Quantitative Assessment of Hydrocarbon Expulsion of Petroleum Systems in the Niuzhuang Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, East China

Based on a detailed survey of the distribution and organic geochemical characteristics of potential source rocks in the South Slope of the Niuzhuang Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, eastern China, a new approach to assess the amount of hydrocarbons generated and expelled has been developed. The approach is applicable to evaluate hydrocarbons with different genetic mechanisms. The results show that the models for hydrocarbon generation and expulsion vary with potential source rocks, depending on thermal maturity, types of organic matter and paleoenvironment. Hydrocarbons are mostly generated and expelled from source rocks within the normal oil window. It was calculated that the special interval (algal-rich shales of the ES4 member formed in brackish environments) in the South Slope of the Niuzhuang Sag has a much higher potential of immature oil generation than the other intervals in the area. This suggests that hydrocarbons can definitely be generated in early diagenesis, especially under certain special geological settings. The proportion of hydrocarbons generated and expelled from the ES4 shales in the early diagenetic stage is up to 26.75% and 17.36%, respectively. It was also observed that laminated shales have a much higher expulsion efficiency than massive mudstones. In contrast, the special interval of the ES4 shales proposed from previous studies is probably not the whole rock for oil in the South Slope of the Niuzhuang Sag because of the small proportion of the gross volume and corresponding low percentage of hydrocarbons generated and expelled. A much lower expulsion efficiency of the source rock during the early stage relative to that within the normal oil window has been calculated. Our results indicate that the ES4 mudstones rather than the shales deposited in the Niuzhuang and Guangli Sag are the main source rocks for the oil discovered.

Lacustrine Basin Slope Break — A New Domain of Strata and Lithological Trap Exploration

Based on the studies of the Songliao Basin characterized by Cretaceous down-warping, of the Jurassic compressional flexural Junggar basin and of the Bohai Bay Basin characterized by Paleogene rifting, the multiple-grades slope break has developed in lacustrine basins of different origins. Their genetic types can be divided into tectonic slope break, depositional slope break and erodent slope break. The dominant agent of the slope break is tectogenesis, and the scale of slope breaks relates with the size of tectogenesis. The results of the study show that control of mutual grades slope breaks on atectonic traps mainly represent: 1) Atectonic traps develop close to mutual grades slope breaks, with beads-shaped distribution along the slope breaks. 2) In the longitudinal direction, the development of atectonic traps is characterized by the inheritance. 3) Different slope breaks and their different geographical positions can lead to different development types of atectonic traps. 4) A slope break can form different kinds of atectonic traps because of its great lateral variation. 5) The existence of mutual-grade slope breaks leads to different responses of erosion and deposition at different geographical positions in the basin. The oil source bed, reservoir and cap rock combination of atectonic traps is fine. 6) The oil-bearing condition of atectonic traps controlled by slope breaks is very favorable.

Application of Biomarkers to Quantitative Source Assessment of Oil Pools

Recent detailed organic geochemical and geological investigation indicate that oils of the Bamianhe oilfield, Bohai Bay Basin, East China are the mixture of less mature oils and normal oils derived from the ES4 mudstones and shales with a wide range of thermal maturity from immature to middle-maturity, and most of the oils were proved to be sourced from the depocenter of the Niuzhuang Sag immediately adjacent to the Bamianhe oilfield. Two approaches to quantify the amount of immature oils mixed through quantitative biomarkers were established. One is a relatively simple way only through organic geochemical analysis while the other is to be combined with basin modeling. Selecting biomarkers as proxies is the crucial point in both of them. The results show that the less mature oils mixed in the Bamianhe oilfield is less than 10% and 18% respectively based on the two approaches, which coincide with the results of oil-source rock correlation.