Control Effects of Source Rock and Regional Cap Rock to Hydrocarbon Reservoir

Bo Lu¹, Yuanyan Wu², and Ping Zhao^1
1The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
²Petroleum Geology, China Petroleum University, Beijing, China

Source Rock and Cap Rock are two of the most important factors in petroleum system. The volume and quality of the source rock control the potential hydrocarbon reserve of a reservoir; the distribution and thickness of the cap rock together with the geological structure dominate the process of hydrocarbon accumulation and preservation. Starting from the viewpoint of “source rock controls the spatial scope of hydrocarbon”, this paper addresses the combination controlling effects of source rock and regional cap rock to the distribution of hydrocarbon, which is based on the analysis on series of hydrocarbon reservoirs in China. Results show that for reservoirs locating at the center of a deposit basin, the source rock is more important than other factors in generating big and rich reservoirs. However at the edge area of the basin, the cap rock is the key factor to form a profit reservoir. Most succeeded discoveries of big reservoirs occur at the conjunct region with both good source rock and good cap rock. Similar as the theory of petroleum system, this method provides an efficient tool in hydrocarbon exploration.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas