HYDROCARBON EXPLORATION

Sedimentary Basin

Sedimentary basin refers to any geographical feature

exhibiting subsidence and consequent infilling by
sedimentation.

As the sediments are buried, they are subjected to

increasing pressure and begin the process of
lithification.
 Sedimentary rock types

SANDSTONE BRECCIA CONGLOMERATE

SHALE
FOSSILIFEROUS GYPSUM

COAL
ROCK SALT LIMESTONE
Relative thicknesses of laminations, beds and strata
 Sedimentary rock characteristics

Sphericity of grains Texture

Waterlain beds Mass flow

Sorting Fabrics
 Finding oil and gas

By studying these sedimentary beds in outcrops and

Geology other surface features, geologists can infer where
the underground porous reservoirs and
impermeable traps might lie

Understanding of the shapes of the sedimentary

Geophysics rock layers. Early geophysical methods involved
gravity-magnetic mapping, measuring the earth's
gravity and magnetic responses at a number of
points and plotting the results on a map

Seismic Geophysicists interpret these results to gain an

understanding of the shapes sizes and
orientation of rock layers, - stratigraphy and
tectonics.
Well Logging To evaluate what kinds of rock are at which
depths, how porous the rocks are, and whether
there is oil and gas or water in the pore spaces.
 Exploration Techniques

™ GEOLOGICAL
™GEOPHYSICAL
GRAVITY
MAGNETIC
SEISMIC
™GEOCHEMICAL
SNIFFER

What we look for :

‰ GEOLOGIC SETTING
‰A SIGNIFICANT SEDIMENTARY THICKNESS
‰ FAVOURABLE STRUCTURAL FEATURE
‰ PETROLEUM SYSTEM
Geological surveys

Structural elements
Lithology
Paleontological study
Environment of deposition
Stratigraphy
Evolutionary sequence of structure
Geological field studies
 Gravity Magnetic Studies

Relative surface variation of Earth's gravitational acceleration over geologic structures

AEROMAGNETIC RECONNAISSANCE
SURVEY
Onland – Seismic surveys (Vibrosis)

Animation courtesy of Elf Aquitaine.

Marine seismic data acquisition
 The seismic trace
Depth & Time
Receivers
Shot Surface
0

Arrival
Layer-1
time
Layer-2

Layer-3
Seismic Section (Land)
Seismic section – Deep Water
 Seismic imaging

Coarse Grid
(reconnaitory)
Semi‐detailed

Detailed 3D
High resolution‐3D
 Viewing 3D data in many ways

Inline Section

n
io
ct
Se
e
in
Xl

Time Slice
Chair Display
 Seabed Logging

• All geological media

have some sort of
electrical conductivity.

• Difference in
conductivity between
shale & sandstone is
relatively small when
they’re water
saturated.

• The conductivity falls

markedly when the
sandstone is filled with
oil.

Resistivity Profile
 Seabed Logging

H22O HC

Water-Filled Reservoir Hydrocarbon-Filled Reservoir

= Low Resistivity = High Resistivity
Less Refraction of Waves Refraction of Waves
to the Receivers to the Receivers
From Seismic to map
Trap
A trap is a geologic or a stratigraphic feature capable of
retaining hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbon traps that result from changes in
rock type or pinch-outs, unconformities, or other sedimentary features
such as reefs or buildups are called stratigraphic traps. Hydrocarbon
traps that form in Geologic structures such as folds and faults are
called structural traps
 Petroleum System
The key components of PETROLEUM SYSTEM (S) are (1) source rocks,
(2) timing of generation, (3) migration (4) trap, and (5) seal
Drilling …..
Drilling…

™MUD LOGGING
™DITCH SAMPLING
™SUBSURFACE PRESSURE
MONITORING
™HC SHOW
™TEMP MONITORING
™BLOW OUT PREVENTION
™CORING
™LWD
™MWD
 Well Profiles
¾VERTICAL
¾INCLINED
¾HORIZONTAL
¾EXTENDED REACH WELL

SAKHALIN-1 WELL HORIZONTAL

RIG
DISTANCE 10 KM.
 Open hole logging – Formation Evaluation

DIRECT INFORMATION -ROCK FRAGMENTS & FLUIDS

Dill cuttings, mud shows
Sidewall samples, Cores or core slices, Production tests, Formation wireline samplers, Dill-stem tests

INDIRECT INFORMATION -WIRELINE LOGS

PHYSICAL PHENOMENON MEASURED PARAMETER
acoustic -waves sonic velocities
acoustic impedance
gamma / gamma scattering electron density
photoelectric cross section
thermal neutron density hydrogen density
thermal neutron decay thermal neutron cross section
neutron activation elemental concentrations
natural gamma radiation API
spontaneous potential membrane potential
electromagnetic waves electric resistivity / conductivity
Formation Evaluation

Objectives of a Petrophysical Interpretation

LOCATE: reservoir
DETECT: fluid content
fluid type : gas / oil / water
EVALUATE: lithology
mechanical properties
gross / net reservoir thickness
porosity
permeability
capillary properties
salinity of the water
original hydrocarbon saturation
residual hydrocarbon saturation
percent oil/gas/water
reservoir pressure
Wire line logs - Open Hole

¾RESISTI VITY
¾DENSITY
¾POROSITY
¾RADIOCATIVITY SPECTRUM
¾TRANSIT TIME
Well completion
Perforation of reservoir
 Reserves

Reserves are those quantities of petroleum which are anticipated to be

commercially recovered from known accumulations from a given date
forward.

All reserve estimates involve some degree of uncertainty

PROVED UNPROVED

PROBABLE POSSIBLE
 Volumetrics

OIIP = Area x thickness x porosity x saturation

FVF

GIIP = Area x thickness x porosity x saturation x Bg

Recoverable Reserves: IIP x Recovery Factor

 Production

1. Primary recovery
• Reservoir pressure causes
OIL to flow to the surface
•The simplest way of maintaining
production flow rates is to use
downhole pumps. (15-20%)

2. Secondary recovery 3. Tertiary recovery (EOR = enhanced oil

•Secondary recovery methods were
developed to improve the recovery
factor.
The most common method involves
flooding the reservoir with water. This
involves injecting water into the reservoir
to artificially increase the reservoir
pressure and press the oil into the
production wells (30-40%)
recovery)
•The following methods can be used to
improve the crude's flow qualities:
- Injecting steam into a reservoir heats up
the crude and reduces its viscosity.
- The same effect can be achieved by
pumping in solvents.
•Upto 50 % of the original oil in place
can be exploited by means of tertiary
recovery
 Production

Injection Production Injection

Well Well Well

1. Water
2. Polymer
 Classification of crude oil

Classification of crude oil is often by its relative weight or

viscosity ("light", "intermediate" or "heavy");

Refiners may also refer to it as "sweet", which means it

contains relatively little sulfur, or as "sour", which means it
contains substantial amounts of sulfur and requires more
refining in order to meet current product specifications
The world reference oils :

Brent Crude comprising 15 oils from fields in the Brent and Ninian
systems in the East Shetland Basin of the North Sea .

Oil production from Europe, Africa and Middle Eastern oil flowing West
tends to be priced off the price of this oil, which forms a benchmark.

•West Texas intermidiate (WTI) for North American oil.

•Dubai used as benchmark for the Asia - Pacific region for Middle
East Oil

•Tapis (from Malaysia, used as a reference for light Far East oil)

•Minas (from Indonesia, used as a reference for heavy Far East oil)