A Novel Approach for Recognition and Quantification of Hydrocarbon Migration Effects in Shale-Sandstone Sequences

A detailed organic geochemical study of over 150 samples from two cores with a total combined length of 320 m (1,050 ft) through sequences of interbedded source rock-type shales (0.84% Rm maturity) and reservoir sandstones allowed recognition and quantitation of a number of migration effects. Detailed gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of steranes and triterpanes was used to insure that samples being compared to investigate migration effects contain organic matter of a similar type. Thin shales interbedded in sands and the edges of thick shale units are depleted in petroleum-range hydrocarbons to a much higher degree than the centers of thick shale units. For the alkanes, expulsion occurs with pronounced compositional fractionation effects: shorter chain length n-alkanes are expelled preferentially, and isoprenoid alkanes are expelled to a lesser degree than their straight-chain isomers. Based on material balance calculations, expulsion efficiencies were determined and found to be very high in certain instances. For thin interbedded shales, they decrease from about 80% around C15 to near zero in the C25+ region. There is no evidence for significant redistribution of steranes and triterpanes in the two sequences. Compared to C15 to C25 n-alkanes, they appear relatively immobile. The composition of the hydrocarbons impregnating parts of the reservoir sandstones is in agreement with expulsion occurring with pronounced fractionation based on molecular chain length. Hence, consideration of bulk expulsion efficiencies gives an unrealistic picture. Furthermore, the impregnation of a siltstone cap rock from an underlying hydrocarbon accumulation seems to have occurred by bulk-oil migration and without significant fractionation. The degree of hydrocarbon depletion of some of the shales of both sequences appears to be controlled by compaction, and the primary migration process appears to have occurred with chromatographic separation. The migration phenomena observed in both sequences lead us to propose that the main phase of expulsion can be preceded by an earlier sta e, during which the edges of thick shales and thin interbedded shales appear to be slowly and continuously depleted by the chromatographic processes. The composition of the hydrocarbon product accumulating in the reservoirs at this stage appears to be controlled primarily by physical processes rather than by the type and maturity of the organic matter in the generating source rock. By this mechanism, the origin of accumulations of light oils and gas-condensates in low mature sequences bearing predominantly terrestrial-derived organic matter can be explained. Finally, the migration effects documented in this study have some consequences for interpretation of geochemical data (e.g., the pristane/n-C17 ratio, a commonly accepted maturity parameter, has been shown to be also controlled by the degree of hydrocarbon expulsion).