Granulometric and Mineralogical Characterization of the Sands of the Middle Course of the Kasai River (Territory of Ilebo, Province of Kasai/DR Congo)

The sand bars, in perpetual transformation, observable in the middle course of the Kasai river on the section between the city of Ilebo (pk605) to the confluence of the Loange river (pk525), pose enormous navigability problems. This may be dependent on hydrosedimentological characteristics of the Kasai River. This abundance of sand thus conditions the morphology of the middle course of the Kasai River in the section under our study. It therefore constitutes sedimentary navigation obstacles. The objective of this study is the granulometric and mineralogical characterization of the bar sands of the Kasai River in this study section. Particle size analyzes reveal these are moderately well classified to well classified unimodal sands (Classification coefficient between 1.29 to 1.742) largely presenting grain size symmetry and rarely fine asymmetry (Asymmetry coefficient—Skewness between −0.197 to 0.069) with mesorkurtic and rarely leptokurtic and platykurtic acuity (Angulosity coefficient—Kurtosis between 0.814 to 1.323). All these parameters evolve in sawtooth patterns from upstream to downstream. And then, an automated mineralogical analysis of the sands of the Kasaï River using a Qemscan FEG Quanta 650 made it possible to determine a very varied mineralogical procession with a sawtooth evolution. It is largely dominated by quartz (between 93.73% and 99.07%), followed by calcite (0.01% - 2.66%), iron oxides (0.01% - 1.88%), orthoclase (0.04% - 0.99%), plagioclase (0.01% - 0.75%) and Kaolinite (0.18% - 0.71%). Finally, this mineralogical procession is characterized by a group of minerals which do not reach the threshold of 0.55% such as: illite, apatite, ilmenite, muscovite, chlorite, biotite, montmorillonite, rutile, pyrophyllite, siderite, zircon and dolomite. The evolution of the mineralogical procession of the sands of the bars is not as clear as in the case of particle size parameters.

International Papers Contribution on Artificial Intelligence Promotes the Application and Development of Big Data in the Petroleum Industry

Artificial intelligence is a new technological science that researches and develops theories,methods,technologies and application systems for simulating,extending and expanding human intelligence.It simulates certain human thought processes and intelligent behaviors(such as learning,reasoning,thinking,planning,etc.),and produces a new type of intelligent machine that can respond in a similar way to human intelligence.In the past 30 years,it has achieved rapid development in various industries and related disciplines such as manufacturing,medical care,finance,and transportation.

A Seismic Facies Analysis to Determine the Relative Age and History of the Al Idrissi Mud Volcano from Offshore Larache Located in the NW Moroccan Atlantic Margin

Formed on top of the Gulf of Cadiz, the Al Idrissi mud volcano is the shallowest and largest mud volcano in the El Arraiche mud volcano field of the northwestern Moroccan margin. The development and morphology of mud volcanoes from the El Arraiche mud volcanoes group have been studied at a large scale. However, the time interval related to their formation period still needs to be better understood. In this regard, we interpreted and analyzed the seismic facies from the 2D reflection data of the GEOMARGEN-1 campaign, which took place in 2011. The aim was to identify the seismic sequences and draw the Al Idrissi mud volcano system to determine the formation period of the Al Idriss mud volcano. And as a result, the Al Idrissi mud volcano system is made of both buried and superficial bicone and was identified along with the Upper Tortonian to Messinian-Upper Pliocene facies. As the initial mud volcano extrusive edifice, the buried bicone was formed in the Late-Messinian to Early-Pliocene period. However, the superficial bicone, as the final extrusive edifice, was included in the Late Pliocene. In this case, the timing interval between the buried and superficial bicone is equivalent to the Late-Messinian to Upper-Pliocene period. Therefore, the latter corresponds to the Al Idrissi mud volcano formation period.

Reservoir Characterization and Geostatistical Modeling of Ilam &Sarvak Formations in One of Oil Fields in Southwest of Iran

Exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon reservoirs have been always time consuming with high risk and high cost. In this regard, assessment of reservoir characterizations and information about spatial distribution of its parameters play an important role in adaptation of suitable strategies for hydrocarbon resources management. There are only few numbers of oil wells cored in every oil field due to high cost, time-consuming process, and other drilling problems. Therefore, it is required to use alternative estimation methods in order to achieve the petro-physical parameter in total space of reservoir. In this research, geostatistical methods have been applied as a new approach to calculate and estimate porosity and permeability of reservoir in one of southwestern oil fields of Iran. The information obtained from 86 wells in one of southwestern oil fields of Iran has been available in this study. Physical parameters of porosity and permeability are vital parameters that should be estimated in studied reservoir. This study indicated that Gaussian Variogram Model is the best model to predict porosity and permeability values in field. Error means of actual values of porosity are equal to 6.9% and for permeability are 11.21% using Gaussian Model. Also, after prediction of porosity and permeability values for field, distribution of these parameters in field was illustrated in two-dimensional and three-dimensional modes besides distribution and location of wells in field in order to determine the best drilling spots and reduce risk of drilling operations.

Seismic Signature Analysis for Clarification of Mud Volcanoes from the New Mud Diapirs Discovered at the NE-SW Moroccan Atlantic Margin

Our aim is to clarify mud volcanoes from the new mud diapirs resulting from the seismic attributes analysis applied to the low resolution Burmah oil “1973-1974” seismic data. The latter was carried out on the Larache and Tanger-Larache offshores from the NE-SW Atlantic margin. The high resolution seismic data was essential for this evaluation. In this case, we applied seismic signature analysis to four seismic profiles from the map of the seismic data set, which includes all new mud diapirs. This helped us to classify different types of mud diapirs within the seismic profiles. And as a result, six deep mud diapirs from the Prerifaine Nappe of Morocco, a shallow mud diapir, and four seafloor-piercing mud diapirs have been observed. Furthermore, the seafloor-piercing mud diapirs show a mushroom-shaped and conical-shaped cone. As they break through the seafloor, these kinds of cones characterize mud volcanoes. In this case, we may conclude that the resultant seafloor-piercing mud diapirs are likely to be mud volcanoes. However, more geological sampling and seafloor observation are still required.

Thermal simulation experiment on the hydrocarbon regeneration of marine carbonate source rock

Hydrocarbon regeneration of marine carbonate source rock was simulated with thermal experiments in a laboratory. The results reveal that hydrocarbon regeneration does not simply continue the primary hydrocarbon generation process, and that, for marine carbonate source rock, discontinuous hydrocarbon generation differs greatly from the continuous generation. Several different features of hydrocarbon regeneration were observed in the experiments. First, the liquid hydrocarbon generation peak was always observed no matter what the initial maturity of the sample was. Moreover, the maturity and the liquid hydrocarbon yield corresponding to the peak varied with the sample’s initial maturity. Second, the hydrocarbon regeneration started earlier than the continuous one. In the experiments, the hydrocarbon could be re-generated when the sample maturity did not rise to any great extent. Third, the accumulative hydrocarbon-generating quantity during discontinuous generation was always more than that during continuous generation. And the hydrocarbon-generating quantity varied with the discontinuous generation history. Chemical kinetic analysis suggests that discontinuous hydrocarbon generation should not only be explained by the parallel reaction mechanism but also by the consecutive reaction mechanism which has been ignored in the traditional chemical kinetic model for continuous hydrocarbon generation.