Insights from
Basin Modeling on Dynamics of Hydrocarbon Systems and Distribution of Material
Plays
Nourse, Rod1, Robin
Hamilton1, John Stainforth2, Larry Garmezy3
(1) Shell International, Houston, TX (2) Shell Deepwater Services, Houston, (3)
Shell International, Houston, Albania
Detailed, basin-wide, petroleum system
models provide valuable insights into the extent and controls on hydrocarbon
plays. This can be demonstrated from a variety of settings from rifts, passive
margins through to foreland basins. The models permit rapid scenario testing to
facilitate identification of the key play-making parameters. These
considerations focus attention on the charge rate, tank size and leakage rate
controlling factors in a play and suggest the basis for a simple classification
of petroleum plays.
Factors affecting rate of hydrocarbon
charge include source rock richness, temperature history and charge capture
area, all of which can be measured, estimated or modeled. Rate of hydrocarbon
leakage from traps may occur via multiple parallel methods and with rates that
change through time due to constantly evolving regimes of hydrocarbon column
length, overburden, temperature/pressure and permeability. Leakage rate
phenomena are therefore consistently more difficult to analyze than charge rate
phenomena.
A further important control is the pore
volume of the array of hydrocarbon traps into which charge from a given capture
area can be distributed – these “tank volumes” have a direct effect on the
spillage of hydrocarbons from full traps and on many of the key leakage
parameters and so affect, amongst others, column lengths, hydrocarbon phase and
oil/gas properties.
AAPG Search and Discover Article #90063©2007 AAPG Annual Convention, Long Beach, California