The concept and the accumulation characteristics of unconventional hydrocarbon resources

Unconventional hydrocarbon resources, which are only marginally economically explored and developed by traditional methods and techniques, are different from conventional hydrocarbon resources in their accumulation mechanisms, occurrence states, distribution models, and exploration and development manners. The types of unconventional hydrocarbon are controlled by the evolu- tion of the source rocks and the combinations of different types of unconventional reservoirs. The fundamental dis- tinction between unconventional hydrocarbon resources and conventional hydrocarbon resources is their non- buoyancy-driven migration. The development of the micro- to nano-scale pores results in rather high capillary resis- tance. The accumulation mechanisms of the unconven- tional and the conventional hydrocarbon resources are also greatly different. In conventional hydrocarbon resources, oil and gas entrapment is controlled by reservoir-forming factors and geological events, which is a dynamic balance process; while for unconventional hydrocarbon resources, the gas content is affected by the temperature and pressure fields, and their preservation is crucial. Unconventional and conventional hydrocarbons are distributed in an orderly manner in subsurface space, having three distribution models of intra-source rock, basin-centered, and source rock interlayer. These results will be of great significance to unconventional hydrocarbon exploration.

Deep-water Fan Systems and Petroleum Resources on the Northern Slope of the South China Sea

The shallow shelf delta/strand arenaceous-pelitic deposit region in the north of the Pearl River mouth basin, sitting on the northern continental shelf of the South China Sea, has already become an important oil production base in China. Recent researched has revealed that a great deal of deep-water fans of great petroleum potentiality exist on the Baiyun deep-water slope below the big paleo Pearl River and its large delta. Based on a mass of exploration wells and 2-D seismic data of the shallow shelf region, a interpretation of sequence stratigraphy confirmed the existence of deep-water fans. The cyclic falling of sea level, abundant detrital matter from the paleo Pearl River and the persistent geothermal subsidence in the Baiyun sag are the three prerequisites for the formation and development of deep-water fans. There are many in common between the deep-water shelf depositional system of the northern South China Sea and the exploration hotspots region on the two banks of the Atlantic. For example, both are located on passive continent margins, and persistent secular thermal subsidence and large paleo rivers have supplied abundant material sources and organic matter. More recently, the discovery of the big gas pool on the northern slope of the Baiyun sag confirms that the Lower Tertiary lacustrine facies in the Baiyun sag has a great potentiality of source rocks. The fans overlying the Lower Tertiary source rocks should become the main exploration areas for oil and gas resources.

A unified model for the formation and distribution of both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs

The discovery and large-scale exploration of unconventional oil/gas resources since 1980s have been considered as the most important advancement in the history of petroleum geology;that has not only changed the balance of supply and demand in the global energy market,but also improved our understanding of the formation mechanisms and distribution characteristics of oil/gas reservoirs.However,what is the difference of conventional and unconventional resources and why they always related to each other in petroliferous basins is not clear.As the differences and correlations between unconventional and conventional resources are complex challenging issues and very critical for resources assessment and hydrocarbon exploration,this paper focused on studying the relationship of formations and distributions among different oil/gas reservoirs.Drilling results of 12,237 exploratory wells in 6 representative petroliferous basins of China and distribution characteristics for 52,926 oil/gas accumulations over the world were applied to clarify the formation conditions and genetic relations of different oil/gas reservoirs in a petroliferous basin,and then to establish a unified model to address the differences and correlations of conventional and unconventional reservoirs.In this model,conventional reservoirs formed in free hydrocarbon dynamic field with high porosity and permeability located above the boundary of hydrocarbon buoyancy-driven accumulation depth limit.Unconventional tight reservoirs formed in confined hydrocarbon dynamic field with low porosity and permeability located between hydrocarbon buoyancy-driven accumulation depth limit and hydrocarbon accumulation depth limit.Shale oil/gas reservoirs formed in the bound hydrocarbon dynamic field with low porosity and ultra-low permeability within the source rock layers.More than 75%of proved reserves around the world are discovered in the free hydrocarbon dynamic field,which is estimated to contain only 10%of originally generated hydrocarbons.Most of undiscovered resources distributed in the confined hydrocarbon dynamic field and the bound hydrocarbon dynamic field,which contains 90%of original generated hydrocarbons,implying a reasonable and promising area for future hydrocarbon explorations.The buried depths of hydrocarbon dynamic fields become shallow with the increase of heat flow,and the remaining oil/gas resources mainly exist in the deep area of“cold basin”with low geothermal gradient.Lithology changing in the hydrocarbon dynamic field causes local anomalies in the oil/gas dynamic mechanism,leading to the local formation of unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs in the free hydrocarbon dynamic field or the occurrence of oil/gas enrichment sweet points with high porosity and permeability in the confined hydrocarbon dynamic field.The tectonic movements destroy the medium conditions and oil/gas components,which leads to the transformation of conventional oil/gas reservoirs formed in free hydrocarbon dynamic field to unconventional ones or unconventional ones formed in confined and bound hydrocarbon dynamic fields to conventional ones.

Prediction of petroleum exploration risk and subterranean spatial distribution of hydrocarbon accumulations

Investigation of spatial distribution of oil and gas resource and accurate prediction of the geographic location of its undiscovered resource is significant for reducing exploration risk and improving exploration benefit.A new method for predicting spatial distribution of oil resource is discussed in this paper.It consists of prediction of risk probability in petroleum exploration and simulation of hydrocarbon abundance. Exploration risk probability is predicted by multivariate statistics,fuzzy mathematics and information processing techniques.A spatial attribute database for sample wells was set up and the Mahalanobis distance and Fuzzy value of given samples were obtained.Then,the Bayesian formula was used to calculate the hydrocarbon-bearing probability at the area of exploration wells.Finally,a hydrocarbon probability template is formed and used to forecast the probability of the unknown area. The hydrocarbon abundance is simulated based on Fourier integrals,frequency spectrum synthesis and fractal theory.Firstly,the fast Fourier transformation（FFT） is used to transform the known hydrocarbon abundance from the spatial domain to the frequency domain,then,frequency spectrum synthesis is used to produce the fractal frequency spectrum,and FFT is applied to get the phase information of hydrocarbon-bearing probability.Finally,the frequency spectrum simulation is used to calculate the renewed hydrocarbon abundance in the play. This method is used to predict the abundance and possible locations of the undiscovered petroleum accumulations in the Nanpu Sag of the Bohai Bay Basin,China.The prediction results for the well-explored onshore area of the northern Nanpu Sag agree well with the actual situations.For the less-explored offshore areas in the southern Nanpu Sag,the prediction results suggest high hydrocarbon abundance in Nanpu-1 and Nanpu-2,providing a useful guiding for future exploration.

Assessment of recoverable oil and gas resources by in-situ conversion of shale——Case study of extracting the Chang 7_(3) shale in the Ordos Basin

The purpose of this study is to investigate the entire evolution process of shales with various total organic contents(TOC)in order to build models for quantitative evaluation of oil and gas yields and establish methods for assessing recoverable oil and gas resources from in-situ conversion of organic matters in shale.Thermal simulation experiments under in-situ conversion conditions were conducted on Chang 7_(3) shales from the Ordos Basin in a semi-open system with large capacity.The results showed that TOC and R_(o) were the key factors affecting the in-situ transformation potential of shale.The remaining oil and gas yields increased linearly with TOC but inconsistently with R_(o).R_(o) ranged 0.75%—1.25%and 1.05%—2.3%,respectively,corresponding to the main oil generation stage and gas generation stage of shale in-situ transformation.Thus a model to evaluate the remaining oil/gas yield with TOC and R_(o) was obtained.The TOC of shale suitable for in-situ conversion should be greater than 6%,whereas its R_(o) should be less than 1.0%.Shales with 0.75%(R_(o))could obtain the best economic benefit.The results provided a theoretical basis and evaluation methodology for predicting the hydrocarbon resources from in-situ conversion of shale and for the identification of the optimum“sweet spots”.The assessment of the Chang 7_(3) shale in the Ordos Basin indicated that the recoverable oil and gas resources from in-situ conversion of organic matters in shale are substantial,with oil and gas resources reaching approximately 450×10^(8) t and 30×10^(12)m^(3),respectively,from an area of 4.27×10^(4) km^(2).

Generalized Pareto Distribution Model and Its Application to Hydrocarbon Resource Structure Prediction of the Huanghua Depression

The generalized Pareto distribution model is a kind of hydrocarbon pool size probability statistical method for resource assessment. By introducing the time variable, resource conversion rate and the geological variable, resource density, such model can describe not only different types of basins, but also any exploration samples at different phases of exploration, up to the parent population. It is a dynamic distribution model with profound geological significance and wide applicability. Its basic principle and the process of resource assessment are described in this paper. The petroleum accumulation system is an appropriate assessment unit for such method. The hydrocarbon resource structure of the Huanghua Depression in Bohai Bay Basin was predicted by using this model. The prediction results accord with the knowledge of exploration in the Huanghua Depression, and point out the remaining resources potential and structure of different petroleum accumulation systems, which are of great significance for guiding future exploration in the Huanghua Depression.

External Hydrogen Index: A New Factor for Hydrocarbon Resource Assessment and its Calculation Method

Objective Traditional oil and gas theory considers that hydrocarbon generation process is a hydrodeoxygenation reaction of organic matter （OM）. Thus, the supply condition of hydrogen controls the hydrocarbon generation ability of OM. Those factors of TOC and hydrogen index （IH） are playing important roles for calculating potential petroleum resources. The factor IH mainly emphasizes the hydrogen condition of the source rock itself. However, it has been proved by simulation experiments that external hydrogen such as hydrogen-bearing rock （olivine）, water and hydrogen gas can improve the hydrocarbon productivity of source rock, and the effect of external hydrogen on hydrocarbon productivity has been poorly concerned under current resource assessment method. Therefore, this work proposed a new resource assessment factor of IEH in an effort to address this problem.

Applications of Natural Radiation-Induced Paramagnetic Defects in Quartz to Exploration in Sedimentary Basins

Quartz grains in contact with uranium-bearing minerals or fluids are characterized by natural radiation-induced paramagnetic defects （e. g. , oxygen vacancy centers, silicon vacancy centers, and peroxy radicals）, which are amenable to study by electron paramagnetic resonance （EPR） spectroscopy. These natural radiation-induced paramagnetic defects, except for the oxygen vacancy centers, in quartz are concentrated in narrow bands penetrated by α particles： （1） in halos around U- and Th-bearing mineral inclusions and （2） in outer rims or along fractures. The second type of occurrence provides information about uranium mineralization or remobilization （i. e. , sources of uranium, timing of mineralization or remobilization, pathways of uranium-bearing fluids）. It can also be used to evaluate sedimentary basins for potential of uranium mineralization. In particular, the peroxy radicals are stable up to 800℃ and, therefore, are useful for evaluating metasedimentary rocks （e. g. , Paleoproterozoic metasedimentary sequences in the central zone of the North China craton）. EPR study of the Changcheng Series can focus on quartz from the sediment-basement unconformity and faults to determine the presence and types of natural radiation-induced paramagnetic defects, with which to identify and prioritize uranium anomalies. Other potential applications of natural radiation-induced paramagnetic defects in quartz include uranium-bearing hydrocarbon deposits in sedimentary basins. For example, the Junggar, Ordos, and Tarim basins in northwestern China all contain important oil and natural gas fields and are well known for elevated uranium concentrations, including economic sandstone-hosted uranium deposits. Therefore, systematic studies on the distribution of natural radiation-induced paramagnetic defects in quartz from host sedimentary sequences are expected to provide information about the migration of oil and natural gas in those basins.