Re-Establishing the Merits of Thermal Maturity and Petroleum Generation Multi-Dimensional Modeling with an Arrhenius Equation Using a Single Activation Energy

Thermal maturation and petroleum generation modeling of shales is essential for suc- cessful exploration and exploitation of conventional and unconventional oil and gas plays. For basin- wide unconventional resource plays such modeling, when well calibrated with direct maturity meas- urements from wells, can characterize and locate production sweet spots for oil, wet gas and dry gas. The transformation of kerogen to petroleum is associated with many chemical reactions, but models typically focus on first-order reactions with rates determined by the Arrhenius Equation. A miscon- ception has been perpetuated for many years that accurate thermal maturity modeling of vitrinite re- flectance using the Arrhenius Equation and a single activation energy, to derive a time-temperature index （~TTIARa）, as proposed by Wood （1988）, is flawed. This claim was initially made by Sweeney and Burnham （1990） in promoting their ＂EasyRo＂ method, and repeated by others. This paper dem- onstrates through detailed multi-dimensional burial and thermal modeling and direct comparison of the ~TTIARR and ＂EasyRo＂ methods that this is not the case. The ~TTIA^R method not only provides a very useful and sensitive maturity index, it can reproduce the calculated vitrinite reflectance values derived from models based on multiple activation energies （e.g., ＂EasyRo＂）. Through simple expres- sions the ~TTIAaa method can also provide oil and gas transformation factors that can be flexibly scaled and calibrated to match the oil, wet gas and dry gas generation windows. This is achieved in a more-computationally-efficient, flexible and transparent way by the ~TTIARR method than the ＂EasyRo＂ method. Analysis indicates that the ＂EasyRo＂ method, using twenty activation energies and a constant frequency factor, generates reaction rates and transformation factors that do not realisti- cally model observed kerogen behaviour and transformation factors over geologic time scales.

Key factors controlling shale oil enrichment in saline lacustrine rift basin:implications from two shale oil wells in Dongpu Depression,Bohai Bay Basin

Comparative analyses of petroleum generation potential,reservoir volume,frackability,and oil mobility were conducted on 102 shale cores from the Dongpu Depression.Results show the shale has high organic matter contents composed of oil-prone type I and type II kerogens within the oil window.Various types of pores and fractures exist in the shale,with a porosity of up to 14.9%.The shale has high brittle mineral contents,extensive fractures,and high potential for oil mobility due to high seepage capacity and overpressure.Although the petroleum generation potential of the shale at Well PS18-8 is relatively greater than that at Well PS18-1,oil content of the latter is greater due to the greater TOC.The porosity and fracture density observed in Well PS18-1 are greater and more conducive to shale oil enrichment.Although the shales in Wells PS18-1 and PS18-8 have similar brittle mineral contents,the former is more favorable for anthropogenic fracturing due to a higher preexisting fracture density.Besides,the shale at Well PS18-1 has a higher seepage capacity and overpressure and therefore a higher oil mobility.The fracture density and overpressure play key roles in shale oil enrichment.