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  5. Impact of Source Rock Characteristics on Expelled Volumes and Type of Hydrocarbons – Example Scenarios

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- Now, let's look at the impact of source rock characteristics on expelled volumes and type of hydrocarbons. The figure shows on the left-hand side the source rock qualifier and on the right-hand side the impact. So, presence of source rock, actually, identifies a petroleum system component. The richness of the source rock here is in fact on the chart, is specifically the volumes of hydrocarbons generated. The effective thickness and areal distribution of the source rock also suggest on the chart, specifically on the volume of the hydrocarbons. The type of organic matter in the source rock the richness versus marine, influence the type of hydrocarbons fluids that could be generated oil versus gas. The source of maturity has a matching the type of hydrocarbon fluids as well as the volumes. The source rock lithology, carbonate versus clastic, shares an impact of fluid properties, and a presence of solid hydrocarbons. The source rock depositional environment and facies could be used as a proxy for type of organic matter and type of fluids, oil versus gas. This is an example to illustrate the impact of Source Rock Richness on Volumes of Expelled Oil and Gas, as discussed in the previous slide. The figure represent three different scenarios where the only parameter that is varied is the RICHNESS of the source rock expressed as total organic carbon. All other control factors are kept the same Marine type II oil-prone kerogen, temperature history, heating rate, Hydrogen index, source of rock effective thickness, are kept as constant parameter as seen in the model. The figures show the volumes of expelled oil and gas with increasing temperature, which is used here as a proxy for maturity. The results illustrate the dramatic effect of source rock richness on the expelled volumes of generated oil and gas. This is an example to illustrate the impact of Source Rock effective thickness on Volumes of Expelled Oil and Gas. The figure again represents three different scenarios where the only parameter that is varied is the effective THICKNESS of the source rock. All other control factors are kept the same Marine type II oil-prone kerogen, temperature history, heating rate, Hydrogen indedx and a TOC of 10 weight percent. The results illustrate the significant impact of increasing the source rock effective thickness on the expelled volumes of generated oil and gas. These examples clearly illustrate the importance of source rock characteristics, especially because they are used as input parameters in basin models. If there are uncertainties about the source rock characteristics, especially in frontier exploration areas, then the best way would be to run several scenarios and define a range of most probable output results.