The distribution of the oil derived from Cambrian source rocks in Lunnan area, the Tarim Basin, China

Just as in deep-water sedimentary environments, productive source rocks can be developed in an evaporitic platform, where claystones are interbedded with evaporites and carbonates. However, the impact of the paleoenvironment on the organic matter enrichment of shallow water source rocks in an evaporite series has not been well explored. In this study, two wells in the central uplift of the Tarim Basin were systematically sampled and analyzed for a basic geochemical study, including major elements, trace elements, and total organic carbon (TOC), to understand the relationship between TOC and the paleoenvironmental parameters, such as paleosalinity, redox, paleoclimate, paleo-seawater depth, and paleoproductivity. The results show that the Lower–Middle Cambrian mainly developed in a fluctuating salinity, weak anoxic to anoxic, continuous dry and hot, and proper shallow water environment. The interfingering section of evaporites, carbonates, and claystones of the Awatag Fm. have higher paleoproductivity and higher enrichment of organic matter. Paleosalinity, redox, paleoclimate, paleo-seawater depth, and paleoproductivity jointly control the organic matter enrichment of shallow water source rocks in the evaporite series. The degree of enrichment of organic matter in shallow water source rocks first increases and then decreases with the increase in paleosalinity. All the samples with high content of organic matter come from the shallower environment of the Awatag Fm.

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Fluid geochemistry of the Jurassic Ahe Formation and implications for reservoir formation in the Dibei area, Tarim Basin, northwest China

Energy Exploration & Exploitation ◽

10.1177/0144598718759560 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 801-819 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shuangfeng Zhao ◽

Wen Chen ◽

Zhenhong Wang ◽

Ting Li ◽

Hongxing Wei ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Natural Gas ◽

Tarim Basin ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

Northwest China ◽

Source Rocks ◽

Coal Measure ◽

Hydrocarbon Generation ◽

Gas Reservoirs ◽

Isotopic Analyses ◽

Jurassic Coal

The condensate gas reservoirs of the Jurassic Ahe Formation in the Dibei area of the Tarim Basin, northwest China are typical tight sandstone gas reservoirs and contain abundant resources. However, the hydrocarbon sources and reservoir accumulation mechanism remain debated. Here the distribution and geochemistry of fluids in the Ahe gas reservoirs are used to investigate the formation of the hydrocarbon reservoirs, including the history of hydrocarbon generation, trap development, and reservoir evolution. Carbon isotopic analyses show that the oil and natural gas of the Ahe Formation originated from different sources. The natural gas was derived from Jurassic coal measure source rocks, whereas the oil has mixed sources of Lower Triassic lacustrine source rocks and minor amounts of coal-derived oil from Jurassic coal measure source rocks. The geochemistry of light hydrocarbon components and n-alkanes shows that the early accumulated oil was later altered by infilling gas due to gas washing. Consequently, n-alkanes in the oil are scarce, whereas naphthenic and aromatic hydrocarbons with the same carbon numbers are relatively abundant. The fluids in the Ahe Formation gas reservoirs have an unusual distribution, where oil is distributed above gas and water is locally produced from the middle of some gas reservoirs. The geochemical characteristics of the fluids show that this anomalous distribution was closely related to the dynamic accumulation of oil and gas. The period of reservoir densiﬁcation occurred between the two stages of oil and gas accumulation, which led to the early accumulated oil and part of the residual formation water being trapped in the tight reservoir. After later gas filling into the reservoir, the fluids could not undergo gravity differentiation, which accounts for the anomalous distribution of fluids in the Ahe Formation.

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