Print this pageAbstract: Rock Eval 6: A New Generation of Rock Eval Pyrolyser for a Wider Use in Petroleum Exploration/Production and in Soil Contamination Studies
LAFARGUE, E.*, F. MARQUIS, D. PILLOT, M. BERNARD, G. BEAUDUCEL, R. ANTONAS, and R. BURWOOD
The chances of discoveries
in petroleum exploration relies on a good analysis of the petroleum system
of the given area. The determination of the potential source rocks, their
maturity, their kinetic parameters and their extension is among the tasks
accomplished by the rapid screening of the rock samples (cores and/or cuttings
or outcrops) with the Rock-Eval apparatus. Therefore this technique has
been routinely used for around 15 years and has become a kind of standard
for hydrocarbon exploration. This paper describes the new potentialities
of the latest version of Rock-Eval apparatus (Rock-Eval 6; an IFP, VINCI
and FINA project sponsored by the European Community) which has been designed
to improve Rock-Eval technology as a whole and to increase the domains
of application of the method in the field of source rock characterization,
reservoir studies and environmental studies. New developments in both the
hardware and the software of the Rock-Eval apparatus have led to the design
of the new totally automated Rock-Eval 6 pyrolyser that provides: 1) expanded
capability, enhanced flexibility and an improved data input/output interface,
2) a better 
estimation
of Oxygen Index, TOC content and kerogen types,
3) the determination of mineral carbon, 4) an improved computation of kinetic
parameters for hydrocarbons as well as for CO and CO2. These new developments
of the method are illustrated by different examples taken in the various
domains of applications cited above.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90942©1997 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Vienna, Austria