--> Petroleum System Model, Eastern Algeria, from Source Rock to Accumulation: When, Where, and How, by R. P. Daniels and J. J. Emme; #90986 (1994).

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Abstract: Petroleum System Model, Eastern Algeria, from Source Rock to Accumulation: When, Where, and How

Robert P. Daniels, James J. Emme

To develop a petroleum system model for the Ghadames-Illizi basins of Algeria, 500 rock samples from twenty-five (25) wells, and oil samples from seventeen (17) pools were analyzed to quantify source potential, thermal maturity, and to establish oil to source rock correlations.

The rock samples were analyzed for organic richness (TOC, pyrolysis, kerogen type) and thermal maturity (Ro, Tmax, TAI). Excellent source potential was found in the Devonian Frasnian and basal Silurian shales with TOC values from 2 to 17% of primarily type II kerogen. Thermal maturity varied areally and stratigraphically ranging from equivalent Ro of 0.7-1.5 in the Frasnian to 0.8-2.0+ in the Silurian. These data were integrated with basin and thermal reconstructions using multiple one-dimensional kinetic simulations. Kinetic modelling indicate that the basal Silurian generated a hydrocarbon pulse during the Carboniferous and a second pulse throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous. The Frasnian shale began hydrocarbon generation in the central Ghadames during the Jurassic, peaking in th Early Cretaceous. The adjacent less buried areas began active generation later, and some areas are still capable of oil generation.

The seventeen oils were extensively geochemically and statistically analyzed to establish two genetically related hydrocarbons, which, when correlated with source rock data, provide a predictable model of the areal distribution of these hydrocarbons.

Hydrocarbon generation and expulsion volumes were mapped through time for each source rock. This mapping was integrated with the geochemical results and paleo-basin reconstructions to develop a petroleum system model.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90986©1994 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 12-15, 1994