Geochemical characteristics and genesis of natural gas in the Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation in the Sichuan Basin

Abstract In recent years, the geochemical characteristics, genesis and sources of natural gas in the Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation in the Sichuan Basin have received extensive attention, but their genesis and sources are still controversial. In this study, taking the natural gas from the Xujiahe Formation in the Sichuan Basin as an example, the source and genesis of the natural gas have been systematically analyzed. The results show that the natural gas of the Xujiahe Formation in the Sichuan Basin is dominated by methane, followed by a small amount of CO2 and N2; only the southern Sichuan area contains a small amount of H2S, which comes from the supply of the underlying carbonate source rocks. Except for the western Sichuan Basin, the drying coefficient of the natural gas is generally less than 0.95 (wet gas). Furthermore, the composition of the natural gas is mainly controlled by the maturity of source rocks. The carbon isotope of ethane in natural gas ranges from −33.9 to −21.5‰, and the hydrogen isotope of methane ranges from −188‰ to −151‰. The carbon and hydrogen isotope values are higher in the western Sichuan Basin than in the central, northeastern and southern Sichuan Basin. The identification of the origin of natural gas and the comparison of gas sources show that the natural gas in the Xujiahe Formation is mainly coal-derived gas from its own coal-measure source rocks; the natural gas in the northern part of the southern Sichuan Basin is oil-derived gas originating from the Changxing Formation and the Silurian marine source rocks; however, the natural gas in the northeastern Sichuan Basin is a mixture of coal-derived and oil-derived gases. In addition, the carbon and hydrogen isotopes in some natural gas samples from the Xujiahe Formation have inversions of δ13C1 > δ13C2, δ13C2 > δ13C3, δ13C3 > δ13C4, and δD2 > δD3, and the magnitude of the inversions is small. It is considered to be caused by the mixing of gases from the same source, as well as the mixing of coal-derived and oil-derived gases.