Abstract: Utilization of Quantitative Petroleum Migration, Entrapment, and Hydrodynamics Modeling and Analysis Technology in Petroleum Exploration and Exploitation

H. H. Hinch, E. C. Loomis, C. M. Gold, T. Liao, K. Reynolds, R. W. Davis, C. A. Murry

The ability to quantitatively predict secondary petroleum migration and entrapment is essential to our industry's ability to fully exploit future exploration and exploitation opportunities.

Detailed studies in well-explored basins where petroleum migration and entrapment concepts can be evaluated quantitatively indicate that petroleum explorationists and exploitationists must understand not only the geological, stratigraphic, structural, geochemical, and geothermal framework and history of a specific exploration or exploitation target basin, but they must also understand how all of the processes of petroleum generation, expulsion, migration, and entrapment occur within the specific framework and history of that basin if they intend to quantitatively understand the spatial and temporal aspects of where, when, and how much oil and gas is trapped in that basin. These studies also indicate that these spatial and temporal aspects of the processes of oil and gas generation, mi ration, and entrapment in any given basin must be quantitatively understood, at the basin level, before the true petroleum resource potential of any specific play or prospect within that basin can be accurately evaluated. It follows that realistic exploration risk assessments and/or accurate ranking of plays and prospects within any given basin or among various basins also depend on a basin-level understanding of the spatial and temporal aspects of these processes as well.

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