydrocarbon generation potential of highly mature organic matter is a key and critically challenging area of research in petroleum geochemistry. To explore this issue, we used negative ion electrospray ionization-Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance-mass spectrometry to investigate the molecular evolution of N-containing compounds in Carboniferous-lower Permian source rocks with a range of maturities in the northwestern Junggar Basin, China. The N1compounds formed from on-fluorescent chlorophyll catabolites(NCCs), which record the characteristics of the residual soluble organic matter. These components remain in the source rocks after hydrocarbon generation and expulsion, and enable evaluation of the hydrocarbon generation potential. The newly defined indexes of molecular evolution, which are the polymerization index P1([DBE 18+DBE 15]/[DBE 12+DBE 9]_N1) and alkylation index R1(RC_(6–35)/RC_(0–5)), combined with the vitrinite reflectance(VR_(o)) and paleo-salinity index(β-carotane/n Cmax), can identify the factors that control the evolution of highly mature organic matter. The main factor for source rocks deposited in a weakly saline environment is the maturity, but for a highly saline environment both the maturity and salinity are key factors. The high salinity inhibits the molecular polymerization of organic matter and extends the oil generation peak. Given the differences in the bio-precursors in saline source rocks, we propose a new model for hydrocarbon generation that can be used to determine the oil generation potential of highly mature organic matter.

An early maturing rice variety of high quality—Zhefu 218

Early maturing rice variety of high quality "Zhefu 218" was developed by prof XIA Yingwu, Zhejiang Agricultural University, Hangzhou, China. The growth period of the new rice variety is 106 d and its average yield is about 5.25-7.08 t / ha. It has the speciality of early-maturing combined with good quality. Not only the grains of "Zhefu 218" are of excellent cooking, but also of nutritive quality. The flavour of the cooked rice of"Zhefu 218" is considerably better than those of the ordinary rice cultivars here.

Evaluation of Highly Thermally Mature Shale-Gas Reservoirs in Complex Structural Parts of the Sichuan Basin

Successful exploration and development of shale-gas in the United States and Canada suggest a new solution to the energy problem in China. The Longmaxi （~1~） Formation in the Si- chuan （[~）1[） Basin is regarded as a strong potential play for shale-gas with the following significant features： （1） complex structural types caused by multiphase tectonic superposition and reconstruction; （2） varied slippage processes that enhance porosity and permeability; （3） high thermal maturation of organic matter （Ro〉2.5%）; （4） high brittle mineral contents; （5） high and constant thicknesses of shale horizons within the formation. Evaluation of shale-gas prospects in this area should consider not only hydrocarbon parameters, but also preservation conditions and structural stability. Data from several new exploration wells in the Sichuan Basin indicate that tectonically induced net-shaped fractures ef- fectively enhance shale reservoir properties. Structural types providing favorable storage conditions for shale-gas are described and evaluated. The high-yielding shale gas reservoir shares the same characte- ristics of conventional gas reservoirs except for its consubstantial source rock and reservoir in South China.

Presence of carboxylate salts in marine carbonate strata of the Ordos Basin and their impact on hydrocarbon generation evaluation of low TOC, high maturity source rocks

The total organic carbon （TOC） in the marine source rock of the Ordos Basin mostly ranges from 0.2% to 0.5%. The industrial standard commonly states that the TOC value has to be no less than 0.5% （0.4% for high mature or over-mature source rock） to form large petroleum reservoirs. However, gas source correlation indicates that the natural gas in the Jingbian gas field does receive contribution from marine source rocks. In order to determine the effect of Carboxylate salts （or called as organic acid salts） on TOC in highly mature source rocks with low TOC value, we sampled the Ordovician marine source rock and the Permian transitional facies source rock in one drilled well in the southern Ordos Basin and performed infrared and GC-MS analysis. It is found that both kerogen-derived organic acids and carboxylate salt-conversed organic acids exist in both marine and transitional facies source rocks. The carboxylate salt-conversed organic acids mainly come from the complete acidification of carboxylate salts, which confirms the presence of carboxylate salts in the marine source rocks. Although the C16：o peak is the main peak for the organic acids both before and after acidification, the carboxylate salt-conversed organic acids have much less relative abundance ahead of C^6：o compared with that of the kerogen-based and free organic acids. This observation suggests that the kerogen-based and free organic acids mainly decarboxylate to form lower carboxylic acids, whereas the carboxylate salt-conversed organic acids mainly break down into paraffins. By using calcium hexadecanoate as the reference to quantify the kerogen-derived and carboxylate salt-conversed organic acids, the high TOC （〉2.0%） marine source rocks have low carboxylate salt content and the low TOC （0.2%-0.5%） marine source rocks contain high content of carboxylate salt. Therefore, for the marine source rocks with 0.2%-0.5% TOC, the carboxylate salts may be a potential gas source at high maturity stage.

Thermal evolution and applications of aromatic hydrocarbons in highly mature coal-bearing source rocks of the Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation in the northern Sichuan Basin

Based on the GC-MS analytical data of aromatic fractions of over forty highly mature coal-bearing source rock samples collected from the Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation in the northern Sichuan Basin, the thermal evolution of aromatic hydrocarbons during late-mature to over-mature stage （R0=1.13%-2.85%） was characterized, and aromatic indicators suitable for recognizing the organic source and sedimentary environment of high maturity source rocks were discussed. The results indicated that the concentrations of low carbon-cycle naphthalene as well phenanthrene series reduce gradually with increasing Ro at the highly mature levels. However, some high-cyclic components such as chrysene, benzofluoranthene, and benzo[e]pyrene are relatively enriched, in companying an enhancement of parent aromatic compounds. The variations are attributed to thermal cracking and polymerization reactions due to continuous dehydrogenation under enhanced burial temperature. As thermal maturity rises, MPI1 （Methylphenanthrene Index） values display a two-modal varying trend, namely, increasing when Ro is below 1.80% and decreasing above 1.8% Ro. The relationships between Ro and MPI1 are Ro=0.98MPI1＋0.37 for R0〈1.80% and R0=-0.90MPI1＋3.02 at R0〉1.8%, being different from the previous research. The amount of dibenzofurans declines sharply at Ro higher than 1.1%, leading to a significant change of relative composition among dibenzothiophenes, dibenzofurans and fluorenes （referred as three-fluorenes series composition）. Thus, this parameter appears to be unsuitable for identifying the sedimentary environment of the highly matured source rocks. 4-/1-MDBT （methyldibenzothiophene） ratio could be served as an effective indicator for organic facies, and can distinguish coals from mudstones at over-maturity in this case. The ratios of 2,6-/2,10-DMP （dimethylphenanthrene） and 1,7-/1,9-DMP and relative abundance of triaromatic steroids in these highly mature rocks could be considered as biological source parameters for relative input of terrigenous versus aquatic organic matter.