--> Abstract: Hydrocarbon System Evolution Mapping Assisted by 4-D Simulation and Modeling, by R. K. Zimmerman and Y. Shi; #90937 (1998).

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Abstract: Hydrocarbon System Evolution Mapping Assisted by 4-D Simulation and Modeling

ZIMMERMAN, R. K., and YING SHI, Basin Research Institute, Louisiana State University.

Summary

Oil windows and their intra-thresholds of peak generation become key elements within a temporal and spatial framework for illustrating the postulated evolution of reservoir oil. Regionally, a trail can be mapped from organic carbon deposition in the potential source sediment (rock) - through the burial, compaction, and thermal maturation processes - to expulsion and final migration of liquid hydrocarbons into host reservoirs. The Mesozoic and Tertiary stratigraphic section of south Louisiana provides a general continuum of subsurface strata that are ideal for illustrating this dynamic progression.

Reconstruction of the depositional and burial history of the basin's sedimentary section is made by employing chronological simulation in conjunction with the process of backstripping. This allows a portrayal of the sedimentary development of the basin and the dynamic processes associated with thermal maturation of the organic carbon into hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbon maturation windows, for specific segments of geological time or stratigraphic intervals, become important in the overall analysis of the hydrocarbon system. This is especially the case with regard to identifying zone-specific geographic limits of oil generation for segments of the stratigraphic section.

Areal oil yield capacities may be calculated for intervals of geologic time by applying 4-D simulation based on models comprising the basin's evolutionary history. These calculations may be made on: (1) a per stratigraphic unit basis; (2) a time of expulsion basis; or (3) a number of other bases. With regard to calculations made on the first two types of bases, the spatial position occupied by the oil generation window during a segment of geologic time, identifies the stratigraphic section providing the oil and its time of expulsion. In the south Louisiana basin example, chronological movements of several of the oil generation windows are mapped in order to show the spatial and temporal derivation of the probable liquid components that evolved into the mixture of oils now present in generally geologically younger reservoir traps.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90937©1998 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Salt Lake City, Utah